Diwali Special !!!

A VERY HAPPY DIWALI TO U ALL!!!

Hope u guys had a wonderful and colorful diwali filled with happiness this year...

"Diwali", “row of lights” for which the festival is named , to welcome Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Light signifies goodness. So, during the Festival of Lights, 'deeps', or oil lamps, are burned throughout the day and into the night to ward off darkness and evil .It is a time to lit up 'diyas' in and around the house, and kindle the dark, amavasi night with dazzling display of fireworks. It is a time for rejoice , a time to put on new things, time for exchanging gifts and greetings and wishing each other.The preparations begin the day before Diwali,the house is washed and decorated with kolam (rangoli) . In the pooja room, betel leaves, betel nuts, plaintain fruits, flowers, sandal paste, kumkum, gingelly oil, turmeric powder are kept. Crackers and new dresses are placed in a plate after smearing a little kumkum or sandal paste. Diwali celebrations begins early in the morning. Family members applies sesame oil on their heads and take bath.They were new clothes,goes to temple and burst crackers.This year i missed all these things,this was our first diwali( thalai diwali).I made some traditional snacks,as i'm a beginner in cooking,tried with some simple ones..like Paruppu Vada,ulundu Vada,Paasi paruppu (moong dal) Vada and Suzhiyan.I tried suzhiyan from RAK's Kitchen,it was very tasty.

Ulundu Vadai (Urad dal vada)
Ingredients
Urad dal 1cup
Fenugreek seeds 1/2tsp
Green chillies 3 nos
Ginger 1tsp
Onions 1/3cup
Carrot 1/3cup (optional)
Rice flour 2tsp (to make vadas crisp)
Salt
Oil for deep frying
Method
Soak urad dal nad fenugreek seeds for an hour,grind both dals in ablender to athick batter without adding water.Add very little if needed to grind.If batter is bit watery ,add rice flour .so that batter will be thick,u get crispy vadas.Mix salt,ginger,onions,carrot into the batter.In a heavy bottomed pan,heat oil for deep frying.Wet our hands or apply little oil ,so that batter doesnot syick to the hands.Make vadas and deep fry it.Making holes in vadas are not that easy for beginners like me,my vada are not in very good shape.

Moong dal Vada(Paasi paruppu vada)
Ingredients
Moong dal 1cup
Ginger 1tsp
Green chilli 3
Salt
Oil for deep frying
Method
Soak dal for an hour,grind smoothly without adding water.Mix ginger,green chilli,salt to it.Heat oil ,pour batter into oil with a small spoon,u'll get different shapes of vada.Fry till golden brown.

First Wedding Anniversary!!!

Our 1st wedding anniversarywas on Nov 5th,a slight difference from the normal days.After a long time,i wore saree and went to temple.I want to begin the day with some sweet,how about a Pineapple Upside down cake.I saw many of these in blogsphere,especially inspiried by Mansi's mini ones.I havent baked cake before,so beginned with this fruit cake in my own style.

Pineapple Upside down Cake

Ingredients..
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar/granulated regular sugar
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple round slices, drained, reserve juice
1 quick cake mix ,i used Super moist Butter yellow mix
3eggs
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup veg oil
Method..

Melt 1/3 cup butter,sprinkle brown sugar evenly over melted butter ,pour evenly into the cake pan. Arrange pineapple slices over sugar.u can place cherries or pecans to make the cake more decorative in the middle of pineapple slices.In a large mixing bowl, beat cake mix,eggs,veg oil for low speed for 30 sec. Stir in 1/3 cup pineapple juice , water if needed slowly for 3 min. Mix well and pour into cake pan over pineapple slices. Bake in pre-heated 350° oven about 30-35 minutes.Allow it to rest in the pan,after cooling completely,invert it upside down to a serving plate.

Paruppu Payasam (Moongdal Payasam)
I also made pradhaman,without payasam what celebration....I remember ,grandma used to make this for every year on onam,coz grandpa like to have this payasam with banana along with kerala traditional sadya...i love the taste of dal and jaggery combo.Thought that this will be a flop,coz i'm not that good in making desserts with jaggery.In kerala ,we call this as 'Parippu Pradhaman'.Parippu Pradhamans are of two types, Pradhamans using only parippu(dal) or a combination of parippu and rice. Both Bengal gram dal and moong dal are used in preparing pradhaman.Here i tried only moong dal.This was my first attempt in making pradhaman,very happy that it came well,so simple and delicious dessert...

