Recipe: Pradhaman

Well, we have been looking at recipes of side dishes of Onam. Let us take a detour now and see how we can prepare the dessert items. For Onam, the desserts prepared are different types of Payasams and Pradhamans. Pradhamans are prepared using coconut milk and jaggery (except in Palada Pradhaman) where as payasams are prepared using milk and sugar . There are some exceptions though.

There are different types of Pradhamans unique to Kerala. Some of the very famous ones being adapradhaman, chakkapradhaman, parippu pradhaman, idichu pizhinja payasam, aval pradhaman, wheat Pradhaman, etc.

Parippu Pradhamans are of different types. Pradhamans using only parippu(dal) or a combination of parippu and rice. Both Bengal gram dal and moong dal are used in preparing pradhaman.

Let us see how moong dal and rice pradhaman is prepared.

Parippu Pradhaman:
Ingredients

Moong dal : ¼ cup
Raw rice : ¼ cup
Jaggery 1 ½ cups
Coconut milk from 1 coconut
Or
Readymade coconut milk 1 tin
Ghee 2 tsp.

Preparation:

Grate the coconut and extract the milk thus:

1. Add 2 tbsp. of warm water and blend in the blender. Remove. Squeeze the milk out and strain the milk. Keep this 1st milk aside.
2. Put the coconut residue back into the blender add ½ cups of tepid water and blend in the blender. Remove. Squeeze the milk out and strain the milk. Keep this 2nd milk aside.
3. Put the residue back into the blender add 2 cups of tepid water and blend in the blender. Remove squeeze the milk out and strain the milk. Keep this 3rd milk aside.

When using readymade coconut milk, you are saved of this tedious procedure. Any day, fresh coconut milk squeezed tastes much better than canned coconut milk.

Dry roast the moong dal to light pink colour. Wash the rice and moong dal and cook in a pressure cooker in the 3rd milk, for three whistles. If using tinned coconut milk, cook with 2 tbsp. of coconut milk and 2 cups of water.

Melt the jaggery with a little water and strain to remove any impurities. Boil the jaggery syrup in a wide bottomed non-stick pan and add the cooked rice and dal. Boil until the mixture is thick. Add the 2nd coconut milk and boil again to reduce the water content (if using tinned milk add 1 cup of water and the ghee and boil once and add the remaining coconut milk. Remove from heat immediately). When the pradhaman starts thickening add 2 tsp. of ghee and boil for another 5 mitutes, stirring well, until well blended. Remove from heat. Add the first milk and stir constantly for 5 minutes, to blend in the first milk. After adding the first milk, the pradhaman should not be boiled.

Delicious Parippu Pradhaman is ready.

Recipe: Aviyal

Aviyal again is a dish prepared with as many vegetables as one can get. There is a legend about this dish. The maharaja of Travencore used to perform Murajapam everyyear, a vedic seminar, in which a large number of vedic scholars participated. One year it so happened that there was no vegetables left on the last day of the Murajapam.. Only few pieces of various vegetables left over from the previous days were available. The cook cut all the left overs into long thin pieces and prepared "Aviyal." The king liked the dish so much and presented him with a gold bracelet so much and ordered that this dish be served every year since then. All vegetables go in it, except perhaps, some mushy vegetables, like, tomato, brinjal, ladies fingers, cabbage, cauliflower, beetroot (it stains the dish), radish, turnip, onion, sweet potato, etc. Otherwise, all the following vegetables can be used, depending on the availability.
Raw Green plantain
Elephant yam (amorphopallus is the botanical name, Chena in Malayalam, chenai kizhangu in Tamil, Suvarna
gadde in Kannada, Jameenkhand in Hindi),
Chembu (colocasia, cheppam kizhangu in Tamil, arvi in
Hindi)
Snake gourd (Trichosanthes Anguina)
Pumpkin
Ash gourd
Carrot
Beans
Avarakkai (Saem in Hindi))
Chow Chow (Sechium edule, Bangalore Kathrikkai in
Malayalam and Tamil, Seeme badanakkaye in Kannada)
Thondekkai ( kova kkai in Tamil)
Lobia (payar in Malayalam, Karamani in Tamil, Halasinde in Kannada)
Green mango (raw)
Drumsticks
Raw jackfruit
A small quantity of bitter gourd can be used to give a tinge of bitterness

Since a variety of vegetables are used, we will need only very small quantity of each of them and also it is very difficult to prepare 2 servings or 4 servings. However, even if the prepared quantity is more than can be consumed, it keeps well for a couple of days under refrigeration. This can be frozen also.

Now for the recipe:
The preparation of aviyal is very simple.

Ingredients:
Vegetables: 250 gms of mixed vegetables.
Turmeric powder: 1tsp.
Grated fresh coconut :1½ cups
Green chillies: 5 to 8 nos. according to taste
Curds 3-4 tbsp lightly sour (if using raw mango, do not use curds)
Salt to taste
Curry leaves : a few
Coconut oil 2 tbsp. (it is the coconut oil which gives aviyal the aroma and taste, hence do not substitute)
Wash and cut all the vegetables lengthwise into 2" pieces(stick shape). Boil the vegetables until just done, with turmeric powder and salt. One should be careful not to overcook the vegetables: they should remain crisp.(There are some vegetables which cook very fast and some which take a long time. Keep adding the vegetables to the boiling water according to the cooking time, the longer cooking vegetables first and the quicker ones last) Grind the coconut with green chillies, without using water. Drain the vegetables. Put them in a wide mouthed large pan in mild heat, add the coconut mixture, beaten curds, curry leaves and coconut oil and gently toss for few minutes, until all the vegetables are coated with coconut and coconut oil. If using a spoon, be careful not to mash the vegetables. Remove from heat add fresh curry leaves.
ENJOY.

