The most memorable event in everyone's life is celebrating festivals with family and friends. And if we look deeper, what brings beautiful memories, is apparently the fun and food. Food is an integral part of many festivals and each festival has its own special delicacies like Thandai for Holi, Sweets and savouries for Diwali, Sweet Pongal for Pongal etc. Among all the festivals, there is only one festival which always brings me a nostalgic feeling of a grand feast. Yeah ! You guessed it right, it's the ONAM Sadya :)
Our three years stay at the God's own country was true bliss. Apart from the gastronomic memories, it also brings me nightmares of my first day house cleaning when we shifted to kerala. Though we rented a beautiful apartment with a lovely scenery, the cockroaches gave me a challenging task as I had my 6 month old son with me. Cockroaches are a major cause of all types of infections like Food Poisoning, Typhoid, Cholera, Diarrhoea, Dysentery and other stomach related infections. They carry germs as well as bacteria from drains and contaminate food and utensils. Kids are the first ones to get such types of infections; so as a Mother, it remains my responsibility to maintain a hygienic place by eliminating these hidden pests from house. / #SayNoToFoodPoisoning
I was lucky enough to get a lovely neighbour on the very first day who helped me to get rid of the hidden cockroaches by giving LAL HIT. I was really impressed by the effectiveness of the product and was surprised by its Fresh Fragrance. The Deep Reach Nozzle is a value - add to the product as it helps reach the unreachable places like sink, cracks, under the cylinder etc where the cockroaches hide safely. According to me, LAL HIT is a user friendly, safe and completely mess-free product.
In a week, the ONAM celebration started in our apartment and since my cleaning was made easy, I happily invited my neighbours for a feast. Onam is a Hindu festival which is celebrated in the state of Kerala in India. Onam falls in the month of Changam, which is considered as the first month according to the Malayalam Calendar. It is a 10 day festival which is celebrated in memory of King Mahabali. The first day of Onam is called Atham followed by Chithira, Chodhi, Vishakham, Anizham, Thriketa, Moolam, Pooradam, Uthradam and concludes with Thiruvonam. Atham and Thiruvonam are the most important among all.
People of Kerala welcome King Mahabali with beautiful Pookkalams in front of their houses. Pookkalam or Onapookkalam is a flower arrangement which is made on the floor using several varieties of flowers. Onam Sadya is another requisite part of Thiruvonam as it reflects the spirit of the season. The Sadya is a complete vegetarian platter which is traditionally made with seasonal vegetables like yam, ash gourd, cucumber etc served on plantain leaves. The platter has a minimum of 10 varieties of dishes which predominantly includes plantain chips, shakkarameratti, injipuli, Thoran , Olan, Puliseri, Pachadi, Erisheri, Avial, Payasam, Araichivita Sambhar, Rasam, Payasam, Unniyapam and Papadam. Traditionally it is served with Matta rice which has been now replaced with a regular white rice in many restaurants.
In my
today's post, I am going to share a tasty and easy onam Sadya recipe which is
prepared using Ash gourd and Black eyed peas called Olan. Olan is a light and
flavourful dish enriched with coconut milk. This is one of the important dishes
of the Sadya menu and it is also a less spicy dish. Apart from Ash gourd, pumpkin
or cucumber can also be used as its substitute.
Ingredients :
250 gms Ash gourd, cut
into small pieces
1 cup Black eyed peas,
cooked
2 Green
chillies,slitted
1 Tsp Cumin seeds
3 Sprigs of Curry leaves
1 cup Thin Coconut milk
( 1/4 cup Thick milk + 3/4 cup water )
3/4 cup Thick coconut
milk
1/2 cup Water
1 Tsp Coconut oil
Method :
Take chopped ash guard
pieces in a pan along with cumin seeds, green chillies and curry leaves.
Add salt followed by
the measured thin coconut milk.
Cover the pan with a
lid and cook till it gets 3/4 th cooked.
Now add the cooked
black eyes peas and cook it further till the ash gourd gets completely cooked.
Now add thick coconut
milk and cook in a low flame.
Once it starts boiling,
switch off the flame.
Add coconut oil and one
sprig of curry leaves to the prepared Olan.
Keep it aside for few
minutes to bring out the flavour.
Serve hot.
Serving options :
Serve with hot rice.
Do try this delicious Olan recipe as Onam is
around the corner. Also I hope that this article is useful and helped you in
making you aware of the dangers around us which leads to many infections. LAL HIT is an effective solution which indeed reduces the efforts of
cleaning to lead a healthy and hygienic lifestyle. Don't let insects to ruin
your healthy lifestyle. Regular usage of this product as against using it only
during festive days will help us to maintain a hygienic surroundings. And
finally, this is worth a buy product as it gives an excellent
results. / #SayNoToFoodPoisoning
For more details about
the product, Click HERE !
Happy Advance Onam
wishes to all my friends :)
This is a nice and simple recipe.. I will make it as my hubby likes light and bland food. He will love it.
ReplyDeleteFirst time to encounter this dish, I must say it's really interesting.
ReplyDeleteA delicious preparation Priya. I've always wondered how ash gourd is used and now I know.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing nice article with us .Happy Holi Messages 2019 | Happy Holi Images 2019 | Happy Holi Whatsapp Status 2019
ReplyDelete