You may have noticed that all the onam vibhavangal I shared with you till now have mild flavours and taste, and are soothing to the stomach. But the malayali (especially the non vegetarian) has been brought up on some seriously fiery stuff, and he is of the opinion that any food cooler than a forest fire is bland. In the traditional Onam Sadhya, the Puli Inji and achar (pickles) come to the rescue. Served in small quantities on the upper left half of the banana leaf, they provide a nice kick to the meal. A touch of these will suffice with each ball of rice you eat; as such they are called thottu kootan. Another kind of thottu kootan is the Pachadi. It is not hot (in my opinion), but it is a heady mix of sour and sweet flavours – sourness from curd, and sweetness from the fruit or vegetable you use and ground coconut. Pachadi is mostly made of vegetables or fruits such as bitter gourd, mango, pineapple, beetroot which are boiled or sauted in coconut oil with green chilies and onion and