This aviyal can be used as a side dish for sambar rice or any other rice. If this has to be used as a main dish for rice, make the aviyal with a little more of beaten curds to get a gravy. One can use the water used for cooking the vegetable to make the gravy, if short of curds. Aviyal can be eaten with rice, dosa, chappathi or Poori. Our son relishes pooris with refrigerated aviyal.

Suggested accompaniments: Pappad

Thiruvonam

Another year, another Thiruvonam. In Kerala, there is a popular saying "I have eaten more Onam than you," to indicate one's seniority in age. Each Thiruvonam brings nostalgic memories of the Onam spent in Kerala during our childhood. We used to go out in the evenings searching the countryside for flowers and flowerbuds (we would put them in water so that they would blossom the next day). In the morning, we would collect the flowers from our own garden and those from the roadside fences. There were plenty of creepers on the fences with flowers of different hues. We would get up quite early, so that we would reach there before everyone else. Thankfully, to this day we have flowers in our own garden for the "pookalam." We used to get some flowers from the gardens on the road dividers on the ring roads, on our morning walk till a couple of years ago. Now there are only concrete dividers with iron grills. Beautifying the city!

We had a very busy morning, collecting flowers, making the pookalam, preparing the lunch, keeping the house ready for our guest. We prepared Sambar, kalan, aviyal, erissery, pachadi, puliinji, upperi, pappadam and payasam (rice and dal in coconut milk and jaggery). Our guest arrived early and he enjoyed the food. "The payasam was delicious," he said. My father used to like this payasam very much also, he said. (He is 78 years old, our guest, not his father).

Recipe: Sambar

Though preparations for Onam Sadya start days in advance, there are many things which can be done only on Onam day. Kalan and pulinji can be prepared one or two days in advance. Other delicacies have to prepared on the day of the feast.

There are varieties of Sambar prepared in the southern states, but the sambar prepared by Kerala Iyers beats them all. This sambar is prepared by grinding fresh spices. No readymade sambar powder is used here. Each time, the sambar is made, spices are ground fresh. We follow this system to this day.

Traditionally, vegetables like, ladies finger (okra), brinjal (eggplant), drum sticks, chembu(taro root/colacacia), avarakkai(snowpeas), pumpkin, ash gourd, etc. are used. In recent years, vegetables like capsicum (bell peppers), tomato, knolkhol, radish, methi leaves, etc. are all used (these were not used earlier since they were not available then). Radish sambar tastes especially great.

The sambar made out of a combination of all the above vegetables is known as kootu sambar and prepared for big feasts. It could be prepared in the combination of all the above or any of them or any other combination, depending on the availability. Each vegetable renders a special flavour to the dish.

Ingredients:

4 servings:

Since a variety of vegetables is used, a little of each vegetable is selected, totalling to 250gms.

Tamarind: size of a ping pong ball
Toor dal: ¾ cup
Coriander seeds : 1 tbsp.
Bengal gram dal:1 tbsp.
Methi seeds : ½ tsp
Hing(asafoetida) pea size
Red chillies : 5.
Grated coconut: 3 tbsp.
Turmeric powder :1 tsp.
Jaggery : a small piece
Salt to taste

Oil 1 tbsp.
Mustard seeds: 2 tsp.
Curry leaves: a few
Coriander leaves 1 tbsp. (optional)

Preparation:

Wash and cut the vegetables like pumpkin, ash gourd, radish,etc., into 2" cubes. Cut ladies finger, brinjal, drumstick, radish, avarakkai etc. into 2" long pieces. Pressure cook the dal with 1½ tsp turmeric powder and enough water to achieve a smooth consistency.

Heat 1 tsp oil and roast the hing, coriander seeds, Bengal gram dal, methi seeds, 4 red chillies and a few curry leaves to a light brown colour. Grind the roasted spices with the coconut gratings to a smooth paste.

Soak tamarind in warm water for ½ hr and extract the juice. Boil the tamarind extract and add the cut vegetables . Add salt and 1 tsp turmeric powder and cook till the vegetables are done. Mash the cooked dal and add to the tamarind, vegetable mixture and boil for another 5 mnts. Add the jaggery and ground paste. Boil for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add curry leaves and coriander leaves.

Heat the remaining oil in a small pan, add the mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add the cut red chillies and curry leaves and pour into the sambar.

ENJOY with Idli, sambar or rice.

Suggested accompaniments: Thoran, Erissery,Olan...

Recipe: Puliyodarai

Puliyodarai is a perennial favorite and an easy extension of puliinji.
To make 4 servings:

Rice 250 gms.
Coriander seeds 1 tbsp.
Bengal gram dal 1 tbsp.
Pepper corns 1 tsp.
Jeera ½ tsp.
Dry coconut (copra) grated 2 tbsp.
Fresh curry leaves: a few

Oil 2tsp.
Ground nuts: 1 tbsp.

Puliinji (of course): 2 tbsp.

Cook rice with just enough water and 1 tsp of gingelly oil, so that the grains are separate. Spread in a wide pan.

