Top 10 Traditional Recipes To Celebrate Onam

With Onam right around the corner, every Kerala household is setting themselves up for the festivities. Onam is the epitome of prosperity and is considered a brand new beginning for every Keralite. Onam also fills the platter by getting everyone back to their roots in the most traditional cuisine. These special dishes are not frequent or on a regular basis because of their specialty. Let us make this onam a grand one by getting a better sneak peek at these traditional Onam sadya dishes.

Best 10 Traditional Onam Recipes

1. Aviyal

Aviyal is itself royalty when it comes to all the other dishes on the sadya. It is almost every malayalis and non- malayalis favorite dish. Let us look into the aviyal recipe with vegetables like Yam, Drumstick, Cluster Beans, Snake gourd, Raw Banana, and Carrot Cucumber

Peel every vegetable and cut them up into 2” long shapes.
Grind the coconut, green chilli and cumin seeds into a coarse paste with little water.
Wash and cook vegetables in a pot of water and add a little bit of turmeric. Wait till the vegetables are half-cooked.
Make a small well between the half cooked vegetables and add in the grinded mixture and close the lid.
After 5 minutes, open the lid and add curd and curry leaves and mix for a minute. If you are using raw mango, you can skip this step.
Keep the flame to low and make sure that all the vegetables are well-cooked and have blended well.
Once cooked, add in curry leaves and a little bit of coconut oil over top of the mixture.
The dish is ready to go!

2. Erissery

Erissery is a lip-smacking mildly-spicy dish. This is again a blend of coconut and garlic. Let us give a quick look:

Soak the red cow beans overnight. Then take the soaked beans and pressure cook it with chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt for 4-5 whistles.
Once the beans are cooked, add in the pumpkin and cook until soft.
Slowly mash the pumpkin to form a thick mixture.
Grind coconut, garlic, green chilly and small onions coarsely.
Add this paste to the pumpkin-beans mixture.
For tempering, heat a pan with oil and add dry chillies, mustard seeds, curry leaves and let them sputter.
Add this tempering over the pumpkin, bean and coconut mixture.
Serve hot.

3. Pulissery

Pulissery is a sweet and sour curd based dish. It is served as an ozhichu curry, which means it’s eaten together with rice and other curries. It is a very light and heart-warming dish.

Cook ripe banana with water along with chilly, turmeric, and chilly powder. Put down the flame once the banana is soft.
Grind coconut, cumin seeds, garlic, curry leaves with curd to paste.
Add this paste to the banana mixture and mix them thoroughly in a low flame.
Once the banana mixture blends well with the paste; add in the rest of the curd and mix well.
In a pan, add some oil. To it, add dry chilly, curry leaves, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and let it sputter.
Pour this mixture into the banana curd mixture.
Enjoy the sweet and sour pulissery.

4. Pachadi

Pachadi is a traditional delicacy which is a different take on the cucumber raita. In this, we add ground coconut which enhances the flavour and texture of the curry.

Grind coconut, cumin seeds, and green chilli and mustard seeds into a coarse paste. Add in water and grind to get a smooth texture.
Peel and dice the cucumber into small pieces and add it into a pan and add water to cook them thoroughly.
Once the cucumber is cooked, add the ground paste and mix well.
Once blended well, add beaten curd into the warm mixture and mix well.
You can also give in a tempering with dried chillies, curry leaves and mustard seeds.

5. Paal Payasam

Paal Payasam or Rice Kheer is a very easy to make dessert recipe and one among the prominent ones in Onam Sadya. Its simplicity but regality makes it irresistible for anyone’s appetite.

Boil 5 cups of milk in a pan.
Add in the soaked rice and cook well.
Once the rice is cooked, mash them up to form a creamy consistency.
Add in another cup of milk to retain the flowing consistency.
Add in sugar.
Stir well and make sure that the sugar is completely dissolved.
Pour in roasted nuts and cardamom powder into the payasam.
Serve hot or serve chilled.

6. Palada payasam

Palada payasam will be a Kerala dessert which might have no haters at all. A good palada payasam has the ability to evoke mind and body alike into a fine tune of taste.

Boil water and add ada to it to cook them well.
After 10-15 mins remove from flame and run in cold water so that the ada doesn’t overcook.
Take a saucepan and boil milk and sugar together till the quantity becomes half of what you had poured in initially.
Once reduced, add ada and mix thoroughly.
Once the consistency becomes creamy, switch the gas off.
Serve hot.

7. Olan

Olan is a delicious dish made with red cowpeas and white pumpkin with coconut milk. Let’s look at how it’s prepared:

Soak the cowpeas overnight and cook them the next day in a pressure cooker with enough salt.
The cowpeas should come out tender and cooked well.
Dice and chop the white pumpkin into small pieces.
Take a pan, sputter the mustard seeds and curry leaves and then add in the ash gourd.
Use water to boil the ash gourd or white pumpkin.
Make sure the ash gourd is cooked and there is little water remaining in the pan.
Add in the cowpeas without the stock to the cooked ash gourd in the pan.
Add one cup of thick coconut milk and heat them up, do not boil.
Add curry leaves, your dish is ready to serve.

8. Kalan

Kalan is a curd or yoghurt based dish which is a traditional accompaniment during festive seasons in Kerala.

Take a pan and add sliced or cubed raw plantain and yam into it.
Add chilli, curry leaves, turmeric, chilli powder, pepper.
Add water to the mixture and bring it to a boil.
Once the contents are half-cooked, add in methi powder and salt to it.
Boil and make sure the vegetables are cooked thoroughly.
Prepare a masala paste with coconut, cumin seeds and green chilli and add that into the vegetables and mix well until the raw smell wears off.
Turn off the flame and add the beaten curd into it.
Mix them into a silky smooth consistency.
Add tempering and serve hot.

9. Ulli Theeyal

Ulli Theeyal is a very simple and easy dish to make.Let us see how:

Roast all spices and curry powders.
Add coconut to it and roast it till it changes its colour to dark brown but do not burn it.
Cool the mixture and then grind it using a blender.
Add water to make it into a fine paste.
Heat coconut oil and splutter mustard, methi, pinch hing and few curry leaves.
Add in shallots, turmeric and salt and saute for a minute
Once the shallots shrink, add tamarind extract and mix well.
Boil the mixture.
Add in the coconut paste.
Add water and boil the mixture.
Cut off the flame when it becomes thick enough
Serve hot.

10. Dates Puli Inji

It’s a slightly different take on the usual inji puli served during sadhya.

Boil tamarind in water for 5 minutes and wait for 15 minutes for it to cool down.
Squeeze and prepare the tamarind extract.
Heat oil and fry ginger and chilly and turn off the flame once the ginger is golden brown in colour.
Add dates and then fry for a minute.
Strain and add the tamarind water and salt to taste and mix well.
Boil on medium flame and bring it to a jam-like consistency.

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