Onam Sadya - The Fabulous South Indian Treat

South Indian food...A huge pandaal, seating for 200 people, banana leaf… Red rice along with about fifteen other varieties served in that leaf, eating with fingers ad food served unlimited at a price of Rs.130 per person and 100 percent vegetarian.. A little sound in my stomach just kicked me wanting to have that sinfully blissful soul fulfilling food all over again!

Well this was Onam special and my-o-my .. the taste…

I don’t remember when was the last time I enjoyed South Indian food so much.

Frankly I was pretty tired of my parents taking us to Sagar Ratna every now and then and for the first time, South Indian food was just not about dahi wada, idli, dosa and filter coffee. Yes… none of this was served there.

Here goes the pictures taken by Shashank.

80 percent people I know around me are true foodies - you know!- as they say - The only greatest people are the ones who love food!  

 After walking for about 20 minutes (no, the location was not that hard to figure out – I just love walking for no reason) and waiting for everyone to reach the venue for 30 minutes we entered the huge pandaal and quickly settled at our places. To our searching eyes and empty stomach – The view and colours of delicious stuff on banana leaf was pure bliss. I tried hard to memorize all the names but failed miserably. But the taste still lingers…and here’s what we had:

1.     Coconut chutney – unlike the completely churned one- this one was rough tiny pieces of coconut with some added fresh herbs. Crispy and juicy... I was actually asking them for more but being unable to resist and wait, I ended up stealing it from my friend’s banana leaf.

2.     Banana – I thought this was to be eaten before the meal as salad serving (weird guess I know – A banana as salad!) however I asked one of the servers and he told me that it is eaten by dipping in the two sweet dishes that are served at the end.

3.     The crimson chutney – yes the chutney that fascinated us and stood out on the huge leaf. It was neembo ka aachaar with beetroot (the flashy vegetable used that made it pop) And the sour taste of lime (just the thought has activated my taste buds – gulp!)

4.     Papad – has been my always and forever favourite – was to be eaten along with dal and ghee mixture served over red ride along with other served chutneys.

5.     Dal and ghee mixture – Was nice

6.     Red rice – the only time I had it was during my trip to Goa…healthy and yummy.

7.     Pineapple curd – Appetizing!

8.     Ginger chutney

9.     Chana subzi

10. Gheeya sabzi

11. Banana chips – the classic ones – just a little more thicker in shape

12. Namakpaare coated with gur (jaggery)

13.  Payasam - Kheer style sweet dish

14. Halwa- just a lil more thinner than usual

15.  Lobiya daal

16. Sambar – yummiest ever in my whole life’s exp of sambar tasting (although I say it most times I eat sambar :P )

A few fellow foodies got salt and buttermilk at the end.. and this was a total of 21 along with water which was flavored with cinnamon served lukewarm.

Absolutely Lip-smacking and finger licking good Veg South Indian thaali !

And .. I think the list is a lil incomplete..

Anyways..Finally when my stomach told me that it can’t handle anymore, I closed the banana leaf and stood to say goodbye after lil chat chit with fellow foodies.

So..this has been an experience I would cherish forever – and Yes ! I would go there the next year as well no matter what! When food makes the soul happy I think the opportunity should never be missed!

P.s. Wow! Thank you for reading all of it and finally reaching till here – you deserve your fav snack! :D (South Indian thaali to agle saal hi milegi :P )

I might have made disastrous errors in noting down the food that was served...