Dry roast, coriander seeds, Bengal gram dal, pepper corns and jeera until the coriander seeds and dal turn light pink. Keep aside for a while to cool and powder.

Heat the oil and add the ground nuts. When they are fried, remove from heat, add the curry leaves and grated copra and pour to the cooked rice. Add 2 tbsps of prepared Puliinji and the ground powder. Mix well and serve. Best eaten with a deep fried side like papads or chips or (yes) salty nendran chips.

Recipe: Puliinji

The main ingredients in this preparation, are tamarind(Puli) and ginger(Inji). Hence the name, Puliinji. In some parts, it is also known as Pulikachal. Traditionally, gingelly (til) oil is used in the preparation of Puliinji, this gives a special flavour to the dish. Any other oil could be used. The quantity given will make about 300 - 400ml of Pulinji. This Puliinji can be kept upto 6 months under refrigeration. Puliinji is a very tasty accompaniment for rice, curds rice, idli, dosa, chappathi, or Poori. It can also be used as sandwich filling.

Ingredients:

Tamarind : 250gms.
Ginger : 200gms
Green Chillies: 100gms
Gingelly oil : 1 cup
Jaggery : 200gms
Mustard seeds: 1 tbsp.
Split urad dal: 1 tbsp.
Bengal gram dal: 1 tbsp.
Curry leaves: a few
Red chillies : 3-4
Turmeric powder: 2 tsp.
Salt to taste

Gingelly seeds (Til or Ellu): 2 tbsp. (optional)

Preparation:
Soak tamarind in warm water for ½ hour and extract thick juice and keep aside. Slice the ginger and green chillies into very small pieces. Heat oil in a wide bottomed, thick pan. When the oil starts smoking, reduce the heat and add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add urad dal, Bengal gram dal, broken red chillies and curry leaves (in that order). Increase the heat. When the dals turn light brown in colour, add the sliced green chillies, fry for 2 minutes and add the sliced ginger. Fry for another 2 minutes and pour the tamarind extract. Add turmeric powder, salt and jaggery and allow the mixture to boil to a thick consistency.(about ½ hour ) When the oil starts floating on the surface, remove from heat.

Dry roast the til seeds and powder finely. Add this powder to the prepared Puliinji.

Enjoy!

This Puliinji is very versatile dish, as mentioned earlier. This can also be used for making Puliyodarai(a rice preparation). That will be my next post.

Recipe: Kalan update.

Next in the line of preparations ahead of Onam day, come Puliinji and Kalan. Both are prepared one or two days in advance. Preparation for Kalan begins atleast one week in advance, as the curds used must be sour. So, the left over curds of each day is kept separately for a few days, so that they will be sour by the time Kalan is prepared. A commenter on the earlier Kalan recipe post, had asked about curds separating while boiling it. The trick of curds not separating while boiling lies in using sour curds. Even in warm weather the curds do not go bad, the thick curds settles down and if there is any water content, it can be poured out. This thick sediment does not go stale, even for a week. In the olden days, when refrigerators were not around, gallons of curds were prepared and kept aside for preparation for Kalan for
big feasts like marriages. In colder weather, curds should necessarily be kept in room temperature at least for 3 - 4 days.

Recipe: Dhokla

If you are a bit more adventurous, you can try making
dhoklas.

1 cup besan
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 cup butter milk
1 tsp rava
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp coconut(optional)
Salt to taste
Soda bi carb a pinch

Mix all the ingredients except lemon juice and butter milk thoroughly. Add the lemon juice. Add butter milk little at a time stirring the mixture constantly. Add enough butter milk to get a dosa batter consistency.

Grease a plate and pour the mixture and steam for 7 minutes. Heat 1 tsp of oil, add hing, mustard, 1 tsp green chillies 1 tsp of ginger. Before pouring it onto the dokla, add 1 tbsp of water and pour on dhokla. Cut the dhokla into squares

Enjoy

Recipe: Bondas

Continuing with the besan theme, once you've made the batter for the bonda you need to make:
The stuffing for bondas:

Bondas can be made with only mashed potatoes or mixed vegetables. Mashed tapioca can also be used. For mixed vegetable:

Potato 1
Carrot 1
Beans 4
Capsicum 1 small piece
Peas 1 tsp

Chopped Green chillies 1 tsp
Chopped Ginger tsp.
Salt
Oil 1tsp
Mustard ½ tsp
Turmeric powder ½ tsp
Lemon juice 1 tsp(optional)
Coriander leaves

Any or all of the above vegetables may be used. Cook the vegetables and mash them thoroughly. Heat 1 tsp oil, add mustard seed. When they splutter, add the green chillies, ginger and mashed vegetables, salt and turmeric powder. Mix well. Remove from stove. Add coriander leaves and lemon juice(this gives an extra tingling taste) Make small balls of the mixture, dip in the besan paste and deep fry.

If using only potatoes, mash boiled potatoes and follow the same method.

Recipe: What to do with Besan (continued)

Basically you can make bajjis and bondas with besan. You need a little cornflour or riceflour to get an extra crispiness. A little soda bi-carbonate(cooking soda) is also needed.This is available as a big pack in the US. See if you can get a 100gm pack in Indian stores. Or you can borrow 4 tbsp from a friend who cooks more regularly(this quantity will be good for ½ kg besan).

The besan paste for dipping bajjis and bondas is same, except that for bondas you make it a bit more thicker than bajjis.

