Today is Vishu, the astronomical New Year of Kerala, marking the start of the harvest season. There are a lot of customs associated with Vishu, which have been covered in detail on different sites, so I’m not going to repeat any of those. Read all about Vishu here and here.

Growing up in an atheist household, my Hindu festivals were mostly about the food. My parents adapted the non-religious aspects of all the festivals. So Vishu was all about the feast, fire works and Kaineettam (the elders in the house passes out money to the youngsters ).  After coming to the US, fireworks are out of question, I guess now we are the elders of the house, so the only way to celebrate Vishu here is by sharing a grand feast with family. In absence of the real family, most of us Indians in the US have built a virtual family, a group of friends we share the important moments of our life with.  We celebrated Vishu with a part of our virtual family today, sharing a traditional Sadya (feast) consisting of sweet, salty, bitter and sour dishes, served on banana leaves 

Here is a look at our Vishu Sadya.
(There is supposed to be an order in which the different dishes are arranged for a traditional Sadya, but none of us really knew the order, and no one bothered to check the Internet, we just placed things around the banana leaf. )

 

Clockwise from left:

The first course is rice with Parippu Curry as shown in the picture.

Next course is rice with Sambar (a mixed vegetable thin curry in a lentil based gravy).

After that rice with Kalan (plantains in a coconut based yogurt gravy).

Then finally we had Parippu Payasam (A sweet dessert made of green gram lentils and jaggery and coconut milk) .

Well, is that too much coconut? I say not enough. :-) 

Out of the group of eight, I was the only proper Mallu (who actually grew up in Kerala) and two were mallus by birth. I was a little worried about whether the non-malayalis will enjoy a traditional vegetarian meal (we are all hardcore carnivores), but everyone loved it. I know they were not just saying it, after seeing the way they licked the leaves clean.

Even though we had four of us cooking, it was still a lot of work putting this all together. After today, I appreciate my mother even more! She used to cook all these dishes and some more, without any help from any of us.     

I will post the recipes for all the dishes sometime, but here is the recipe for my favorite dish, Bitter Gourd Theeyal, which was a big hit today.

Bitter Gourd Theeyal

Method

Cook bitter gourd pieces with the turmeric powder and salt with just enough water to cook, and cook till it is half done.

In a deep pan, dry roast the grated coconut till brown and keep aside.

In the same pan, dry roast the red chilies, coriander powder, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds and keep aside.

Add a little bit of oil and saute the shallots and ginger pieces one after the other till brown.

Grind all the fried ingredients with a little water to form a smooth paste.

Add some more oil to the pan and saute the cooked bitter gourd pieces along with the slit green chilies till all the moisture is gone, and the pieces starts to turn brown. 

Add the ground spice paste, tamarind paste, curry leaves, salt and a cup or more of water to the pan and stir well to combine. Cook till the gravy thickens. Taste and add more tamarind paste if needed.

To Season, heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the remaining seasoning ingredients and fry well. Pour this over the prepared gravy.

Serve with steamed rice.

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous year ahead!

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Comments

28 Responses to “Vishu Sadya and Bitter Gourd Theeyal Recipe”

  1. Nandita on April 16th, 2007 8:13 am

    Happy Vishu to you dearie! Appreciate all the effort you’ve taken to make that wonderful yelai saappadu - i missed out theopportunity as we were away from home…

    And Laddoos!! I have never made them ever, but your post inspires me to try it out, have everything at home ready except the coconut, so may do it this week! Am going to give those drinks a check too :)

  2. Asha on April 16th, 2007 1:03 pm

    Oh Man!! Why didn’t I visit you?! Looks like a feast and so traditional.I love Theeyals and thank for the recipe.

    I am sure you had a good Vishu but I heard you get money!!!Did you get some or what?! ;D

  3. Mishmash ! on April 16th, 2007 1:18 pm

    Sig, u re lucky to have some close friends there….I miss home a lot during this festival time …Ur sadya looks quite traditional, even I am not sure which one to serve first but manage to an extent!

    Shn

  4. Gini on April 16th, 2007 2:23 pm

    What a spread! We didn’t have anything for Vishu, but looking at your spread has filled my tummy. That is a lovel picture. Do you get fresh banana leaves there?

  5. Sig on April 16th, 2007 3:00 pm

    Nandita, welcome back darling… hope you had a great time in Blore, will catch up with you soon…

    Asha, I have so much leftovers you can still make a trip to Seattle :)… No, I didn’t get any money :(

    Shn, I got a peek at your amazing Vishu spread,it looks so scrumptious! its an extremely busy day for me after the vacation, will drop by in the evening to ogle more and read the lovely stories…

    Gini,thanks :). I found frozen banana leaves at the local Asian store, had to sort through about 3 packets before we could find 8 leaves intact to use for the Sadya, now I have a bunch of banana leaves to cook with!

  6. Asha R on April 16th, 2007 3:41 pm

    HAPPY VISHU SIGMA
    I hope you all had a nice time. It is good to have a sadya in vazha ela. That’s what we miss when we do Onam Sadya here. This time we are planning to get some plastic vazha ela from kerala.

  7. Asha R on April 16th, 2007 3:45 pm

    HAPPY VISHU SIGMA.
    It is good to have a sadya in Vazha Ela here in US. Don’t bother the order in which you placed the items (it is totaly mix matched).

  8. bee on April 16th, 2007 3:47 pm

    that looks fabulous. what a great spread.

