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Onashamsakal !! Happy Onam to you all !!

Onam is celebrated by Keralites irrespective of their religion, culture etc; Onam brings very fond memories to all malayalees and it’s same with me.

If you want to experience the spirit of Onam, you should visit the DH (Darbar Hall) Road in Cochin during Onam. The entire road is filled with the sound of street vendors competing with each other, the aroma of freshly fried banana chips, the fragrance of flowers, the laughter of families enjoying their Onam shopping and what not. You just have to stand at the entrance of the road and the crowd will push you to your destination

My Onam memories would be incomplete if I didn’t mention my visits with friends, to the Onam fair. We had a tuition class at a tutorial just in front of the DH Road and we used to skip it frequently. Come Onam and we were regular students. We’d be just waiting for the class to get over, so that we could go and hang out at the fair and payasam melas. Am sure every Malayali will have their own share of ’sweet’ memories like these.

Now back to our topic, the star attraction of the Onasadaya, payasam. I guess you can divide payasam lovers broadly into two categories - those who love pal payasam (milk and sugar based) and those who love sharkkara payasam (jaggery & coconut milk based). I fall in the latter.

Though I’ve made a full fledged Onasadaya only once after my wedding, I never compromised on payasams. Since my husband and myself fall into two different categories, I make both pal payasam and parippu payasam. Semiya payasam is his favorite and I should say its the simplest of all.

If you don’t have much time to spare in the kitchen and still want to grab the festive mood of Onam, you can go for this easy and delicious treat

Here is the recipe:

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When I tell my friends/relatives that I like to eat brown bread/bun, museli, tuna etc; they tend to give me a weird look and ask how do you manage to eat them. There is generally a misconception that healthy stuff and taste doesn’t go hand in hand. I should say it doesn’t apply to all healthy stuff though I know some people who eat it, irrespective of its taste. I believe am not included in that category, I prefer healthy stuff, provided it gives some treat to my taste buds as well.

Pasta is liked by many, mainly because of the creamy sauce and cheese in it and hence its usually considered as a junk food. For a change, you can make something healthy with the pasta, without compromising on the taste. I was introduced to this salad by my mother in law. This is very refreshing especially for summer time since the dressing is made of yogurt.

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Whenever am discussing dinner menus with my friends, the common topic will be “what curry to make for chapathi/roti”. Since everybody has become health conscious these days, chapathi has become a staple dinner food and ladies of the house are worried how to make it more interesting with different varieties of side dishes.

Having said that, I should say this dish is a perfect one for roti/chapathi and also with white rice. This recipe is adapted from malayalam women’s magazine Vanitha. The title of this curry instantly caught my attention, they named it very aptly “chapathi currykal” (curries for chapathi). This is originally a butter chicken recipe and I have modified it into a paneer masala

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