Ona Pachakam

This is not a food blog. These pictures will remind you of a a food blog. These are from my kitchen. Its the preparation for the great Onam celebration. I am not a veteran cook but I managed to do all these things with my mother in law who is a very ritualistic hailing from Thalayolaparambu. Its a most time consuming process to make all these at home. But its a real joy to take it in snack time and share with relatives, some home made items on this auspicious time. I enjoyed these preparations and sharing my happiness through this post with all my heartfelt Onam wishes for all of you.

Sharkara peratti preparations in Uruli

Ethakka upperi in Uruli

Plantains cut ready to fry

Oh so yummy!!!!

Onam in my Kitchen.

Ethakka upperi(Plantain chips) a must item in Ona sadya and a very common snack in Onam time. The smell of the chips fried in coconut oil reminds me of my onam in childhood with lot of friends and relatives. Its a pleasure to have some chips prepared in our own way. Other snacks are Cheeda(Kaliyadakka) and the tasty 'Sharkar varatti' . Some make chips with Kappa'tapiocca', chembu and chena. Its also delicious. Onam is a harvest festival that may be the reason behind all these delicacies. Days before Onam we prepare all these fries and then we have to make these pickles. Inji(Ginger), Manga(Mangoe) and Naranga(Lemon) is a must in Onam sadya.

A very nice story about Ona pachakam from Adukkala

Another story of making upperi and sharkara peratti from Renu Ramanathan

A post about palada Pradhaman from Archana

Ethakka

'Ethakkula' or 'nendrakkula' pictured from Kattappana.
Plantain plantations are a common sight in Kerala. Plantains are a part of culture too. Onam will not be complete without ethakka upperi, sharkara varatti and pazham. In every auspicious day we serve sadya on vazha ila(plantain leaves). Whatever may be the cost of ethapazham it is a must in our diet. Variety of tastes using raw plantain and ripe ones are available in kerala cuisine.
Most of the homes have one or two vazha for their own use. Its a ritual to offer banana fruit to temples(Kazhcha kula) for bringing abundance in our home.
Nendran or ethakka is the most common variety of banana available in Kerala.
Palayan kodan is another variety. It is much cheaper than ethakka.
Njalipoovan is the delicious one in these varieties. It is more costlier than palayan kodan. Fruits are used more than the raw ones.
Kathali is also tasty and have more medicinal usage. It is used to offering to gods in temples.
Kappa pazham is the reddish variety more costlier than the other ones.
Other varieties are kannan, padatti and karpuravalli. Kannan variety is used as a food for infants.



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