2017 has given me the most fabulous onam celebrations that endured for a whole week. Today the 7th of September after a festive week of all that late night sleeps and the crave to know what onam was for our parents. The image of onam was pictured in us with all that traditional style that was passed down for years.
The first day started off with the preparation of the banana chips. It was made with the efforts of our kochammas. They had the raw banana sliced into equal shapes and then added it to the hot oil that was kept not on the gas stove instead on the natural fire that was supported by 4 block of bricks adjust to support the vessel. The oil had all the raw ones fry which gave it a lighter colour. It was seasoned with salt water for its taste. We had a new story to narrate to our lads. They had all their endeavoured to bring back the nostalgia of their era.
The next day was followed by the other Indian fries. These snacks not only fascinated children but also had hidden ingredients which was healthy to eat. We had the day full with homemade achappam, kozhalleappam , kalliyodekka aveloseunda and sharkera pazhatti. All of it had its own taste and shape that made is different from each other. Something that stroked me was about those mothers who had creativity hidden in them thou most of their life’s were within the 4 wall of the kitchen. Their creative in stings were brought out through their food. They had worked for hours to get that spark on their kid’s face. As now mothers bring happiness to their little ones from all the latest gadgets and junk foods that are built by the global market.
The achappam is a batter of coconut milk, egg, rice flour, sesame seeds and sugar, all beaten well to make it tastier. It is fried with a help of an iron mould that is in a flower shape. It is half dipped into the mixture and left it on the boiling oil then it is separated from the mould and left it to fry till it get its colour.
Kozhalleappam’s dough was not that perfect to its taste but with the herculean task that we had taken for it, made the day splendid. The memories of the whole family together in a kitchen were so much fun. While our grandmas who had done all of these without anyone’s help or support, was something that is to be thought off. We had the dough shaped into small pipe shape. The snacks were all small in size but big stuffs in it.
The next day was the day before the thiruvonam. We had to start with the preparation of sadhya. We children had our hands on the onions and gingers. We were assigned to get its shells peeled off while the pickles were prepared by our mothers. We had our whole family divided into groups for the preparation with the dishes. So we had our fathers on the meat curry and our moms on the vegetable cutting. We had a splendid day with all the pre preparations.
The big day of the golden era had finally arrived. We were all present at our tharavade early to bring the long week’s production to victory. We children were so anxious for the output. This day our fathers were allotted with ada payasam recipe while our mothers busy with the sambar, avail, thoraan etc. We children had to follow the tradition of spreading the floral carpet to welcome the Mavyali. We had coloured salt replacing flower petals as now innovative ideas can create a better tomorrows. Which I think is more economical and long lasting. We had the colours spread well in a pattern with a perfect designed to form a pleasant mat at our varandha. Our hands had different colours that we tend to wash it off on each other. But we had to stop it, as our parents had their hot spoons threatening us.
Then we ran to our rooms to get cleaned and fit into the onam kodi. We girls had thoughts to be draped in onam saree. But our hungry stomachs stopped us for all that pins piling up to get the perfect pleats steady. So we were on long skirts and tops and the boys on their muda and shirts.
We had all the dishes ready after the elaborate construction of the Kerala cuisine with 11 to 12 dishes that makes it a 9 course meal. This made the lunch delicious. We had to eat on the banana leaf that was spread in the right direction with every dish having its own place and order in the leaf.
We had it being with banana fries and jaggery snack and it’s stopped with rice. The Kerala cuisine consist of banana, pickles, pachadi, parippu, erissery, sabar, avail,thoranne, padadam etc. All placed in the charted rule. We had not ended it with veggies instead we added kappa, pork, beef and fish curry to our recipe to make it nothing less for a carnivores.
The meal had rice, pachadi with sliced ash gourd, pineapple along with granny of coconut and mustard seeds with spices to give its taste. Sambar and avail was a combination of all chopped vegetables. Paripu curry a simple lentil dish with coconut oil. Bundles of nutritious filled our tummies. Our sadhya wouldn’t be better with a thoran, erissery and papadam. The end of the meal is with payasam that was prepared by our fathers. All our hand on the dishes some way or the other made the food more appetizing. Then we had clicked pictures to make the day memorable.
Our bellies were full and a whole week of less sleep, doze ourselves to the nearby sofas. Then by tea time we were all awake to have hot tea with our snacks
Then the next day we had all our crackers busted with sparks of lights in our eyes. The week of fun was not over. We decided to end our onam with a small tour to Thiruvanathapuram to see the onam celebration of Kerala tourist department.
We had our next day packed with one day cloths and drove to the capital in two cars. We reached there by lunch time so we went to have a good lunch at thakaram . That is something to tell, the sadhya over there was too delectable then we had small naps at our stay place to boast up our energy for the evening. We got out by 6 and had our cars parked far away from the event. We walked to the sight with all in enthusiasm. We had our eyes filled with colourful twinkling light patterns. We got a chance to enter the Kerala Legislative Assembly. Then we had our day dinner with the famous kayithal chicken filled with pepper that is known for no cholesterol dish. The dish’s spice was balanced with lime juice that we drank unconditionally.
Onam 2017 has created a picturesque sketch which will be eternal in our hearts. Thanksgiving to lord almighty will not be enough for such rare family for their attempts of regenerating the fated festival traditions for us. Yes we have something to pass onto our future generation. But will our desire and quench to know the culture and tradition, be seen in our children too?
