I grew up watching my father take over the kitchen on day prior to the Onam Sadya.
He gave us kids chores to do, and even directed my Mom with some of the dishes.
But he was in charge. Cooking, timing, planning and the works.
All to deliver an exquisite, thoughtful, tasty Onam Sadya on ThiruOnam.
Including couple of Payasams (kheers) - his masterpiece.
Every year, we used to look forward to it.
Sadya was Onam and Onam was Sadya!
The harvest festival is about food, isn't it?
So why not?
The planning was meticulous.
All the veggies for Aviyal, kichadi, thoran and sambar was pre-cooked, grated and prepped for the next day, when the symphony began.
He would be up at 4 in the morning to orchestrate this symphony just as a maestro would.
One could hear coconut grating constantly, coconut goes into quite a few of the dishes in various forms - grated, sliced, milked, & ground.
A quick breakfast (steamed nendran), just enough to give us all some energy, would keep us going until 1230 when we would all sit down at our respective vazhai-elai (banana leaf) to start enjoying the sadya.
Achchan passed away 12 years ago, but I keep the tradition alive.
Every year. With the same passion and commitment.
But now with organic ingredients almost exclusively from Bio Basics.
Now entertaining friends who are new to Onam and the Kerala cuisine.
Sharing and showing the sequencing and positioning of various dishes on the elai (banana leaf).
Describing the dishes (almost 16 of them), wowing them with the meticulous operations that preceded it all.
Neeru starts with the cutting, Ramesh helps out with laying out the leaves & the table, and Nitya is at the stove for hours.
Among the 4 of us, we prepare and serve sadya for over 11 people.
And then do it twice during Onam.
Good thing, Onam is spread over 10 days, traditionally!
Aside from the harvest, Onam celebrates food, tradition, diversity of dishes, festival of flavours.
Celebrating across castes and religions.
Because food connects us all like God does.
Here's to Onam.
To sadya prepared at home.
Using ingredients that are clean and safe.
Prepared by hand, eaten by hand.
This is the closest we come to Nature, God and everything good in life!
Happy Onam.