Bajjis can be made with any vegetable, like, chillies, red pumpkin, vazhakkai (plantain), karela (bitter gourd), brinjal, Bangalore kathrikkai, potatoes, onions(slice onions in rounds) and capsicum (green peppers).

The Paste:

For 4 - 8 bajjis:

Besan : 3 tbsp.
Rice flour or cornflour : 2 tsp.
Soda bi carb a pinch
Salt to taste
Chilli powder 1 tsp(do not add chilli powder if you are making chilli bajjis :))

Mix all the dry ingredients well. Make a paste by adding water little at a time and stirring the mixture constantly. You will get a smooth paste. For bajjis it can be a little thicker than dosa batter. For bondas you make it as thick as idli batter. Slice the vegetables into thin rounds or long pieces, dip them in the paste and deep fry in very hot oil.

What to do with Besan

While we go on and on about Onam (many more to come), I'm taking a brief detour here to put up some recipes that involve besan (chick pea flour). My handsome and very charming son called me the other day and told me he had bought some besan to see what he could make with it. Only one problem: he had no idea what to make with it. So to satisfy his immediate issue, a couple recipes here that involve besan as a main component. Then back to Onam blogging.

Recipe: Nendrankai Peel Thoran

Next are the Nendrankai peels.

A thoran (porial) with Nendrankai peels is the most favoured item of many Keralites. Many people go to the chips shops to get the peels that the shops discard anyway. The peels thoran is very tasty and nutritious.

Ingredients:

Nendrankai peels
Dry cowpeas 100gms
Coconut gratings 2 tbsp.
Green chillies 2 nos.
Curry leaves 1 sprig
Turmeric powder 1 tsp.
Cooking oil 2 tbsp.
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Split urad dal 1 tsp.
Salt to taste

(In Kerala coconut oil is used, which renders a
special flavour to the curry}

Preparation:

Soak the cowpeas overnight. Drain the water Slit the nendrankai peels intothin strips lengthwise, about ½ cm wide. Then cut them into tiny pieces about ½ cm square. Pressure cook the cowpeas and peel pieces, with enough water for three whistles. Cool, remove and drain the excess water. Heat the oil, add the mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add the urad dal. When the dal turn light pink in colour, add the curry leaves and the boiled vegetable and cowpeas. Add turmeric powder and salt and stir fry until all the water is evaporated and the vegetables get coated with the oil. Grind the coconut with green chillies and add to the vegetables and stir fry for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat.

ENJOY

More Onam recipes to follow

Recipe: Sweet Nendran Chips

Fresh green Nendran bananas 2 nos.
Jaggery 1 cup
Dry ginger powder 2 tsp.
Granulated sugar 1 tbsp.
Oil for frying

Peel the nendran bananas. Reserve the peels. Slit the banana lengthwise and slice into ¼" - 1/3" thick pieces. Heat the oil and fry the banana pieces to a light brown colour. Do not add salt. Drain and cool.

Grate the jaggery and boil in a cup of water. Strain to remove any impurities. Reheat the strained syrup to a thick consistency (2 or 3 threads. When a drop of the syrup is poured into cold water, the syrup should make a firm ball, like a marble) in a thick bottomed, non stick pan. Remove from heat, add the dry ginger powder and the fried chips. Stir constantly until the chips are well coated with the jaggery syrup. Add granulated sugar and continue stirring until the syrup is dry and the chips are separated from one another.

Having made the chips and stored, a big preparation for Onam is done.

Recipe: Salty Nendran Chips

Fresh green Nendran banana (not the ripe one) : 2 nos.
Salt ¾ tsp.
Oil to fry

Wash and pat dry the nendran bananas. Remove the skin by inserting the knife at the angles. Draw a line lengthwise along the angle with the knife about 0.1 to 0.2 inches deep. The skin will come off as one peel. (the peeled bananas may be put in a basin containing water to remove the staining secretion from the bananas). Don't throw away the peels! Slice the bananas thin into rounds or slit the banana into four and slice them into quarters. Dissolve the salt in ¼ cup of water. Heat oil to smoking point, reduce heat and deep fry the banana pieces in batches. When the chips are golden yellow in colour, reduce the heat, sprinkle 1 tbsp of salt solution into the oil. Fry for 2 more minutes. Drain. Spread on a paper towel to remove the extra oil. When cool, store in a tin with a tight lid.

1. Be careful, when sprinkling the salt solution into the hot oil. Take care not to burn your fingers due to the splashing oil . Keep the heat at the lowest so that the oil does not overflow.

2. Be careful not to get the secretion from the raw bananas onto your clothes. The clothes may get a black stain which will be very difficult to remove.

3. Apply little bit of cooking oil on the palms to avoid the fingers becoming black.

Onam Sadhya

Onam Sadhya or Onam lunch is the most important feature of Onam. As I said earlier there is a big spread of a variety of vegetable curries and pickles and payasams and deep fried snacks.

Preparations start days in advance, the first ones being Upperi varukkal or making chips.

Two types of chips are made during Onam, both with Nendran banana (a special kind of plantains), one salty and the other sweet.

These and more will be described in future posts.

Onam

Onam or Thiruvonam, as it is popularly known, is the most popular festival of Kerala. This festival is celebrated for 10 days, starting from Atham or Hastham. The tenth day after atham is Onam. Onam celebration continues for a couple of days more after Thiruvonam. It is celebrated in the Malayalam month of Chingam(between August 15 and September 15).

