Lunch Menu - 2 | Vazha ellai Sapadu | South Indian Lunch Thali -2 | Lunch Ideas

Here i'm with the another lunch thali recipe that amma used to make in our home during festivals or any special occasion. Depends on the festival, the side dish count would increase or decrease.I have been thinking of posting this kind of spread in banana leaf for long, but i couldn't find banana leaf here in houston as per my expectation. India stores have banana leaves on festival time, that too not in full size, the middle thick stem was removed and it was split into two, may be that helps to pack them compactly.

And later i found out that Fiesta also have banana leaves and we started to buy from them,but it was also not in full size,but sometimes, if you're lucky,then you can get one or two leaves in full size without much tear.Yesterday i had planned to make this spread and from morning onwards,the raining was pouring continuously without a break,but i pestered ST to go to Fiesta to buy some banana leaves and our trip to Fiesta wasn't wasted,i could get some decent banana leaves and i was so happy, i never thought that i would be so happy for getting banana leaf in my life as my ancestors and part of my family members are still doing banana leaves business in my hometown.  Enough with banana leaves stories, let see the menu of this thali.

• Steamed Rice
• Sambar
• Rasam
• Katti Paruppu(dal with ghee)
• Potato Fry
• Mixed Veg Poriyal
• Snake gourd Puttu
• Keerai Kootu
• Vendakkai Pachadi
• Appalam(again fried in microwave)
• Curd
• Pickle
• Semiya Javvarisi Payasam
• Banana
• Mango

Explaination on how to prepare this menu

Preparation Time : 20 mins, Cooking Time : 1:30 hrs, Serves - 2 to 3

• First pressure cook the dal for sambar and katti paruppu along with potato for fry and in another pressure cooker, cook the channa dal for keerai kootu and snake gourd poriyal along with sago for payasam in a separate box.
• Soak the tamarind for sambar and rasam.
• If you have the habit of soaking the rice,before cooking, soak it now.
• Grind chili paste for poriyal and i have used "Onion cumin & garlic " paste for almost all side dishes and sambar, so i grind them too.
• Chop the veggies for pachadi and start preparing it.
• Then chop the veggies for mixed veg poriyal and start cooking the mixed veg poriyal side by side.
•  In the mean time, start chopping keerai for kootu.Once the pachadi is ready, remove from heat and start preparing keerai kootu.
• By the time, the pressure from the cooker would be automatically released, open it and take the cooked channa dal and add 1/2 of it in the keerai kootu and finish it off.
• By the time, mixed veg poriyal also would be ready,so remove from heat.
• Then chop the snake gourd and start making the snake gourd puttu, once the snake gourd is cooked, add the remaining chana dal into it and finish it off.
• Put soaked rice in pressure cooker for cooking.
• Take the cooked dal for katti paruppu separately and then start making sambar and potato fry side by side.
• Once the potato fry is ready, roast the semiya in ghee and cook it till it becomes soft.
• Then add already cooked sago & sugar and finish off the payasam.
• Now temper the katti paruppu and start making rasam.
• Sambar and steamed rice almost would be ready at the same time.
• At the time of serving, fry appalam.

That's it, how it's time to serve and have the feast.

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