Thriketa - Day Six of onam--Festival Of Kerala

Thriketa - Day Six

Triketta or Thriketa is the sixth day of the carnival of Onam. A feeling of joy and jubilation can be felt amongst the people of Kerala at this time. Cultural programmes and social gatherings are organised by various cultural societies all over the state. People of all religions caste and creed participate in these events as the festival of Onam has come to be seen as a secular festival. Government of India too celebrates Onam as the National Festival of Kerala.

There are no set rituals marked for the day of Triketta. It marks the time for home coming for people staying away from their families for various reasons; Onam is the time for family get together and nobody likes to be away from family and dear ones. Joys of festivities doubles in the company of family members and close friends. On this happy note, Pookalam gets a more beautiful design and fresh flowers.

Lady's Finger Kichadi

ingredients:

Lady's finger pieces 3 1/2cup
Thick Curd from 1/2 litre milk 2cups
Green chillies 2
Dry Red chillies 3
Mustard 1dsp
Grated coconut 1/2cup
Curry leaves 2 springs
Oil 2 tsp
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Slice the ladies finger in small round pieces.
2. Fry lady's finger in oil till crisp. Ground coarsely grated coconut, green chillies and mustard. Season mustard, red chilli and curry leaves in 2 tsp oil. Lower the flame add curd and the ground ingredients. Keep stirring. Add fried ladies finger and salt. Remove from fire when it boils.

Anizham - Day Five of onam-Festival Of Kerala

Anizham - Day Five

Anizham is the fifth day of Onam celebrations. High point of the day is the grand Snake Boat Race event called Vallamkali, which takes place on the fifth day of the Onam. The hugely popular competition happens on the banks of the river Pamba at Aranmulla. A multitude of domestic and international tourists come to witness the colourful spectacle of the race.

A large number of long snake like boats called chundan vallams participate in Vallamkali. Each picturesquely decorated boat is oared by hundreds of oarsmen dressed in the traditional dhoti and turban. Boats are oared on the rhythm of vanchipattu or boat songs. Vallamkali is essentially a team event as a single mistake by a oarsman can lead to overturning of the boat.

On the home front, more flowers are added to the Pookalam laid in the front courtyard of the house. Women become extremely busy making preparations for Thiru Onam and a general atmosphere of excitement prevail at this time in Kerala.

Visakam-Day Four of Onam -Festival Of Kerala

Visakam-Day Four Vishagam or Visakam is the fourth day of the Onam festivities. Since the number of days left for the big days are few now, the excitement becomes obvious among the people of Kerala. Brisk activities in the market and households can be witnessed on the day of Visakam.
Athapoovu Competetions
An integral tradition of Onam, Pookalam has come up as an art form. Competitions for decorating Pookalams are organised all over the state. Creativity of the designers is unleashed through such competitions as they come up with innovative designs each year

Injipuli - Special Onam Recipe

Ingredients

Ginger-1/2 kg
Green chillies-1/2 kg
Oil-1 cup
Mustard-1 tsp
Turmeric-1 tsp
Salt to taste
Bengal gram-1 tbsp
Urad dal-2tbsp
Fenugreek seeds-2 tbsp
Jaggery-4 tbsp
Tamarind-4 tbsp
Black sesame-1 1/2tbsp(roasted)

Method of preparation
Cut ginger and green chillies into small pieces and keep aside. Heat oil in a deep pan. Add the mustard and all the dals, ginger and green chillies and saute for a minute. Now, add water, tamarind paste, turmeric, salt and jaggery to this. Keep stirring and cook on a low flame till it becomes reduced to half. Garnish with sesame seeds.