The legend is that long ago, an asura King by name Mahabali was ruling our country. Mahabali was the grandson of the great Prahlada. (Lord Vishnu had taken Narasimha avatara to prove to Prahalda's father that God is present everywhere and to slay the cruel king, who was torturing all those that worshipped the lord Mahavishnu). King Mahabali was a very kind and benevolent king who took care of his subjects very lovingly. During his rule, people were very happy and content. A popular Malayalam folk song says that during the rule of Mahabali, all people were alike(there was no discrimination on the basis of caste, creed or status), people did not have any fear of anything or anyone else, there was no cheating, no theft and not an iota of falsehood. The king became so popular that Gods in the heaven started fearing of their downfall. The Gods prayed to Lord Mahavishnu to arrest his rising popularity. Lord Mahavishnu took birth as the son of Aditi and Kasyapa, as Vamana(the dwarf). He visited Mahabali as a dwarf bramachari, when the king was performing a yagna. The charisma of the young boy was such that the king himself rose to welcome this unexpected guest and offered him a seat. The king asked Vamana what gift he wanted. Vamana humbly said, he wanted only three feet of land. The king urged him to ask for more expensive gifts, but Vamana did not want anything more than 3 feet of land. The king's guru, Sukracharya, with his divine sight at once knew the boy was no ordinary Brahmin and advised the king not to yield to the boys wish. The king did not want to go back on his promise and arranged for the ceremonial offering. Sukracharya hid himself in the nozzle of the king's water vessel, to block the water from the pot (During any ceremonial offering, as the offering is made to the receiver, water is poured on the hands of the receiver, as if to indicate the giver is washing off his right of the gift). Vamana poked a stick to remove the block and Sukracharya was blinded in one eye. As soon as the ceremonial offering was made by the King, Vamana's stature grew and with his one step he measured the whole earth and the sky, with the second one he measured the Patlaloka and he asked the king, where to measure his third step. The humbled king, who by now realised his guest was none other than the Lord, knelt before Vamana bowing his head and requested the Lord to put his third step on his head, for who can be more blessed to have the Lord's foot on his head. With his third step Vamana pushed Mahabali to Pathalaloka, but before going down to Pathalaloka, the benevolent king asked for a wish. His wish was that he should be permitted to visit his subjects once a year. The wish was granted and it is on Thiruvonam day, every year that the good king visits his subjects. That is why, the whole of Kerala make preparations well ahead of Thiruvonam to welcome their good old king, in all pomp and gaiety and make their homes as joyful as they were during Mahabali's rule. They decorate their houses and prepare grand feasts. There is a saying in Malayalam "Kaanam vittum Onam Unnanum"(One has to celebrate Onam, even if he has to sell his agricultural land).

This festival is celebrated by all Malayalees across the board. People of all religions celebrate Onam. It is the harvest festival of Kerala. After the Kallakarkitakam(the worst month of monsoon furies) the whole of Kerala is full of blossoms of all kinds to welcome Ponnin Chingam(golden Chingam), The preparations for Onam begins much earlier to Atham. As Kerala's farmers harvest their first crop, they offer it to God, which is known as Illam Nira. Few sheaves of the harvested crops are taken to the temple by all. After the Pooja, the sheaves are broght back home as the "prasad" to the accompaniment of chorus of Nira, Nira, Nirayo Nira, Illam Nira, Vallam Nira, Nira Nira Poli Poli(Let there be bountiful everywhere, at home, in the granary, everywhere). One or two sheaves is pasted in all rooms and the remaining sheaves are hung as a bunch in the centre hall of the house.

During this month there is a bountiful harvest of all vegetables and Kerala's own Nendran banana and the landscape is strewn with flowers of all colours and sizes.

Starting from Atham day, girls and womenfolk decorate their front yard with fresh flowers, known as Pookalam. The sumptuous Onasadhya or Onam lunch is the most important feature of Onam. A grand lunch is prepared on Onam day, which includes rice as the main course, with varieties of vegetable curries. Some of the vegetable specialitiesprepared on Onam day are, Sambar, Kalan, Olan, Aviyal, Thoran (Nendrankai peel thoran), Erisssery, Pulissery, Kichadi, Pachadi, Kootukari, Puliinji and Narangacurry. Along with these vegetable preparations, Valiya pappadam(big papad), banana chips(salty as well as sweet), and Pazha Nurukku are also served. The dessert comprises two or more varieties of Payasams like Ada Pradhaman, Parippu Pradhaman or Chakka Pradhaman or Pal Payasam. (I shall try to give the recipes for the above later).

After the Onam lunch, the womenfolk get together and sing and dance, which is known as Kaikottikali or Thirvathirakali. The menfolk used to engage in Villupattu an instrumental music played on the bows made of wood.

In the southern parts of Kerala, which are lined with back waters and rivers, boat racing is conducted during Onam.

It is a major festival in many of the temples and there are many legends for the various celebrations in the different temples.

Pilgrimage to Dwaraka and Somnath

We (Amma, Vichuathan, Suguna Akka, Maniathan (v.athan's cousin), his wife and I) just got back after a pilgrimage to Dwaraka and Somnath in Gujarat. We had a nice and comfortable and enjoyable trip. The weather particularly was very nice, no rains at all to drench us, no floods to block the roads, just warm and nice and sunny and never hot. The stay was comfortable too. We had good darshan of Lord Dwarakadish, Nageshwar and Somnath.

