A Sadya is a big feast associated with a special occasion, such as a marriage, birthday, childbirth etc. A Sadya is traditionally a vegetarian meal served on a plantain or banana leaf.
The dishes are plain boiled rice, many curries, papadum, plain yogurt or buttermilk, banana or plantain chips, and payasam.

These are few dishes associated with a sadya
Parippu : A thick lentil dish eaten with rice, papadum and ghee.
Sambar : A thick gravy made of lentils, tamarind, coconut, vegetables like drumsticks, tomato, etc., and flavored with asafoetida.
Rasam : A watery dish made of tamarind, tomatoes, and spices like black pepper, asafoetida, coriander, chili pepper, etc. It is very spicy in taste and aids in digestion.
Aviyal : Thick mixture of various vegetables, yogurt, and coconut. It is seasoned with coconut oil and curry leaves. This dish is usually made of leftover vegetables.
Kaalan : Made of yogurt, coconut, and any one vegetable like “nendran” plantain or a tuber-like yam. It is very thick and more sour than avial.
Olan : A preparation of pumpkin, coconut milk, and ginger seasoned with coconut oil.
Koottukari : One or two vegetables like banana and coconut with a hot and sweet taste.
Kichadi : Made of yogurt and cucumber in raw or cooked form.
Pachadi : A sweet form of kichadi, but made with pineapple, grapes or beetroot and coconut or yougurt.
Injipuli : Curry made of ginger, tamarind, green chilies, and jaggery.
Thoran : A sauteed dish of vegetables such as peas, green beans, raw jackfruit, carrots, or cabbage (usually) with grated coconut.
Pickles (Achar) : Spicy pickled raw mango/lemon/lime, etc
Pradhaman or Paysam

Here is few recipes for a traditional Kerala Sadya

Sambar

1)  Pearl Onion – 1/4 cup
2)  Winter melon – 1/4 cup
3)  Drumsticks – 1
4)  Vendakka ( Okra) – 6-7
5)  Tomato – 2
5)  Green chilly – 4
6)  Toor Dal – 1/2 cup
7)  Your favourtie Sambar powder
8)  Turmeric powder
9)  Tamarind ( 1/4 th of lemon size ball)  – Soak in hot water , drain and remove seeds.

Pressure cook toor dal with some turmeric powder and oil and set them aside
Cut all vegetables
Cut Okra into two pieces and shallow fry them in some oil and set them aside
Cook Drumsticks in some water adding some salt till they are 3/4th done and set them aside
Transfer cooked Toor dal to a deep wok and  winter melon , drumsticks to this and cook on medium flame. Once it is 3/4th done

add tomato,pearl onion, slitted green chilly and cook them till all vegetables are cooked well.
Add sambar powder
And tamarind water to Sambar
Add fried Okra to Sambar
Boil sambar once and trun off flame.

For seasoning
Coconut oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds – A pinch
Dry red chilly  – 3 no
Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Heat some oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, red chilly and curry leaves
Once it starts to splutter add the seasoning to Sambar

Koottu Curry

1)  Kadala  (Black Gram Dal, Black chickpeas)  – 1/2 cup
2)  Chena (yam) chopped into small pieces – 1/2 cup
3)  Ginger, finely chopped – 1 tsp
4)  Green chillies, finely chopped – 1 tsp
5)  Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
6)  Salt to taste
7)  Water

For Garnish:

1)  Grated coconut – 1/2 cup
2)  Red-pearl onions – 5, thinly sliced
3)  Coconut oil – 1 tbsp
4)  Mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
5)  Dry red chillies – 3
6)  Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Cooking Method:

Heat oil in a shallow pan, splutter mustard seeds.
Add dry red chillies, thinly sliced onions and saute till it turn light golden.
Add curry leaves and grated coconut and roast till it is brown and keep aside.
Pressure cook  soaked Kadala with 1 1/2 cups of water and enough salt, till it’s well cooked and soft.
Add chopped yam, ginger, green chillies, turmeric powder, salt to cooked Kadala.
Cook until it is soft. Add little water if needed.Once yam is cooked, add the roasted coconut mixture to this, give a gentle stir and switch off the stove.

