The festival of Onam is a gastronomic delight! Onam is simply all about celebrating what nature gave you and being thankful for it. If you have ever had the opportunity to tuck into an Onam Sadya, you would know it has 25 dishes carefully prepared to complement one another. The entire meal must be eaten on a banana leaf and once you are done with that meal, there is nothing left to do but take a well-deserved nap! My memories of Onam are super special.
This Onam, we have a special treat for you! The numerous dishes made for an Onam Sadya are healthy, tasty and work as perfect dishes to introduce to your kids. Most of them are non-spicy, they are highly nutritious as they use seasonal veggies, and flavourful because they use coconut in some form.
So whether you are celebrating Onam or not, here are 5 kid-friendly, tasty, easy recipes to include as part of your meal plan this week.
Avial
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This dish is made differently in each household. Some use curd to sour the curry while others use tamarind water or raw mango. This recipe uses curd.
Ingredients
For Coconut Masala Paste
- 1 Cup Coconut cut into small pieces- fresh/desiccated
- 1 Tsp Cumin ( jeera)
- 4 Green chillis
- Water as needed to blend it
For Curry (go with all or some of these vegetables)
- ½ Ashgourd, cubed
- ½ Cup Indian Cucumber diced
- 5 Green Beans chopped
- 10 Ivy Gourd (Tindora/Kundri) chopped
- 1 Raw Banana chopped
- 1 Carrot chopped
- ½ Cup Elephant Foot Yam (Suran/ Jimikand)
- 1 Drumstick chopped
- Handful of Curry Leaves (Kadhi Patta)
- Salt to taste
- ½ Tsp Turmeric powder (Haldi)
- 1 Tsp Coconut Oil
- ½ Cup Sour Curd (Dahi)
For Tempering
- 2 Tsp Coconut Oil or any other oil
- 1 Tsp Mustard Seeds (Kali Rai)
- ½ Tsp White Urad Dal
- 2 Dried Red Chillies
- Curry leaves
- Pinch of Asafoetida (Hing)
Method
- Put the coconut, cumin and green chillies in a blender. Add water and blend to smooth paste. Keep aside
- In a large kadai, cook the potatoes in saltwater. Add the vegetables of your choice.
- Add curry leaves, turmeric and mix well.
- Cover and cook the vegetables for about 7 -8 minutes or till they are well cooked.
- Add the coconut masala to the vegetables and boil for another 5 minutes.
- Switch off the gas and add the sour curd.
- For the tempering, heat the oil and add mustard seeds, urad dal, dried red chilis, curry leaves and asafoetida. Let it start spluttering.
- Pour the tempering on the avial and mix well.
- Serve with plain rice.
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