The most auspicious festival of Kerala, Onam, has already started. Also known as the Thiru-Onam or Thiruvonam, this is the harvest festival that marks the return of King Mahabali/Maveli to his beloved state. Onam continues for 10 days, and each day holds a lot of significance. The Malayali community celebrates the festival with fervour and enthusiasm. People gear up for the festival and celebrate with a variety of foods.
In this festival, a colourful traditional cuisine consisting of more than 20 dishes is served on banana leaf called 'Sadhya' or 'Sadya.' Onam Sadya is enjoyed without any cutlery and is usually eaten why sitting on the floor. The usual items in the Onam Sadya includes Kaaya varuthatha (banana chips), chena varuthatha (yam chips), sarkara upperi (Jaggery coated banana chips), mango pickle, lime pickle, puli inji (tamarind & ginger chutney), kichadi (Gourd in mildly spiced yoghurt), pachadi (Pineapple in yoghurt) , olan ( ash gourd with black beans in a coconut milk gravy), stir-fried vegetables with grated coconut, theeyal (mixed vegetable gravy), erissery (mashed beans and pumpkin with coconut gravy), avial, puliserry (yogurt based curry), kootu curry (black chickpeas curry), sambar, rasam, spicy buttermilk, bananas, papad and of course boiled rice.
However, you can make your own Sadya with authentic recipes. One of such authentic traditional special snack is Orappam. Orappam is a traditional, old-fashioned snack from Kerala. It is a kind of rice-flour halwa preparation that is cut into bite-sized diamond shapes. It is one of the traditional and forgotten snacks of Kerala. Orappam's history can be traced back to the days when Kerala was under the rule of the Portuguese. It has been passed down through the centuries. It is made just like halwa and is time-consuming. It is crispy on the exterior and soft, moist, and fudge-like on the interior. It is slightly baked to get the crunch on the exterior. Orappam is made with rice flour and coconut milk. The sweetener can be regular sugar or jaggery.
Try out this traditional Onam dish this season. In this article, we’ll provide you with the complete recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of rice flour
- 2 cups of the second extract of coconut milk
- ½ cups of the first extract of coconut milk
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons of ghee
- 1 cup of melted jaggery
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder
- ¼ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 tablespoon cashew
- 2 pinches of caraway seeds
Method:
- Make a batter of rice flour and a second extract of coconut milk. Make sure the batter has no lumps.
- Heat the first extract of coconut milk in a thick-bottomed pan. Boil until the oil begins to separate.
- Beat the egg by adding ghee, melted jaggery, and salt. Add this to the rice flour-coconut milk batter.
- Heat the mixture to a simmer and stir continuously.
- When it begins to thicken, add the first boiled extract of coconut milk. Mix well.
- Add nutmeg and cardamom powder to it.
- Keep mixing well until it becomes sticky and gooey.
- Now add the caraway seeds and cashews. Mix well and take it off the heat.
- Transfer the orappam mix into a greased cake tin and level the top using a spoon.
- Place a few cashews on top.
- Bake it for half an hour in a preheated oven at 160 degrees.