Partake in the largest celebratory feast in the Malayali (Kerala) calendar
This review is for 2021. Keep an eye out for the next onam sadhya on 2022-09-08.
Toronto’s burgeoning Kerala food scene explodes in one summer weekend of the year. That’s for onam sadhya, a feast celebrating the harvest festival. Restaurants shut down normal service and assemble the same onam sadhya set meals all day. Lines are long but most are in a jovial mood. It’s a fun activity to join in, even if you are not from Kerala.
Onam sadhya in Kerala
Kerala is a southern Indian state with a bountiful coastline. Its cuisine is not widespread in Toronto, so onam sadhya is a good occasion to sample them. I am not familiar with Keralan food. I was going to visit Kerala in 2020 but COVID happened. So, I can’t judge the authenticity of restaurants here.
Onam (ഓണം) is the harvest festival of the Malayali people in Kerala, falling between August and September. Sadhya (സദ്യ) means banquet. Put them together and you get the harvest feast. More than 20 items are splayed on a banana leaf. The meal is traditionally vegetarian.
One of the first things you’ll notice is that the rice is not typical of the rest of India. It’s matta rice, a short-grained and plump variety. It has the texture of brown rice and is similarly coloured reddish-brown.
Other food items in onam sadhya may include any of the following. I hope you like coconut.
- Achaar (അച്ചാർ): Super sour pickle.
- Avial (അവിയല്): Blanched, semi-dry vegetable mix with curd and grated coconut.
- Eriserry (എരിശ്ശേരി): Pumpkin curry.
- Olan (ഓലൻ): Ash gourd, black-eyed peas, coconut, and gigner.
- Pachadi (പച്ചടി): Vegetables in yoghurt and coconut sauce.
- Palada pradhaman (പാലട പ്രധമൻ): Dessert dish. Rice pudding with milk and dried fruits.
- Pazham pradhaman (പഴം പ്രധമൻ): Dessert dish. Banana pudding with coconut milk and jaggery.
- Pappadam: The familiar lentil cracker found throughout South Asia.
- Payasam (പായസം): Dessert dish. Rice pudding with milk and jaggery.
- Puli inji (പുളി ഇഞ്ചി): Thick sauce made from tamarind and ginger.
- Pulisseri (പുളിശ്ശേരി): Sour yoghurt and coconut curry.
- Rasam (രസം): Spicy tamarind soup. Also a Tamil mainstay.
- Sambar (സാമ്പാർ): Spicy, thick lentil soup with vegetable chunks. Also shared with Tamil cuisine.
- Sharkara upperi (ശർക്കര ഉപ്പേരി): Sweet banana chips in a jaggery batter, sliced in wedges.
- Thoran (തോരൻ): Finely chopped vegetables with grated coconut and mustard seeds.
- Upperi (ഉപ്പേരി): Banana chips, sliced crosswise.
- Whole banana
This being Toronto, there aren’t exactly a lot of banana trees to pluck leaves from. And importing banana leaves is too expensive to feed the masses that slam Keralan restaurants for onam sadhya. So, restaurants here use a waxed, green-coloured paper instead. And in the era of COVID-19, it’s all takeout and DIY.
Onam sadhya is a big deal in Kerala, similar to a Christmas dinner. I recommend pre-ordering to avoid waiting in line for an hour or more. Nearly all Keralan restaurants here offer online ordering.