  9. Reena on April 16th, 2007 4:00 pm

    sig, what a sadya!!!! love it. so you welcomed spring in a grand way. i am j of all those who get banana leaf at their place.

  10. sunita on April 16th, 2007 4:19 pm

    Happu Vishu, Sigma…and what a spread…

  11. Richa on April 16th, 2007 4:31 pm

    what a colorful spread!
    Happy Vishu to you!
    bitter gourd theeyal looks yummy, karela is a recently acquired taste for me. I too have started appreciating a lot many things only after coming here!!
    thanks

  12. Sangeeta on April 16th, 2007 7:31 pm

    What a fantastic spread. Wishing you and Siv a great year ahead :)

  13. musical on April 17th, 2007 12:59 am

    Hey Sig,

    Wishing you a happy Vishu again-thanks for sharing this wonderful spread…..

    Olan, Kalan, Erissery…..do i need anything else-no :). Oh, hold on: that Theeyal is so wonderful, lemme add it to my plate-Bitter gourds rule :). Silly me, how did i forget! Well, happens: when i hear Kalan…..it really does happen.

    Btw, i have a friend who maks Olan with cucumbers-is that also traditional?

    and you had it on plantain leaves…..ah! Seattle sounds like a great place. and for leftovers, Kalan stays good for days :))-so save some for me!

  14. Sig on April 17th, 2007 1:33 am

    Asha R, welcome to my blog.. thanks for the wishes, hope you had a great Vishu! My parents are visiting this summer and my mom told me she will bring some plastic Elas over, I didn’t even know such a thing existed before!!

    Bee, thanks!

    Reena, yes it was a great day… About banana leaves, have you checked your local Asian grocers? I bought it from Uwajimaya here, it was in their frozen isle. I have seen some fresh ones in Whole Foods Market too, but those are cut into smaller pieces, won’t work for Sadya, but will be great for cooking…

    Sunita, thanks..

    Richa, if you don’t like the bitter taste of Karela, you will like this, all the coconut and the tamarind makes it not so bitter… Everyone loved it, this was the first dish to get over yesterday!

    Sangeeta, thanks and welcome. I love the fried chicken recipe in your blog…

    Muse, you know this is the first time I’ve ever made Olan, so I don’t know if it is traditional to make it with cucumber, but personally I believe it will taste better with Cucumber than ash gourd! :). Seattle is a great place, I just wish it gets a little warmer soon… :)

  15. Sharmi on April 17th, 2007 1:57 am

    I have always cherished Kerala Sadya!! it has been my all time favorite. lovely spread of dishes.
    you must have had a great time!!

  16. KitchenFairy on April 17th, 2007 4:10 am

    Sig,Lovely spread..Why u didn’t put the picture of Payasam..These days I am drooling over all the pics of sadhya..I really like to have.Next month my hus’s birthday is coming ,I will arrange one sadhya and ur Theeyal will be there in my spread.

  17. Sig on April 17th, 2007 6:44 am

    Sharmi, thanks! Next time I’m going to do a Tamil style feast, I got motivated looking at your lovely spread!!

    Fairy, my friend made Payasam and brought over, I forgot to keep it on the table when this picture was taken :(.

    Adavanced birthday wishes to the hubby:), Are you going to do a vegetarian Sadya?

  18. Sia's Corner on April 17th, 2007 9:46 am

    what a beautiful spread sig… ah!!! i dont have anything else to say as i am busy staring at the pic:)

  19. Sushma on April 18th, 2007 2:57 am

    Though I am late to wish you..A very Happy Vishu for you and your family…the recipes look so delicious and what a lovely treat to eyes to look traditional food served in traditional way

    -Sushma

  20. Sumitha on April 18th, 2007 7:58 am

    What better way to celebrate any festival than with all your friends,lucky you to have had a wonderful sadya and Vishu!

  21. Nivi on April 18th, 2007 1:57 pm

    Man…tht looks awesome! :))…Happy Vishu!

  22. Amy on April 19th, 2007 10:30 pm

    Everything looks so colorful and absolutely fantastic!

  23. Aruna on May 5th, 2007 7:37 pm

    Sig, Tried this theeyal today & just loved it!!!. Please keep the kerala dishes coming & also would love to see more chicken recipes from u. Thx for sharing.

  24. Sig on May 5th, 2007 11:29 pm

    Aruna, glad you liked it and thanks for letting me know. Sure I will post more chicken recipes for you!

  25. Aruna on May 6th, 2007 3:52 am

    Sig, Thanks. I have a new blog now
    http://themistressofspices.wordpress.com/
    Please check me out.

  26. Kalai on February 18th, 2008 7:27 pm

    Sig, I just made this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic!! Thanks so much for sharing, girl! :)

  27. Rita on April 16th, 2008 4:37 pm

    Happy belated Vishu Sigma! The sadya looks awesome. Vishu actually fell on the 14th this year according to the calendars I was reviewing…and we just had a simple kerala meal. However yours looks fabulous. Olan and Erissery,aviyal and pavakka theeyal my favorites. I can appreciate the hard work and effort that went into making this meal happen. Much abundance to you and yours for the New Year.
    Peace
    Rita

    Happy Vishu to you too Rita!

  28. Rita on April 16th, 2008 4:58 pm

    oops I just realized that this was last year’s post- sorry! :)
    Rita

    No worries… :) Thanks anyway… We were travelling on Vishu day, so no Vishu this year…

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