We left Bombay on the 18th evening by train and reached Dwaraka on the 19th by 3.30pm. We had darshan of Dwarakadish and some more temples and places of interest on that day. On the 20th we went on a conducted tour to Nageshwar in Darukavan (one of the jyothirlingas in Gujarat).This place was a big forest until a few years ago and a new temple has been constructed around the jyothirlinga by Gulshan Kumar of T series fame. There is also a big statue of Siva outside the temple, just like the one we have in Bangalore outside Kempfort on Airport road.

After Darukavan, we visited Gopitalab, where the 16108 gopikas are said to have turned into mud. The sedimentary mud of this tank is used as Gopichandan (which is worn on the forehead).

Next was Bet Dwaraka, which is an island in the Arabian Sea. This is the place where Sudhama met Lord Krishna with avil at his wife's insistence. We reach this place by a mechanized boat. This was the place where Lord Krishna lived. The one which we visited the previous day was his administrative block.

From Bet Dwaraka, we went to Rukmini temple, which was inside a forest, all of which has been cleared now and a temple built. This was the place where Devi Rukmini spent 12 years in isolation due to the curse of Rishi Durvasa.

The next in our itinerary was Somnath. As there were only two buses to Somnath from Dwaraka (which offers a tour of places of importance enroute) at 7.30 and 2.30 pm and the bus which leaves at 2.30 reaches Somanth at 10.30 pm, we decided to spend that evening in Dwaraka and take the bus which leaves at 7.30 am the next day.

The evening was spent in walking around River Gomti behind Dwarkadish temple, where the river meets the Arabian Sea and visiting the temple once again.

On the 21st morning, we left by the 7.30am bus, which left at 8 am. The first stop was at Harshad Matha temple. The Devi here is said to be Varadayini. From there we went to Mooldwarka, which was where Krishna had his residence when he ran away from Mathura with his clan. Later on he shifted to Bet dwarka.
After Mooldwaraka, we stopped at Porbandar to see Sudhama's hut turned palace due to Krishna's blessings. Porbandar is also the birth place of Gandhiji. They also have a big ship breaking yard in Porbandar.

We reached Somnath at 3.30pm and checked into a guest house. After a late lunch and bath we left to go around Somnath. First was the floating lingam in the Arabian sea (Somnath is another jyotirlinga in Gujarat. Somnath is historically very important. This is the place Mohammad Gazni invaded 17 times and destroyed the temple and cut the lingam into pieces and threw in the sea. The pieces that were thrown into the sea grew into full lingams and are still floating in the sea. The local Brahmins brought some pieces and hid them. Later on Ahalyabai Holkar built a temple near the seashore which is the Prachin Somnath temple. Another new temple has been built by the sea shore, which is a national monument.

The place where Lord Krishna was shot by a hunter has been made into a monument. After being shot by the hunter Lord Krishna does Swargarohan at Triveni Sangam, at the confluence of Harini, Kapila and Saraswathi rivers. There is also a cave here, which is said to be the point from where Lord Balrama, the incarnation of Adisesha, returned to his abode at Patalloka.

After these places, we went to the Prachin temple built by Ahalyabai and then to the new temple at the shores of the Arabian Sea. The view of the sea from the precincts of the temple is just beautiful. Just sitting there and watching the sea is BLISS.

On the morning of 22nd, we had a quick darshan of Lord Somnath at the Prachin and new temple and did pooja and abhishek and started on our return journey. We were taking the train from Rajkot, some 350kms away from Somnath. We rented a Tata Sumo, so that we could see some more places en route. We drove thru the famous Gir forest area. We had a short stop at Junagadh, where a lion sanctuary is located. We didn't go inside, as we did not have time. We went to visit the Samadhi of Jalram Bapa, who was a great saint of Maharashtra, where free Prasad is distributed to all visitors. After partaking the Prasad (our lunch), we drove straight to Rajkot station, half an hour before the expected arrival of the train. The train was 15mnts late and we reached Borivili station at 4.45 am.

Krishnamurthy and Srivaths were there to receive us at the station.

Vichu athan had painstakingly taken care of all aspects of the tour schedule to get maximum advantage in the given time to see as many places of interest as possible, at the same time giving enough time for rest and relaxation, so that at the end of the 4 days trip we are least tired. Suguna Akka was always with Vichu Athan in taking care of our comforts at all stages. Along with Mani Athan and Rajam Akka, we had a great time all through.

Details of each visit will follow.

Trip to Bhutan

We got the rare opportunity of visiting Bhutan, the Himalayan Kingdom, and the friendly neighbour of India. It was an exhilarating and relaxing trip up and down the mountains and valleys, along the banks of rivers and greeneries as far as eyes could see. Often times we were literally on cloud nine, with the clouds enveloping us completely for miles together.

To reach Bhutan, one can fly from either Calcutta or New Delhi by Royal Bhutan airways to Paro, the only airport in this Himalayan Kingdom. Or one can travel by land through winding mountain roads, from the border town of Jai Gaon on the Indian side and Phuentsholing on the Bhutan side. The towns appear to be part one town just separated by an arch with Royal Bhutan security personnel guarding and regulating the traffic. The people in both the towns are allowed free access to the towns on either side. I was told that this was to allow free trade. While we could not see any check post and immigration control on the Indian side there is immigration control on the Bhutanese side 4-5 kms along the road inside. The roads from this border town winds up and down the mountains, courtesy Border Road Organisation of India, Dantak.

