Today is Moonnam Onam (3rd Onam) and the Malayalam star (nakshathram) is Avittam. No more pookkalams and the season of Onam would have been over for me, if not for the 12 more alphabets!

The state of Kerala must be still celebrating Onam, though in a much toned down fashion than yesterday. Its the holiday season there and some houses make sadya till tomm. But for many people (like me), its business as usual. The school is working, the man has to go to office and I have to get back to the daily million dollar question of “What to cook today?”

Talking about sadya,  no doubt you will agree with me that the Sadya is indeed heavy! You start off with rice and dal and a whole lot of variety of side dishes. You dig your way through more rice served with sambar, followed by rasam and a second/third round of the side dishes.

And then comes the yummy range of payasams (remember – there might be 3 or 4 payasams served in some places) and by now your stomach will be full and ready to burst.

So the last round is the simplest one and the best one for your by now heavy, heavy stomach. Its moru/sambharam or neer moru as its called in Tamil Nadu. (A bit of cheating again, I really didn’t want to make a Naranga(lemon)/Nellika(gooseberry) pickle for the letter ‘N’).

After the payasam round, a little bit of rice is served to have with moru. If you are too full to eat rice any more, have it in a glass and wash down your meals with it. The sweet taste and heaviness of the payasam(s) get compensated by the salty, spicy taste of the buttermilk. Everything in there is helpful for digestion(ginger, hing etc.) and you will feel much lighter after that!

For my sadya, I went ahead with the yogurt than buttermilk since I was short on time. But let that not stop you from making this drink at your home. Make it and drink it any time of the day, any time of the year. Its the perfect summer drink and its natural and the best!

• This recipe is just a guideline, you need to adjust the water proportion, salt and spice according to your preference.
• You can add pepper also when blending the buttermilk. Other additions would be finely chopped sambar onions (don’t blend this), coriander leaves, lemon/lime leaves, roasted jeera powder etc.
• My regular sambharam has just salt, pepper and hing (kayam/asafoetida) in it.

Ingredients:

• Curd                                          :       1 cup
• Water                                       :        1 cup
• Green chillies                        :        2 -3, per taste
• Ginger                                      :        1″ piece
• Curry leaves                          :        1 sprig
• Hing/Kayam                         :        a pinch
• Salt                                            :        per taste

Method:

1. Grind the chillies, curry leaves and ginger in a mixie. This mix can be stored in a small dabba and can be mixed with curd, water and salt to make butter milk easily.
2. Add curd and water and blend until its frothy. Add salt and hing. Blend again and taste test.
3. Adjust seasoning and serve as the last course with rice or as a digestive drink at the end of the meal.

 

Previous Posts:

1. A – Avial, Ada Pradhaman, Achinga Payar – Chena Mezhukkupiratti
2. B – Beetroot Kichadi, Beet root thoran, Beans Thoran
3. C  – Carrot Thoran, Cabbage Thoran
4. D – Daal – Parippu Curry
5. E – Erisseri – Chena & Mathan Vanpayaru
6. F – Fruit Pachadi
7. G – God’s Own Country – Kerala
8. H – How to Serve a Sadya
9. I – Inji Puli
10. J – Jackfruit Payasam – Chakka Payasam
11. K – Kalan & Koottu Curry
12. L – Lemon Rasam
13. M – Mambazha Pulisseri & Mathan Pachadi

Logo courtesy : Preeti

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