WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS ONAM!!
God’s own country’s very own festival Onam is just round the corner. So all you people out there, lets welcome King Mahabali this year with a grand Onasadya! Veteran Sadya makers please excuse! This post is hugely dedicated to the beginners, who want to please their family and friends’ taste buds with a traditional Sadya. I am planning to give a detailed guideline as to how to prepare and present the Sadya on a banana leaf (up to my limited knowledge)! If there is no leaf, not to worry, big plates will do! Come on people, give it a try! Compliments await you!
The main specialty of Onam is Kerala Sadya which is served on a banana leaf with more than 10 items. Please bear in mind that this is how a Sadya is served in my part of Kerala (Central Travancore), and it hugely differs in the other parts!
Starting from the left side of the leaf, let’s just go through what all items are filled in the leaf! The rice is served hot only after the person is seated for having the Sadya. Lets begin !
Snacks
A typical sadya has banana chips, thick jaggery-coated banana chips, pappadam and pazham on the extreme left corner of the banana leaf. Some sadya also include bitter gourd chips, yam chips etc. A crispy snack, kaliyadakka is usually made during Onam and unniyappam is made as part of nivedhyam (offering) to God.
Click the picture to go to the recipe..
Pickles
Pickles are served right next to the chips. Pickles include – Inji curry/puli inji, naranga llasuachar and kaduku manga achar. Vadukapuli naranga achar is usually made as part of an Onasadya. Naranga achar is served once more, right before payasam is served during marriage feast. Inji thayir is served as part of a pirannal feast.
Side-dishes
Now its time for the main dishes to settle in the leaf ! The dishes that decide whether the sadya turned out good or not ! The delectable Aviyal, good looking thoran, colourful kichadi and pachadi, spicy and flavorful kootu curry and mild yet delicious, Olan. An absolute delight for the tummy of Keralites!
The choice for thorans are many. Be it cabbage thoran, beans and carrot thoran, idichakka thoran or vazhapindi-parippu thoran – which is usually made during Onam ..your choice! Pick one..
Kichadi is usually made with pavakka, vendakka, vellarikka etc while pachadi is made with ripe mango, pineapple, beetroot, ethapazham etc.
Vadakoottu curry is a specialty of Trivandrum. Erisseri and theeyal are usually served in Trissur and the northern part of Kerala. It is said that when you are having sadya, if you taste a bit of Olan before tasting any particular dish, you would get the real flavor of that dish alone!
Ozhichu Curry
In our part of Kerala , parippu is the first to be poured into the hot rice followed by ghee. Smash a pappadam into it and have it ! I guess lots of mouths would be watering now . Mine definitely is ! (I have seen that in Thrissur, parippu is kept at the side like a curry and sambar is the first ozhichu curry to be served !) Next in line is sambar and kalan. After that in some places rasam is a must, but in our side the stomach pacifier sambharam is served !
Desserts
Finally the main star of the sadya is served – Payasam. Usually ada pradhaman or parippu pradhaman is served first. And then would come a white coloured payasam – palada or semiya or pal payasam. Boli, a sweet crepe made using chana dal and maida is usually served along with pal payasam or semiya payasam during Kalyana Sadya.
Sooo, what are you waiting for?????????? Gear up ! Get into the kitchen, get your whole family too! After all, there is nothing more pleasant than preparing a Sadya together! Hope this post was helpful to you all. Please do let me know your feedback on the Sadya dishes. Wishing you all a very happy Onam!
omg wat a yummy sadya am in love with it n the wonderful yummy collection.
Omg, wat a spread, Happy onam wishes to u..
Beautiful spread,ellam adipoli aayitundu,Happy Onam..
what a spread…all my fav recipes at one place.
OMG!! What an awesome, super delicious collection of onam recipes!! Happy onam dear..:)
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner
wow…you have lots of collections…
Super spread…Happy Onam dear..
ellam kudi kandittu kothi akunnutto
Happy Onam dear….
done a very good job…..thanks for all the recipes ………….thanks a ton
What a spread and good to have all the recipies under one roof?I never had a opportunity to have a onam sadhya… hope to learn and make one soon or later..:)
christy
My stomach is growling on seeing the banana leaf, not just that but the delicious food on that 😀 Happy onam to you!
San
Lovely spread.I made your banana chips sweet and salty and Pavakka Pachadi.Thank you girls.Wish you and your families a wonderful Onam.
Sharing your blog with our readers! Happy Onam.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/A-Hundred-Hands/128624817195354
Thank You All for your lovely words..
@ Vidya,
Happy Onam to you and your family!! Thanks for trying those recipes from our space.
@ A Hundred Hands,
Thanks a bunch for linking to us. Happy Onam to you too!!
OMG !! supreb collection of Onam recipes…Too good.
I have tagged you in a game so please visit my blog and accept it
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
For this Onam, I just followed your instructions for all the recipes and they were a big hit. Thanks a lot for the wonderful recipes. Happy Onam!!!
Deepa
Hi first of all let me wish you a happy onam…We celebrated onam today in US as its a weekend and most of our friends were able to make it…I tried most of the recipes from your food blog….and have to say it turned out simply superb…Always keep posting and many thanks.
shaini
Deepa and Shaini,
Thanks for the Onam wishes and for your feedback!! Really happy to know that all the recipes turned out well. Please keep visiting..
lovely recipes for this lovely festival…looks delicious!