To reach Phuentsholing, again one can fly to Bagdogra and travel by road, or fly to Calcutta, Guwahati or New Delhi and travel by rail/road. This is the entry point in the Western Bhutan.

We decided to travel by air to Delhi and by train to New Aliporeduar, in West Bengal on the North East Rly., the nearest point to Phuentsholing, about 60 kms away. We travelled by North east express, leaving New Delhi at 6.30 am on the 5th of June. The train passes through UP, Bihar and West Bengal. The fun starts from the morning of 6th, when the train enters the picturesque West Bengal towns. The scenario changes to one of greenery all around with rivers and mist clad landscapes. The New Jaipalguri station, where one alights to go to Darjeeling is only 2 hrs away from New Aliporeduar. The train reached New Aliporeduar station at 12.15 pm and a friend of our son Manoj had come to receive us there. New Aliporeduar is a small place, from where we had to drive for an hour and a half to reach the friend's, place. His family was on vacation. After freshening up, his neighbours (an old couple from Kerala) treated us for a typical Kerala lunch and entertained us till the evening. The couple were so happy to see Malayalam speaking people that they took a promise from us to visit them on our return journey also.

Around 6 pm we left for the border town of Phuentsholing, which is on the foothills of the majestic Himalayas. India and Bhutan have an open border there with only an arch separating the two countries. The Indian part of this town is known as Jaigaon. As soon as you enter this town you can feel the difference between the crowded Jaigaon and the quiet Phuentsholing. We rested in Phuentsholing that night. Phuentsholing was warm and humid, just like any other Indian city in summer.

The next morning on the 7th of June, we started at 8.30am by a Maruti van up the mountains of Bhutan, a distance of 170 kms, to the capital town of Thimphu. The weather starts getting colder as we climb the mountains. We travelled the distance in about 7 hours. Around 10.30 am we had a stop at Dantak Coffee shop for some refreshments. The refreshments here are very reasonably priced. The masala dosa and vada were cheaper than in Delhi. The next stop was for lunch, about midway, around 12.30 pm. It was at a place on a hill top with a nice view. The lunch was a simple affair. Here we were told that due to road widening work en route, a certain section of the road to Thimphu would be closed from 2 pm to 5 pm. The point was just about 25 kms from Thimphu. Despite the best efforts of the driver we could reach this point only after they closed it. It was quite warm at that time there. The kind officer let us pass, along with a member of the royal family, after we had waited for about an hour. We reached Thimphu around 4.30pm and we had a good cottage to stay with A/c and heater. After relaxing for a while, we set out to see some of the town but it started raining. As it was getting dark and we had no knowledge of the Bhutanese weather we thought it wise to cancel our programme. We had not carried an umbrella either. It starts pouring at will in Bhutan.

One nice aspect of the trip was that at all the places many Indian TV channels could be viewed including Asianet and Sun.

The next morning, after breakfast, we went out to the town, which is something like the M.G.Road of Bangalore of the '70s. New shops are coming up. Most of the merchandise is from India. After lunch we set out to see more of Thimphu. We went up the highest point in Thimpu, from where one can have a bird's eye view of Thimphu, the palace, the Thimphuchu (Thimphu river) and all the small stupas. It was quite a climb to the top of the hill. On our way back, we stopped at the Takin reserve. Takin is the national animal of Bhutan. Here again we were drenched to our skin.

From the Takin reserve, we went down to see the palace. We were told we could get permission to go in, but we had to be satisfied by seeing it from the outside. The Palace complex has all the Govt. offices in it. The king and family live at a different place away from this palace. The Thimpu Chu flows by the side of the palace.

After the palace, we drove through the town, and did some window shopping. Most of the merchandise on sale were made in India. The shop keepers were quite cool and really could not be bothered by a bunch of shoppers. If the shoppers wanted something, they better show some initiative in making the shopkeeper show the merchandise. Since we couldn't find anything originally Bhutanese, we returned to our cottage. After freshening up we went to see the Chorten which is sort of a temple (which is actually a memorial). We found many people, young and old doing the perambulations in the temple, (we could not find any deity) fervently chanting their prayers on their rosaries. Here we could also find the prayer wheels, on which many prayers are written. By rotating the prayer wheels, one is supposed to have said all the prayers written in them. I remembered my school days, when I had learnt about these prayer wheels and how we wished we had wheels like these, so that we did not have to sit and say all the prayers.

Throughout Bhutan, Chortens or Stupas line the roadside, and prayer flags dot the hills, fluttering in the wind. They allow the people to maintain constant communication with the heavens.

The first day in Bhutan sight seeing came to an end with the visit to the chorten. We went back and had our dinner and went to bed early as we had to leave very early the next morning to another place called Haa.

Where is our value system

There were 9 reported suicide cases, all students in the age group of 17 -18, with more than dozen students undergoing treatment in various hospitals, under critical care, in the last two days. The reason: results of 12th standard and PUC were announced, in all states of the country. These numbers reported, however, are solely for Bangalore, based on the reports of a couple of English newspapers. There could be similar cases in other towns and districts. There was a reported case of a brilliant girl from a reputed school committing suicide on the eve of the results, fearing failure. Sadly, when the results were announced, the girl had passed with distinction. The other cases reported were either students who could not pass the exam or who got a much lower percentage of marks than expected and so on. One case needs special mention - that of a child who reportedly committed suicide because there was no power supply in the area on the night prior to the examinations due to heavy rains and winds.

