'Andhra' Style Dasara Thaali

I have been posting recipes under the theme of 'Thaalis and Platters' this month. The first week had been everyday thaalis while the second week was breakfast platters. I am going to post regional thaalis this week that are going to be some simple spreads. The first one is a festival platter that I cooked last year October for Dasara / Dussehera and naturally is a meal from my home state Andhra Pradesh. 

My festival thaalis usually don't look like this but my mother's do. In fact, I can add some more sweets to her festive platter. Now when I think back and as an adult, I appreciate my mother's patience and energy more and more. She used to cook single highhandedly with 'madi' on festival days with set menus for each festival.  Nothing was made in advance or nothing was bought from outside. A chutney, two curries, a dal, rasam, a main rice course, a vada, a payasam would be standard items and the ones we took for granted. Then there would be extra dishes depending upon the kind of festival. For varalakshmi vratam, there would be always five sweet dishes that includes poli, Mysore pak, coconut burfi, rava laddu and payasam. For Ganesh Chaturthi there would be kajjikayalu, kudumulu and undrallu. This year she went with a couple of extras and made boorelu and gasagasala payasam as well while my sister brought a few dishes from her home like alu bondas and kayi sasive anna, she told me over our phone call.  

I on the other hand would do away with a kheer alone, as no one is around on festival days to enjoy even if I made the food. This meal happened on last Vijayadasahmi day since my husband happened to work from home that day. He is usually hundreds or sometimes thousands of miles away working. My son has been away from home for four years now. And the daughter has zero interest in these kind of meals. And I therefore see no point in cooking elaborate dishes for myself alone. This meal also happened because I thought of this as a regional thaali that I can include in this marathon besides cooking a decent meal on the festive day. I repeated the drill this year for Varalaskmi Vratham and Ganesha Chaturthi days as well since the whole family was home after a long time though I didn't click any pictures. I ended up cooking a thaali even on Krishnasthami since my son was born on that day though his birthday is today. 

My festival menu is below. Most of the recipes have already been posted on my blog.

Salad
Senaga guggillu - Seasoned spicy chickpeas 
Condiments:
Beerakaya Pachadi - Ridgegourd chutney 
Bendakaya perugu pachadi - Okra raita 
Side dishes:
Beans koora - Beans curry 
Cabbage Pesarapappu koora - Cabbage moongdal curry 
Palakoora mamidikaya pappu - Spinach and green mango dal 
Vankaya pulusu - Eggplant sambhar
Tomato chaaru - Tomato rasam
Rice:
Annam - Plain rice
Mamidikaya puliohora - Green mango rice
Snack and Sweet:
Palakoora Vadalu - Mixed lentils and spinach fritters
Korrala paramannam - Foxtail millet pudding
Extras
Perugu - Yogurt
Neyyi - Ghee 

My recipe of the day is Mixed dal and Spinach vadas. Hop over here to check the recipe.

So far in this series, I have posted the following.

Week 1 - Everyday Thaalis
Tamil Nadu thaali (From South)
Goan vegetarian meal (From West)
North Indian mini thaali (From North)
Bengali niramish thaali (From East)

Week 2 - Breakfast Platters
Banarasi kachori aur subzi
East Indian Breakfast Platter 
Dal Pakwan
West and Central Indian Breakfast Platter
Kerala Breakfast Platter
South Indian Breakfast Platter

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