Inchi Puli

1)  Ginger – 2  roots
2)  Green chilly – 6 – finely chopped
3)  Coconut oil  – 1 tbsp
4)  Dry red chilly – 2
5)  Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
6)  Tamarind  – One small lemon size ball
7)  Water  – 2 cups
8)  Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon
9)   Red Chilly powder – 1/2 teaspoon
10)  Jaggery – 25 gm
11)  Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Heat 2 tbsp water and add Jaggery to it and keep stirring till the Jaggery dissolves without sticking to the bottom.Add more  water if needed.Drain jaggery  and keep it aside.
Peel and chop ginger. Fry ginger in half tablespoon oil until it turns dark brown. Grind the fried ginger while it is hot and  keep aside.
Warm 2 cups water, add tamarind ball to it. Drain tamarind juice removing all seeds  and keep the juice aside.
Heat the remaining oil and add mustard . When seeds starts to splutter add red chillies (cut into 3-4 pieces) and curry  leaves.Add chopped green chillies and fry for a minute. Add the tamarind juice, turmeric powder, chilly powder and ground  ginger. Allow the mixture to simmer for a while to make it a thick liquid.
Add the jaggery mix, and stir well till it reaches desired consistency. Inchi Puli thickens as it cools down.

Inchi Thairu

1)  Thick Yogurt – 1 cup
2)  Ginger – 2 inch piece
3)  Green Chilly – 5
4)  Red pearl onion – 4

Slice ginger , onion and green pepper into small pieces. Crush them together using a stone mill.
Add this to yogurt, add salt for taste
Mix well and serve cold

Cabbage Thoran

1)  Small Cabbage – 1
2)  Grated coconut – 1 cup
3)  Red pearl onion – 6-8
4)  Green chilly – 6
5)  Curry leaves – 1 sprig
6)  Coconut oil
7)  Mustard seeds
8)  Turmeric powder

Remove outer layers of cabbage and cut in the middle. Take each cut half and cut again once to make 4 pieces. Remove the thick  stem in the center of all 4 pieces.
Thinly cut the cabbage slices as fine as possible.
Thinly slice pearl onions
Thinly slice green chillies in rounds
Put all cut ingredients, grated coconut, curry leaves in a pot and mix them together
Heat some oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. When the seeds splutter, add turmeric powder.
Once the raw smell of turmeric is  gone, add cabbage mix and fry well without burning cabbage.
If cabbage starts sticking to the bottom, add little bit oil. Fry  till cabbage turns into a nice golden brown color.
Serve hot with Rice.

Beetroot Pachadi

1)  1 cup grated beetroot ( 1 small beetroot)
2)  Grated Ginger – 1 1/2 tsp
3)  1 medium onion finely chopped
4)  Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
5)  Curry leaves – 1 sprig
6)  Green chillies , chopped round – 2 nos
7)  Curd – 1 cup
8)  Coconut Oil – 1  tbsp
9)  Salt

Cooking Method:

Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds.
Add onion , green chillies, curry leaves and saute  till onion become translucent.
Add the grated beetroot, ginger ,salt and cook till the mixture is dry and beetroot is fully cooked.
Remove from flame and add curd once beetroot is cool and mix well. Add more water  if  Pachadi is too thick.

Aviyal

1)  1 Raw plantain ( Pacha Aethakka)
2)  Carrot – 1/4 cup , Cut length wise , 1 inch thick pieces
3)  Potato – 1/4 cup , Cut length wise , 1 inch thick pieces
4)  Kovakka ( Tindora) – 10
6)  Drumsticks – 2
7)  Winter melon – 1/2 cup , Cut length wise , 1 inch thick pieces
8)  Vellarikka ( Indian cucumber) – 1/2 cup , Cut length wise , 1 inch thick pieces
9)  Payar (Achinga, long bean)  – 3
10)  Green Beans – 2
11)  Chena (Suran Yam) – 1/2 cup
12)  Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
13)  Red chilly powder – 1/2 tsp
14)  Thick Yogurt – 1/2 cup
15)  Grated coconut – 1 cup
16)  Jeerakam ( Cumin seeds) – 1 tsp
17)  Green chillies – 5
18)  Curry leaves – 1 sprig
19)  Coconut Oil – 2 tbsp

Remove plantain skin and cut them length wise. Soak them in enough water to cover all pieces. Add some turmeric powder and salt to the water. Keep them aside for an hour. Drain and keep the pieces aside.
Cut kovakka, payar, drumsticks, green beans length wise.
Transfer ingradients 1 to 13 to a thick bottom pot, add salt, mix well and cook covered on low heat. Stir in between to make sure the vegetables doesn’t stick to bottom. If it starts sticking, add very little water, just enough to keep them from sticking to the pan.
Grind together grated coconut and cumin seeds.
Once the vegetables are 3/4th cooked and all water dries out, add ground coconut mixture and mix well and cook till the row coconut taste is gone.
Once water dries out, lower heat and add thick yogurt and mix well. Keep cooking on low heat till all water dries out.
Add more salt if needed.
Crush green chillies and curry leaves together in a stone mill and add this to cooked vegetable mix.
Pour 2 tbsp raw coconut oil to this, mix well and transfer Aviyal to a serving bowl.