Ingredients..
Moong dal/Cheru payar parippu 1 cup
Jaggery 1 1/4 cup(more or less can be used depending on how much sweet u need)
Thick milk 1 3/4 cup (coconut milk can be used )
Grated coconut 1/4cup (chopped dry coconut /copra can be used)
Cardamom pwd 1/2pod
Cashewnuts 8
Raisins 8
Ghee 1 tbsp
Water to pressure cook dal 2 cups
Water to prepare jaggery syrup 1 1/2cup
Method..
Heat ghee in a thick pan,roast cashew nuts and raisins till golden brown,keep aside.In the same pan,roast moong dal for 5 min or so,till a nice aroma comes.Moong dal has a nice flavour.Remove from the pan,cook dal in apressure cooker for 3 whistles,dal should be soft .Once cooked,mash the dal .Don't mash into fine paste.In the same pan,melt jaggery with water.Strain to remove impurities if any.Again boil jaggery syrup,add cooked dal.Boil till for few min.Now add grated coconut and milk to the above,go on stirring in low flame till its blended.Add cardamom powder,roasted cashew and raisins.Serve hot or chilled.

Sweet Appam

Happy Navaratri!!!!!

"Ayigiri Nandhini Nandhitha Medhini
Viswa Vinodhini Nandhanuthe
Girivara Vindhya Sirodhini Vasini
Vishnu Vilasini Jishnunuthe
Baghavathy He Sithi Kanda Kudumbhini
Boori Kudumbhini Boorikruthe
Jaya Jaya He Mahishasura Mardhini
Ramyaka Bardhini Sailasuthe."Navaratri is dedicated to Goddess Saraswathi/Durga,the "Goddess of Learning" and considered as personification of courage,strength and power.Its a festival of nine days,last three days are more scared than others,they are called Durgashtami, Mahanavami and Vijayadasami.In my house in kerala ,during the durashtami day in the evening ,a ceremony called "Poojavaipu" is performed.Books ,musical instruments are placed before the goddess ,"Golu" is kept in golu padi,decorated with flowers and other decorative items.Idols of God,Goddess and other mythological characters are placed on padi and pujas are performed.
The following day, Mahanavami, is totally devoted to the worship of Saraswathi. Pooja is performed both in the morning and in the evening and many more items such as rice, payasam, thirali,vada,appam etc are offered to Devi.During our childhood days,we love this festival than other,coz as studies are suspended during the puja days.On the Vijayadasami day after a Puja in the morning, the books and implements are removed and this ceremony is called `Puja Eduppu'. The time for the break up of the puja marks the beginning of learning and work. In our house,we write "Om Sri Ganapataye namaha" on rice , particularly the children, and read a few sentences from books. Its a day to begin new ventures, business or education as it is an auspicious day and assures one of success. On Vijayadasami, toddlers are taught their first alphabet ,ceremony is conducted in all temples,its known as "Ezhuthiniruth".

Sweet Appam
Ingredients....
Rice flour /wheat flour1cup
Sugar/jaggery 1/4cup
Coconut 1/2cup
Cardamom 1/2tsp
Banana 1 ripe
Refined oil for frying
Method..
1.Mix well the riceflour with cardamom,coconut and sugar.
2.Mash banana well with hand,add along with above items.
3.Sprinkle water to mix,make a thick batter like that of vada batter
4.Heat oil in a pan,take small balls flatten it with fingers in a oilpaper/banana leaves.
5.Deep fry them till they are golden brown or pour batter in appam pan.
U can use wheat flour also.Maida is generally not used on festivals.I used riceflour here.
Instead of sugar,jaggery can be used like melt jaggery in 3-4tsp of warm water,strain for impurities .mix this along with rest of the ingredients.Jaggery i found here is not that good taste ,so i used sugar.
This is my entry to Saraswati pooja/Navaratri under the event RCI-Tamilfestivals hosted by Viji and also to JFS:Dassera/Diwali hosted by Vee

Rawa Kesari/KesariBhaat

Rawa kesari,an easy and wonderful dessert .Yesterday was my 's' birthday,who's a sweet lover...more than that never fed up with eating it,what else can i make for my sweet kothiyan rather than this tasty kesari.Actually i did't know that it's so simple n can be made so quickly.Amma makes kesari very tastly,but i havent noticed how she makes,u know well girls rarely enter kitchen before marriage,same with me too.But after marriage we should start cooking,no other option but now i love cooking .Though kesari is quite simple,one should be careful while adding water to rawa to avoid lumps.when i made,got lumps and mashes it with dal masher.Anyway it came out very well,he loved birthday sweet.
Ingredients

Rawa/semolina/sooji 1cup

Water 2cup

Sugar 1 1/2cup

(i used granulated sugar)

Cardamon 2 powderd

Ghee 1/4cup

Kesari colour apinch

Cashewnuts 8-10

Raisins 8-10

Almonds 8-10

Method...