Chodhi-Day Three of Onam Festival

Chodhi-Day Three of Onam Festival
Third day of the ten day long festival of Onam is called Chothi or chodi. The day is marked by lots of activities. Frenzied shopping can be witnessed in all the market place as everybody buys new clothes and accessories for the grand festival of Onam
Aranmula Uthrittathi - Boat Event of Onam
This is another superb boat event organized in connection with Onam. This annual event takes place on the day of Uthrittathi Asterism at Aranmula. It’s meant to relive mythology that narrates a story of Lord Krishna crossing the river on that particular day. It is assumed that the spirit of the Lord is present on all the boats hence there is no competition of any sort in this event. Onam Recipe

Injithair

Ingredients

Nicely chopped ginger – 4 spoons
Curd – 6 spoons
Salt – as required

Method of preparation
Mix all the ingredients and stir well. The injithair is ready.

Chithira-Day Two of Onam

Chithira is the second day of celebrations in the ten-day-long Onam festivities. There are not any marked rituals for this day but people offer their prayers to evoke the divine blessings.
Athapoovu Competetions
An integral tradition of Onam, Pookalam has come up as an art form. Competitions for decorating Pookalams are organised all over the state. Creativity of the designers is unleashed through such competitions as they come up with innovative designs each year

Theeyal

Ingredients

Large onions - 2(sliced fine) Garlic cloves - 2 Grated coconut - 1 cup Shallots -1 cup Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp Chili powder - 1 tbsp Jackfruit seed- 100 gm(cut into 4) Tuvar dal-1/3cup Coriander seeds - 1 tsp Green Chilly(slit)-3 Salt to taste Oil-4 tsp Tamarind extract - 1 tbsp Turmeric powder - 1 tsp Curry leaves - a few

Method of preparation
Heat two tsp of the oil in a frying pan and add ½ cup of the chopped onions. Saute the onions well till brown, add the curry leaves, coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds. Stir for a few more minutes and remove and keep aside. On a low heat, dry roast the coconut till it becomes brown. Blend the coconut with the onion mixture adding half a cup of water. In the meanwhile, cook the dal and jackfruit seed in pressure cooker with water. Heat the remaining oil in a saucepan and add the mustard seeds. When they splutter, add the curry leaves and remaining onions and shallots and fry till brown. Add the tamarind extract and ½ cup water and salt. When it starts to boil, add the blended paste and dal and cook on a low flame for 15 minutes.

Atham – 1st Day of Onam

Atham – 1^st Day of Onam

Atham is the first day of Onam and hence regarded as holy and auspicious by the traditional people.

Athachamayam:
was a triumphant march of the Maharaja of Kochi, with or without military intent from Tripunithura, the then capital of the Cochin state, to the Vamana Temple at Thrikkakara. To many, it is unmistakably a military venture. To others it is an occasion to show off uninhibited regal pomp. But to quite a few, it is merely a celebration to herald Onam, the festival of peace and equity, remembering the days when everything was in abundance

Onam Recipe

Sambar

Ingredients

Toor dal-1 cup(washed and soaked for 30 minutes)
Tamarind-size of a golf ball or Tamcon paste-1 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds pinch
Salt-as required
Oil-2 tsp
Mustard seeds-1/2 tsp
Dry grated coconut-3 tsp
Cilantro/coriander leaves- (optional)
Curry leaves(a few)
Jaggery or sugar- 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds -1/2 tsp
Green chillies- 3
Red chillies-5
Cilantro seeds -3 tsp
Bengal gram -2 tsp
Cumin seeds -1/2 tsp
Onion -1
Vegetable-Tomatoes, Drumstick, Okra, Capsicum, Radish, Carrots, Onions

Method of preparation
Cook the toor daal in the pressure cooker with double quantity of water, turmeric and salt. Keep aside to cool. Now, heat oil in a separate pan for about a minute and roast together whole chillies, bengal gram, coconut, curryleaves, coriander, cumin and fenugreek seeds till coconut turns golden brown. Then, grind all of these into a smooth paste ,adding a little water from time to time. Put the tamarind with salt and water into a pan. Bring it to a boil. Add this to the toor dal and let it boil for sometime.

Add the vegetables and cook till done. Finally, mash the pressure cooked toor daal, Mix everything and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Season with mustard seeds .