The first day started off with the preparation of the banana chips. It was made with the efforts of our kochammas. They had the raw banana sliced into equal shapes and then added it to the hot oil that was kept not on the gas stove instead on the natural fire that was supported by 4 block of bricks adjust to support the vessel. The oil had all the raw ones fry which gave it a lighter colour. It was seasoned with salt water for its taste. We had a new story to narrate to our lads. They had all their endeavoured to bring back the nostalgia of their era.
The next day was followed by the other Indian fries. These snacks not only fascinated children but also had hidden ingredients which was healthy to eat. We had the day full with homemade achappam, kozhalleappam , kalliyodekka aveloseunda and sharkera pazhatti. All of it had its own taste and shape that made is different from each other. Something that stroked me was about those mothers who had creativity hidden in them thou most of their life’s were within the 4 wall of the kitchen. Their creative in stings were brought out through their food. They had worked for hours to get that spark on their kid’s face. As now mothers bring happiness to their little ones from all the latest gadgets and junk foods that are built by the global market.
The achappam is a batter of coconut milk, egg, rice flour, sesame seeds and sugar, all beaten well to make it tastier. It is fried with a help of an iron mould that is in a flower shape. It is half dipped into the mixture and left it on the boiling oil then it is separated from the mould and left it to fry till it get its colour.
Kozhalleappam’s dough was not that perfect to its taste but with the herculean task that we had taken for it, made the day splendid. The memories of the whole family together in a kitchen were so much fun. While our grandmas who had done all of these without anyone’s help or support, was something that is to be thought off. We had the dough shaped into small pipe shape. The snacks were all small in size but big stuffs in it.
The next day was the day before the thiruvonam. We had to start with the preparation of sadhya. We children had our hands on the onions and gingers. We were assigned to get its shells peeled off while the pickles were prepared by our mothers. We had our whole family divided into groups for the preparation with the dishes. So we had our fathers on the meat curry and our moms on the vegetable cutting. We had a splendid day with all the pre preparations.
The big day of the golden era had finally arrived. We were all present at our tharavade early to bring the long week’s production to victory. We children were so anxious for the output. This day our fathers were allotted with ada payasam recipe while our mothers busy with the sambar, avail, thoraan etc. We children had to follow the tradition of spreading the floral carpet to welcome the Mavyali. We had coloured salt replacing flower petals as now innovative ideas can create a better tomorrows. Which I think is more economical and long lasting. We had the colours spread well in a pattern with a perfect designed to form a pleasant mat at our varandha. Our hands had different colours that we tend to wash it off on each other. But we had to stop it, as our parents had their hot spoons threatening us.
Then we ran to our rooms to get cleaned and fit into the onam kodi. We girls had thoughts to be draped in onam saree. But our hungry stomachs stopped us for all that pins piling up to get the perfect pleats steady. So we were on long skirts and tops and the boys on their muda and shirts.
We had all the dishes ready after the elaborate construction of the Kerala cuisine with 11 to 12 dishes that makes it a 9 course meal. This made the lunch delicious. We had to eat on the banana leaf that was spread in the right direction with every dish having its own place and order in the leaf.
We had it being with banana fries and jaggery snack and it’s stopped with rice. The Kerala cuisine consist of banana, pickles, pachadi, parippu, erissery, sabar, avail,thoranne, padadam etc. All placed in the charted rule. We had not ended it with veggies instead we added kappa, pork, beef and fish curry to our recipe to make it nothing less for a carnivores.
The meal had rice, pachadi with sliced ash gourd, pineapple along with granny of coconut and mustard seeds with spices to give its taste. Sambar and avail was a combination of all chopped vegetables. Paripu curry a simple lentil dish with coconut oil. Bundles of nutritious filled our tummies. Our sadhya wouldn’t be better with a thoran, erissery and papadam. The end of the meal is with payasam that was prepared by our fathers. All our hand on the dishes some way or the other made the food more appetizing. Then we had clicked pictures to make the day memorable.
Our bellies were full and a whole week of less sleep, doze ourselves to the nearby sofas. Then by tea time we were all awake to have hot tea with our snacks
Then the next day we had all our crackers busted with sparks of lights in our eyes. The week of fun was not over. We decided to end our onam with a small tour to Thiruvanathapuram to see the onam celebration of Kerala tourist department.
We had our next day packed with one day cloths and drove to the capital in two cars. We reached there by lunch time so we went to have a good lunch at thakaram . That is something to tell, the sadhya over there was too delectable then we had small naps at our stay place to boast up our energy for the evening. We got out by 6 and had our cars parked far away from the event. We walked to the sight with all in enthusiasm. We had our eyes filled with colourful twinkling light patterns. We got a chance to enter the Kerala Legislative Assembly. Then we had our day dinner with the famous kayithal chicken filled with pepper that is known for no cholesterol dish. The dish’s spice was balanced with lime juice that we drank unconditionally.
Onam 2017 has created a picturesque sketch which will be eternal in our hearts. Thanksgiving to lord almighty will not be enough for such rare family for their attempts of regenerating the fated festival traditions for us. Yes we have something to pass onto our future generation. But will our desire and quench to know the culture and tradition, be seen in our children too?
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