Great recipes.. Tried out most of them and it turned out great 🙂
Su
Su,
Thanks a lot for trying and letting me know 🙂 Glad that the recipes turned out great..
Hi Yummy Team,
I wasn’t able to write 2 u for a long time due to my busy office schedule and as my ill health in between. Anyways, good to see many new updates in ur site.
And like last Onam, this time too, I blindly followed ur Onam recipes. The result as usual was amazing… Thanks to both of u 🙂
Will keep in touch. Best wishes!
Welcome back Rusheeda 🙂 Hope you are in good health now. Thanks a lot for sharing your feedback here in spite of your busy schedule. Really happy to know that the onam recipes turned well…Please keep visiting whenever you have time..Take Care.
Hi,
Thanks so much for the effort behind this wonderful blog. It really helped people like me, who never bothered to learn cooking from amma.I prepared the vishu sadya following ur recipes and as expected it came out so well.
Thanks again.
wishing u a prosperous year ahead
Aparna
Shared this on Facebook. Good job! Will be trying a few…
Hi
I made a sadya for the first time and it came out authentic and wonderful. Thanks a lot I feel ths is gold mine of recipes!!
I followed ur recipes for onam and all the dishes came out so well . It was a life saver that too when you cook alone without amma, ammayi and ammoomma( the list can go on).Tnanks to u guys for a such a wonderful site.
I had to return to leave a comment. I tried several dishes and they came out fantastic! Like somebody else said, I think I hit a gold mine too.
OMG! That is a fabulous collection of recipes!!! Everything is looking absolutely delicious Maya! Bookmarked to prepare 2013 Onam Sadya referring this post 🙂
This comment has been removed by the author.
HI
I had tested your all most all dishes and its came success to me thanks a lot Maya for your valuable blog ………Most i liked kalan my fav…thanks a lot again for a wonderful blog
[email protected]
I really like your presentations. I made a few dishes which came out well. The Urulies, chatties, bharanies, etc are they available in USA. I would like to buy few of those if you can guide me where those are available.
Really this is grate job….from this generation peoples(girls) don’t like to entry of the kitchen….hands off to you….your site is more help full for me…bcz of self cooking…
.thank you….
Great Onam Sadhya vibhavangal.
Happy onam wishes
prasad
Wow…just love your blog…. esp this post ….for a non-malayalee…..these recipes are a bonus…..thank you…I’m going to try and let you know how they turn out
thanks u for this wounderful onam sadhya vibhavangal…….. happy onam
I prepared sadya for the first time and it came out really well. A very big thanks to you maya for your fab recipes.
Hi Maya,
Thank you so much for you recipes. I’m so grateul to you.
I have been following your sadya recipes for the last 2 years and they have all turned out really good. Every time I have to make a sadya for onam, vishu, and some other occasions, I always return to this blog to check the recipes. This onam I tried vada koottucurry for the first time and came out awesome.
Once again thankyou and keep up the great (yummy) work. 🙂
Hands down the best recipes are here for anyone who wants to make an authentic and delish Kerala sadya. Inji pulli, vada kootucurry, naranga curry, mambazha pullissery, boli are some of the things i tried out from here and they were all Finger lickin’ good!!!!
Thank you so much. Ur recipes helped a lot for my 1st sadya. I never thought I cud make a sadya widout ny guidance. Ur recipes helped me a lot. A person who has never cooked in her life can become a gud chef wid your receipe. Thanks again.
Really happy to know about that Meenal. Thanks a lot for taking time to write to me. Hope you get to try more of my recipes.
Awesome Mouth Watering !!!!!Post .
Dear Maya,
You made me nostalgic ,a good variety traditional kerala food items in front of me I feel it very tasty and want to have all of these now in this desert of Saudi Arabia.
Any way I will be on vacation next month for Christmas and decided to enjoy all those you served in front of me.
Thank You very much I appreciate your talent.
God Bless You
Varghese Gregory
vishu aashamsakal-to you and your family. sadya pic looks so yummy. do we get kani konna here in seattle by any chance?
Thanks Gayathri. I havent seen kani konna anywhere. The sadya pic was taken in India. Happy Vishu!
Hi..Maya…wonderful presentations…really tempting sadya dishes…Great Job 🙂
Thanks Rani 🙂
Dear Maya,
All your dishes are mouth-watering,I feel nostalgic and long go back to Kerala and get settled upon “tasting” your dishes prepared on Vishu.
In this desert of Saudi Arabia I cannot dream of such a “Sadya”.
You are blessed with talent .God Bless You.
Thank you so much for your kind words. Hope you will get to have a yummy sadya when you go for vacation next time.
Thank you very much for the well done job. God bless you. I learned a lot of ideas from your wonderful Recipes.
Best regards
hy look so yummy….will surely try few of them
http://www.pinterest.com/kumar65/onam-2014/
‘ HAPPY ONAM’ e vibavangalokke kanditt kayikkan kothiyavunnu. njan mambayapradman pareekshichu nokki.wowwwwww….. very taste.