Most of these are children of educated parents, studying in reputed schools, though there are children from the lower rank of the society also, in this list. Surprisingly the cases in the lower strata of society are very few. Does it ring a bell? What have the children learnt all through their learning years in school as well as at home? Who has failed in teaching the children that passing the 12th standard exam with a good percentage is not the only sole purpose/achievement in life? There is much more to life than passing this, as one counsellor was mentioning in a TV program - a test lasting about three hours to test hard labour put in during the past twelve years. If they were so frustrated in not getting through the exam, why did they not prepare well for their exams well in advance? By their cowardly act, who has gained anything? If they thought that they were disappointing their parents by not securing good marks in their exams, how have they fulfilled their duty as a son/daughter by committing suicide, thus plunging them into irrecoverable sorrow and guilt? What would be the life of the parents hereafter?

Or are the parents to be blamed for not inculcating a sportsmanship in their children, in not nurturing a value system in them to face disappointments in life with equanimity, or as a necessary evil. Are they putting too much pressure on their children in achieving something they are not capable of? Are they trying to achieve through their children what they themselves could not achieve due to various reasons? Towards achieving these goals, what are their inputs? Do they sit with their children and find out about their day to day activities in school and outside? Do they advise them about how work towards their goal? Do they provide a congenial atmosphere at home for their kids to prepare for their exams?

What is the role of school in putting the children through so much stress to perform better and better? All schools want to advertise their centum pass percentage with equal percentage of distinctions. All schools want their students to be on the rank list. They compete with one another in putting the photograph of the children who secured distinction/above 90% etc in the newspapers. Do they provide any counselling to their wards how to approach the examinations and how to prepare for them systematically? Do they have close interactions with the parents of their students and are they able to discuss with them the position of their students in the class? Is their responsibility only to reprimand the student sternly if he/she does not perform well?

Generally speaking, the blame could rest on all. The children of present day have clear ideas about what they want to become when they grow up, from a very early age, or so they feel. It all comes from listening to their parent's views about what they (parents) want their children to become when they grow up. For example, a little girl I know was saying at the age of 6 that she wanted to become an IAS officer, when she grew up. At that age, she did not even know what the role of an IAS officer was nor did she know what educational qualifications were needed to become an IAS Officer. It was only because her father was a secretary to a lady IAS officer and when he came home from office, he used to tell his little daughter, "You should become an IAS officer when you grow up." Thankfully, she has outgrown her childish ambition and is now pursuing a totally different academic field.

It is good to instil aims and ambitions in young minds, at the same time, the parents should also be willing to spare time and energy in helping them to achieve their dreams, by giving them proper directions in systematic study plan and choice of subjects for study and providing them a proper atmosphere to prepare for the examinations and also nurturing their mental strength to work for their ambitions and take failures as stepping stones and not tomb stones.

What is generally found in today's urban India is a set of people all with high career aspirations to reach the topmost step in the ladder of success in society with no proper directions to reach there. They are a harried lot rushing from one thing to another from dawn to dusk with no time for the family. The only have enough time to tell their kids which moon to shoot for, not how to actually do it.

Recipe: Kalan

Sometime ago, I had written up the recipe for Rasakalan. Kalan is a more popular version of the curd (yoghurt) based dish, which is a must for Onam and other big occasions. This is also called "Kurukku kalan" as it is prepared by thickening (kurukking) beaten curds by boiling.

Ingredients:

Raw banana(the kerala nendran banana is the best if available)	1 no.
Chena(jameen kand/karunaikizhangu/suvarne gadde)	200gms.
Beaten, thick sour curds	6 cups
Turmeric powder	2 tsp.
Pepper powder	1 tbsp.
Salt to taste
Coconut	1 cup
Green chillies	6 nos.
Curry leaves	2 sprigs
Methi seeds	1 tsp.
Mustard seeds	1 tbsp.
Red chillies	3 nos.
Oil for garnish(In Kerala, coconut oil is used for garnishing, which imparts a special flavour to the dish)

Preparation:

Wash and cut the vegetables into 2" square pieces. They should be thick. Cook the vegetables, in just enough water, adding turmeric powder, pepper powder and salt(this could done in a pressure cooker).

Transfer the cooked vegetables to a wide mouthed thick bottomed heavy pan, and add the beaten sour curds and boil, stirring occasionally, until the gravy is thickened to a semi solid consistency.Remove from stove. Add a sprig of curry leaves.

Fry the methi seeds to a golden brown in a drop of oil and grind to a fine powder and add to the gravy.

Heat oil in a pan. When it smokes add, the mustard seeds. When the mustard splutters, add the red chillies broken into halves and curry leaves and add to the gravy.

(The Kurukku kalan is usually prepared up to this stage and stored . It will keep good upto 1 month even under room temperature. Whenever needed, ground coconut and green chillies is mixed and used.)

Grind the coconut and green chillies to a thick paste, adding curds, if necessary. Do not add water while grinding. Mix to the thickened gravy.

Enjoy with boiled rice or chappathi or Poori.

This is the kurukku kalan.

Update: Based on a comment left here, I've posted an addendum up top along with my other Onam related posts.