In a thick bottomed pan,pour 1tsp ghee and roast rawa till it becomes cream in color or till a nice flavour comes.Boil water in another pan ,add kesari colour to it.In a small pan roast cashew,raisins n almonds with ghee and set aside.once rawa is roasted,bring fire to low flame.Add water and stir continously to avoid lumps.When it's almost cooked,add sugar,cardamon,ghee and mix well.Keep stirring till the kesari leaves the pan.At last add roasted nuts .u can serve hot or if u like to cut kesari in pieces.pour it in a ghee spread plate,when it is cooled ,cut into required shapes.

KRISHNA JAYANTHI

HAPPY KRISHNA JAYANTHI!!!!

Krishna jayanthi is the celebration of the birth of lord krishna,in south india it's also known as Gokulashtami. Lord Sri Krishna was born on the 'Rohini' nakshatram (star) on Ashtami day,so it also known as Asthami Rohini In kerala.
Sri Krishna is Lord Vishnu's eighth avatar (incarnation) on earth. He is considered to be the Lord's most glorious incarnations.This festival occurs on the eight day of the dark half of the month Shravan. We decorate our house with flowers ,rangoli , mavela thoranam at doorstep and small feets are drawn with rice flour from entrance to puja room .It 's believed that baby krishna visits his devotee's house to bless them ,leaving behind his foot prints.i remember once my grandma dipped my infant brother 's legs in the flour n drew the foot steps.she takes ''vratham'' (fasting) till midnight chanting slokams n reciting prayers from bagavet gita.
Special dishes like appam,murukku,payasam,aval,seedai ,ladduu and butter are offered to lord.In the evening a special puja is done and people ask one another" kannan onga veetukku vandacha?" (Has Kannan come to your house?).At night we go to krishnan temple near our house ,kolattam is performed by kids dressed up as Krishna and Radha . It is a replete with love for lord krishna.
Yesterday we celebrated with Pal payasam and Aravanai as ''naivedhiyam''.I really wished to draw footprints ,but houses here in usa are laid with carpet.hmmm.....so I couldn't.At that moment I thought east or west india is the best.
Just tried mom's recipe and I like to share here.here it goes......

PAL PAYASAM
Ingredients...
Basmati rice /unakkallari(red rice) 1/4 cup
Milk 6cups
water 1 cup
sugar 1/2 cup
ghee for frying

Garnishing...

cashewnuts 10 nos
cardamom 5 nos
raisins 5nos (optional)

Method

Mix together all the ingredients in a pressure cooker.Cook on a high flame till the first whistle.Soon after the first whistle is heard, lower the fire and cook for half an hour.Fry cashews and raisins in ghee.Garnish the paayasam with the fried cashews and raisins.Serve hot or chilled

ARAVANAI PAYASAM /SWEET PONGAL

Ingredients

Raw rice - ½ cup
Green gram(Cheruparippu) - ½ cup
Ghee - ½ cup
Jaggery(Sharkkara) - 3 cups
Copra(dried coconut) pieces - ¼ cup
Cashews(chopped) - ¼ cup
Raisins(Onakka munthiri) - ¼ cup
Sugar candy(Kalkandam) - ¼ cup (optional)
Grated coconut - ½ cup(optional)

Method....
Lightly roast green gram, till a nice aroma comes and the colour changes.Wash rice and dal together.Heat up a pressure pan.Add rice and dal along with 2 cups of water.Close the cooker, keep the weight and cook upto 2 whistlesAllow it to cool.Add ½ cup of water to jaggery and heat on a low flame, stirring continuously, till the jaggery dissolves compeletely. Strain and add to the rice-dal mixture.Cook, adding ghee little by little.Add the copra fried in ghee.When the whole mixture becomes a mass, add cashew and raisins fried in littleghee.Remove from the flame.Add sugarcandy and freshly grated coconut.

Tips... It can be made only with rice without adding dal.You can cook the mixture for just one whistle and if thus made, rice will be slightly grainy.You can add 1 cup of ghee and 4 cups of jaggery.