Onam sadya

When I started blogging, the main reason was, I wanted to hand over to my kids, things that I hold dear. When you are a malayalee, and when you have never been to Kerala, then you lose that cultural identity. My kids don't know much about India.
Every onam I try to make an ona sadya.. So that i can take them to a journey to Kerala, my childhood, my culture.
In my childhood, the ona sadya preparation is a long process. something even more unique is although my family are chrisitians and we celebrated onam the same way as the rest of hindu malayalees.
There were many taboos and rules regarding the sadya.There is a way to serve the sadya. The curries too have to be in certain order and there have to be a certain number of this and that. I don't remember any of that. I need help with all that..so dear fellow bloggers.. help me.. write whatever you remember about the onam sadya at your home. let us compile it and give it as a gift to our kids..
We will start with the rice

It is a must to have parboiled rice( kuthari) for the sadya. 1 cup uncooked rice is enough for 2 people. ( On onam days everyone I knew would morph in to shappattu ramans and we certainly cooked more rice)

I use 4 times water..ie 2 cups of rice needs 8 cups of water.

Boil the meassured water in a pan
Clean the rice and wash in many changes of water. When the water is boiling add the rice and keep the fire medium. Close the lid half( if you close it full, then you will clean all the mess too) and cook till the rice is done. Now turn off the heat and close the lid. I use cloth pegs to secure the lid to the pan and tilt the pan slowly drain the water. Or you can drain the water in a colander( not plastic).

I do try to save a glass of the rice water and drink that with a pinch of salt, while I make the rest of the food.
Tomorrow we will make the parippu curry.