Manga Chammanthi / Mango Chutney

For me, some Moru kachiyathu and manga chammanthi is enough to have stomach full of rice. I wouldn't even bother any other curry not served with rice. It is just perfect to tickle the tastebuds that you would never even feel the absence of any other curry to go by the side for rice.

I am sure, anyone who has had it atleast once would never forget the taste of it and wouldn't say no to it. They are just perfect to pair with rice.

Ulli Theeyal

Theeyal is not made often at my home. It just makes its appearance once in a while. However, my mom-in-law makes it often. It is from her that I learnt to make it.

The only difficult part in making it is the frying of the coconut mixture. And, mom-in-law would make a huge batch of this fried mixture to take along to Bangalore. Now when the hardest part was made easy, we would make theeyal quite often. The only difference would the different veggies that went into it- bitter gourd, brinjal, shallots etc. It would make a meal, finger licking good.

Puli inji / Inji Puli / Inji Curry

Puli Inji - the name itself gets my tastebuds active. But since I have some leftover from the last week's Sadya, I am good. I can have it for lunch today :). Now it is not something that I associate as a daily menu item. We generally make it only for Onam Sadya. And they can be stored well. So you could make it before hand and not worry about it among the "n" number of items you would be making on the day of Sadya.

If you are planning for a Sadya anytime, this is a must in your menu list. No Sadya can be complete without the mixed flavor of Puli Inji- a bit of tartness, a pinch of sweet and little spiciness. So here is the recipe to the Puli Inji.

Beetroot Pachadi

Jacob is a big fan of beetroot pachadi. No matter how much amount of pachadi I make, it just doesn't calm down his craving. He told me the other day to make this pachadi and stock it and he wouldn't mind having it every day.

I love Beetroot pachadi. Infact, beetroot in this form is more appealing to me than in the form of stir fry. But my love for it is not as crazy as Jacob's. In summer, this pachadi is so helpful to calm down the heat. Jordan loves it colour. He smiles seeing its colour when I try mixing it with rice to feed him. Both father and son's love for this veggie made me, to start loving it. And I must say, my love for it is getting better day by day.

Sambharam / Morum Vellam / Spiced Buttermilk / Pacha Moru

It is getting hotter day by day. All you want is to drink water and juice. If we go out for few minutes, we return all tired and burnt. The first thing then to have is something cold to gulp down. The thoughts would have options of lime soda, juice, sambharam/moru etc. 

Liking towards Sambharam is one common thing between me and Jacob. On a lazy/busy day if I don't make any charu to go with rice then making a sambharam is all what I do, because yogurt is always there at home.

Paal Payasam / Rice Pudding / Rice Kheer / Milk Pudding

This payasam is the easiest of all. With just minimum ingredients it can be made quickly. After all it is Onam, and a payasam is a must have.

This time, it was at the last moment that I decided to go with this payasam. Well, I had to, as I had not planned well for payasam preparation for Onam in advance and hence didn't have ingredients to make our favorite payasam - Cherupayar Parippu Payasam. Neither did I have Semiya to make Semiya Payasam. So we ended up making it.

Kadumanga Achar / Kerala Style Mango Pickle

Any Sadya is incomplete without pickles. For us, every lunch/dinner is incomplete without it. Now that we tend to have pickle everyday, it vanishes very quickly.

So when I make pickle, I would rather choose to make the simplest of the recipes than investing a huge amount of time making something fancy and see it vanish fast. This is one such pickle - quick and simple to make, provided you manage to get raw mangoes easily.

Cherupayar Parippu Payasam / Split Mung Beans Payasam

When engagement anniversary, wedding anniversary and birthday falls in the same month with an interval of less than a week, making specials for each event gets exciting but at the same time leaves us with too much of left overs. Yes, February is special for us. We used to bake cakes for each of these occasions, but realized that its too much for just two of us.

So now, we have come up with a solution of spreading it in the form of a special dinner or a cake/bake or a dessert - anyone of these for each of these occasion. Also these get to be made only in amounts that suffices our appetite and craving.