I am a Roman Catholic Mangalorean, Sudhakar is a Kerala bred GSB and we are living in Bangalore. Between our religions, the places we come from and this city we live in there are about a dozen festivals that we would like Anoushka to be aware of. 4 of these came in quick succession this past couple of weeks and it was all about feasting. There were a few times when we all seemed to have miraculously sprouted our imaginary tummies-on-rent. There were also times when we said... no more... not another morsel more... but then happily plowed on. And so here it is... our food journey through 4 festivals. 

It all began with Eid... we believe that if its biryani it has to be mutton... and so mutton biryani it was. Slow cooked mutton that was marinated overnight, mixed in with spiced rice, topped off with deep fried onions and then put on Dum with onion oil trickled in... I didn't really have any leftovers after this one.

To go with it, we had beef chilli fry. Modified a recipe I found online a bit and made this one. This was meant to be served with dinner, but was attacked long before. 

Next came Ganesh Chaturthi - This year round, it was puris and white pea sundal with coconut shavings. I also made thick dal of sorts out of urad dal, tomatoes and with a tempering of ginger garlic and whole garam masala spices. For the sweets, there was the customary semiya payasam and kesar shrikhand.

A closer look at the shrikhand, topped it off with sliver of almonds and crushed pista.

Next came St Mary's feast. This too was purely vegetarian. I made the traditional payasam out of coconut  milk and jaggery. Rather than go the traditional Mangalorean way, I went South Indian/Continental mix. It was the day we got our new car from the showroom and I could only begin cooking at 7PM. And so Baked pasta with olives and tomato it was. To go with that spiced potatoes tossed in olive oil, chillie flakes and dried Italian seasoning. I made the white peas sundal again on popular demand. And for sweet we had kesari baath.

And then came Onam. This sadya was entirely the hard work of Nishara Antony. My only contribution here was the cabbage poriyal. We had Avial, Red rice and sambhar, Erriserry, there was another dish that I will have to call Nisha for. banana chips, Shakkarperety (forgive all the spellings here), pickle and... payasam (SLUURRRP!!!)

With the red rice and the sambhar

The one and only time I ate payasam with papad and banana mashed into it with all five fingers and the palm of my hand. Sometimes eating just like our countrymen has its own great pleasure.