Pongal Sappadu - Pongal Meals - Tamil Festive Meal

Pongal is the harvest festival of Tamilnadu. A Chakkara Pongal (sweet pongal) is prepared on the Pongal Morning. Read more about the celebration and specific recipes here. This post is for the meal served for lunch.

Pongal Recipes here

The banana leaf is usually used to serve Feast. The top portion is used to serve different curries and bottom side is used for rice, sambar, snacks, payasam etc. The leaf usually used should be the end leaf (nuni ela) with the smaller end on the left of the person sitting in front. 
The order of serving

On the top from right to left - Thayir Pachadi, Sweet Pachadi, Poriyal(s), Kootu, Urugai(Pickle)
On the bottom payasam at the right corner. rice in the middle (with paruppu, sambar, nei etc), on the left corner - Appalam, Medhu Vadai

I have a lot of recipes in my blog. But still not the complete collection. I will update this page as and when I post all the recipes.

Meal I served in 2014 for Pongal. I cooked this meal with a friend and totally enjoyed the experience.

Gujarati Thali

Gujarat is a state in the Western Side of India. I have special love for that state cause I was born there and my mother grew up there. Though I have not lived there, I have great memories of my childhood holidays spent there.

When Avant Garde Cookies decided to make Thali for this week, I knew I wanted to try Gujarati Thali. I usually make Tamil Thali and Kerala Thali. But I have never been bold enough to try a Thali from another state. This experience has given me the confidence to try out more Thali.



Before I proceed to describe the Thali, let me first say a very very Big Thank You to Vaishaliji. She is a blogger who blogs at Ribbons and Pastas. She helped me come up with the items in this Thali. I have tried to stick to her ideas and have tried to make as Authentic Gujarati as possible. I am posting the Thali today. I will add the individual dishes in the next few days and link back to this post. Stay Tuned!!



Dishes Prepared

Drink 
Chaas - Buttermilk flavoured with cumin, green chillies, ginger and hing

Sweets
Gol Papdi - Made with Wheat Flour, Ghee and Jaggery. It is supposed to be square in shape. it did not quite set for me. So I rolled it into a ball.

Shrikhand - Thickened Yogurt with sugar and cardamom

Side Dishes
Batata Nu Shaak - Potato Curry
Tindora Nu Shaak - Tindora Curry

Dal
Gujarati Dal - Toor Dal cooked with Gujarati Flavours

Starter/Accompaniments
Dhokla - Steamed Besan or Chickpea flour
Leele Chutney - Green Chutney made with coriander and peanuts
Papads
Kachumber - Indian Salad with onions,tomatoes,cucumber tossed in lemon juice

Mains
Rice
Rotli - Thin Roti made with Wheat Flour