Chena Erissery

1)  Chena (Suran Yam)  – cubed 1 cup
2)  Grated Coconut – 5 tbsp
3)  Cumin seeds – A pinch
4)  Dry red chilly – 1 no
5)  Red chilly powder – 1 tsp
6)  Turmeric – 1 tsp

For seasoning:

Coconut oil – 1 tbsp
Grated coconut – 1/2 cup
Mustard seeds – A pinch
Dry red chilly  – 3 no
Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Cooking method:

Grind together grated coconut, cumin seeds and dry red chilly into a paste.
Cook chena along with salt , red chilly powder, turmeric powder and water, until half done.
Add the ground paste and cook well.
Remove from fire.
Heat coconut oil in  a pan.
Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and red chilly.
When it starts to splutter, add the grated coconut and fry it until it turns brown.Make sure coconut doesn’t get burnt.
Add the seasoning to the cooked vegetable and mix well.

Seasoning gives Erissery a nice aroma. Serve with hot rice

Kalan

1) 1 Raw plantain ( Pacha Aethakka)
2) Red chilly powder – 1/2 tsp
3) Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
4) Black pepper powder – 1 tsp
3) Ghee – 1 tsp
4) Grated coconut – 1/2 cup
5) Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
5) Thick yogurt ( curd)
6) Fenugreek seeds ( Uluva) – 1/4 tsp

For seasoning

Coconut oil – 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds – A pinch
Dry red chilly  – 3 no
Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Remove plantain skin and cut them length wise. Soak them in enough water to cover all pieces. Add some turmeric powder and

salt to the water. Keep them aside for an hour. Drain and keep the pieces aside.
Grind coconut and cumin seeds with very little water and set aside.
Cook the plantain pieces with enough water, salt, red chilly powder and turmeric.  Once it is half done add black pepper

powder to this. Once it is cooked thoroughly , turn off heat and add Ghee.
Add ground coconut mixture to cooked plantain  and cook on low heat.
Once the raw smell of coconut is gone turn off heat and set them aside to cool off.
Once the mixture is cool, add thick yogurt to this mixture and mix very well.
At this stage kalan has to be really thick. Make sure the plantain mixture is very thick before adding the yogurt.
Heat some oil and splutter fenugreek seeds. Make sure not to burn them. Separate seeds from oil and crush them to make fine

powder and add this to Kalan. Add a portion and taste the Kalan. If you add too much fenugreek it gives kalan a very sour

taste. Add more depends on the flavor.
Heat some oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, red chilly and curry leaves
Once it starts to splutter add the seasoning to Kalan

Kadala Parippu Pradhaman

1)  Chana Dal (Kadala parippu) – 250gm
2)  Jaggery – 600gm  (Melted and strained )
3)  Sago(chauvary) – 50gm
4)  Very thin coconut Milk -3cup
5)  Thin coconut milk-2cup
6)  Thick coconut milk-1cup
7)  Ghee – 50gm
8)  Cashew nuts-50gm
9)  Nalikera kothu – 1/2 cup , very small pieces
10)  Cardamom powder – 1/2 tsp
11)  Chukku (dry ginger)  powder – 1/2 tsp

Soak Chana dal overnight , pressure cook well. Take 3/4th of cooked chana dal and mash it well. Keep the remaining the same.
Cook sago and keep aside.
Grate 4 coconuts, add 2 cup of water  and grind well in a mixer.
Squeeze thick milk from it and keep aside.
Now add 1 glass of water and grind it again and take the thin milk and keep aside.
Finally add 1 cup water, grind again and take very thin milk and keep aside
Heat 1/2 cup of water and melt jaggery , When done strain it and keep aside.
Heat some ghee,  fry the cashew nuts and coconut separately ,drain them and keep aside.
Heat remaining ghee in a thick bottom vessel, add cooked chana dal and saute for 5 minutes without sticking to the bottom.
Now add jaggery ,mix well with the dal ,stir continuously and cook until the mixture becomes thick.When this mix start  separating from the sides of the pan, add the thinner milk and cooked sogo and keep stirring
When it begin to thicken , add the 2nd milk , keep stirring.
Now add  thick milk(onnam palu) and stir well for 1 minute , do not boil once you add the thick milk.
Now add chukku powder and cardamom powder and stir well.
Remove the payasam from the fire and keep on stirring for few minutes.
Now add the fried coconut and cashew nuts.
Delicious parippu pradhaman is ready to serve.