Ugadi Pachadi / 6 Taste Pachadi

Ugadi Subakankshalu!!! May this festival usher in prosperity and lot of new beginnings. Ugadi is the Telugu New Year which is celebrated by Hindus in Andhra. Yugadi/Ugadi in sanskrit means the beginning of new age. On this day, a very special and traditional dish is made called Ugadi Pachadi/6 Taste Pachadi  with Raw Mango, Coconut, Tamarind, Jaggery, Chillies and Neem Flowers. This marks that all these flavors will be balanced in our life and is a very easy to make dish.

Jaggery- Sweet- Which represents the happiness of life
Tamarind - Sour- That signifies the sour moments of life which makes our life worth living
Salt- Which represents the fear
Neem Flowers - Bitter- That means sadness
Mango - Tangy- Which represents disgust
Chillies - Spice- That signifies anger

Happy Ugadi dear all :) 

Poha PalmCandy Pongal / Aval Panangkalkandu Pongal

Janmashtami is always very special to me as in my Mom's place we used to celebrate it in a grand manner with all sweets and savories made fir Little Krishna..and I remember me putting Rangolis and drawing little krishna feet every year starting from age of 8..This year I wanted to share make something special, organic and more healthy for offering. Aval/Poha being the most favourite of Lord Krishna, I made sweet version with Aval using Palm Candy and for Savory, the regular Gopalkala (a traditional item made every janmashtami with Curd and Cucumber). 

This delicious pongal is made using just a tablespoon ghee and healthy palm candy..

Palm Candy is obtained from the sap of the palm tree and is a great alternate for the Cane Sugar. Its an unbleached form of healthy sugar which has very less glycemic index and hence a best alternate for diabetic patients. It acts as a Oral Re hydration Solution and also boost up the energy levels. It also has good amount of potassium to meet the daily needs of our body which is needed for good bone and muscle health.

Happy Janmashtami dear all :)

One Pot Autolysis Pomegranate Kesari

Today being an auspicious day, Guru Purnima, I wanted to start putting my OPOS Recipes in my Blog. OPOS is nothing but One Pot One Shot Cooking Method founded by Mr.Ramakrishnan (You can check for his OPOS recipes here). I became member of the OPOS Food Group in Face Book called UBF (United By Food) an year back. The amount of learning over this year is humongous and I started cooking most of my recipes by this method only. To me OPOS is more a science and if we really understand the nuances, techniques and standardization, almost every other recipe can be done by OPOS in a more flavorful way. Thanks to Ramakrishnan, the food scientist, behind all those A to Z techniques of this OPOS method. I am planning to post all my OPOS recipes here as a separate section.

I love experimenting with sweets and especially Kesari is one recipe which I have done enough of my crazy combinations. After joining UBF I couldnt even think of going back to old method of making Kesari which involves continuous stirring and at some  critical times I have always ended up with lumpy kesari. Thanks to Chithra Viswanathan ma, another legendary cook and author of AskChithvish, from whom I learnt this autolysis method of making One Pot Kesari. In her words, we can make glide in throat kesari with autolysis.
Here is my special One Post Autolysis Pomegranate Kesari for this Guru Purnima Neivedhyam.

Happy Guru Purnima :) 

Ambalapuzha Paal Payasam

A recipe which I have been relishing over these 14 years, being married to a Mallu at Ambalapuzha Temple..an authentic recipe of Kerala and this is being offered as Neivedhyam to Lord Sree Krishna of Ambalapuzha temple and given as Prasadham to all the devotees.

The legend behind this prasadham is quite interesting and am happy to share this through this post..

Source : Wikipedia 

God Krishna once appeared in the form of a sage in the court of the king who ruled the region and challenged him for a game of chess (or chaturanga). The king being a chess enthusiast himself gladly accepted the invitation. The prize had to be decided before the game and the king asked the sage to choose his prize in case he won. The sage told the king that he had a very modest claim and being a man of few material needs, all he wished was a few grains of rice. The amount of rice itself shall be determined using the chess-board in the following manner. One grain of rice shall be placed in the first square, two grains in the second square, four in the third square, eight in the fourth square, sixteen in 5th square and so on. Every square will have double of its predecessor.

Upon hearing the demand, the king was unhappy since the sage requested only a few grains of rice instead of other riches from the kingdom which the king would have been happy to donate. He requested the sage to add other items to his prize but the sage declined.

So the game of chess started and needless to say the king lost the game. It was time to pay the sage his agreed-upon prize. As he started adding grains of rice to the chess board, the king soon realised the true nature of the sage's demands. By the 20th square, the number had reached one million grains of rice and by the 40th square, it became one million million. The royal granary soon ran out of grains of rice. The king realised that even if he provides all the rice in his kingdom and his adjacent kingdoms, he will never be able to fulfill the promised reward. The number of grains was increasing as a geometric progression and the total amount of rice required to fill a 64-squared chess board is ((2^64) - 1) which is equal to the number 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 translating to trillions of tons of rice.

Upon seeing the dilemma, the sage appeared to the king in his true-form, that of God Krishna. He told the King that he did not have to pay the debt immediately but could pay him over time. The king would serve paal-payasam (made of rice) in the temple freely to the pilgrims every day until the debt was paid off.

Here goes the simple yet a delicious recipe :) 

Kudiraivaali Akkaravadisal / Barnyard Millet Sweet Pongal - Koodaravalli

Koodaravalli is an auspicious day observed during the 27th day of the divine month of Margazhi...which represents the end or completion of Paavai Nonbu...
Sri Andal in her 27th Verse of Thirupaavai explains the reward of Paavai nonbu...Sri Andal and other Gopikas dress up themselves with nice clotes and adorn Jewels, flowers and share sweet with Lord Krishna to mark the end of Paavai Nonbu...
Here is the snippet of the twenty seventh pasuram.."Koodarai Vellum Seer Govinda" and its explanation..

கூடாரை வெல்லும்சீர் கோவிந்தா உந்தன்னைப்

பாடிப் பறைகொண்டு யாம்பெறும் சம்மானம்

நாடு புகழும் பரிசினால் நன்றாகச்

சூடகமே தோள்வளையே தோடே செவிப்பூவே

பாடகமே என்றனைய பலகலனும் யாம்அணிவோம்

ஆடை உடுப்போம் அதன்பின்னே பாற்சோறு

மூடநெய் பெய்து முழங்கை வழிவாரக்

கூடி இருந்து குளிர்ந்தேலோர் எம்பாவாய்.

koodaarai vellum seer gOvindhaa undhannai

paadi paRai kondu yaam peRum sammaanam

naadu pugazhum parisinaal nanRaaga

choodagamE thOL vaLaiyE thOdE sevip poovE

paadagamE enRanaiya palagalanum yaam aNivOm

aadai uduppOm adhan pinnE paaR chORu

mooda ney peydhu muzhangai vazhi vaara

koodi irundhu kuLirndhElOr embaavaay

Sree Andal and her other Gopika friends are elated as they have achieved their goal..Lord Sri Krishna. They request him to drown them in the ocean of compassion. They have been observing the Paavai Nonbu for 26 days in order to attain him ,and to mark the end of the nonbu, they dress themselves with beautiful clothes,scented flowers and glittering jewels, will have celebrations. After offering rice cooked in wholesome milk, sweetened and dripping in ghee (when a morsel would be eaten ghee would drip down the elbows) to Lord Krishna, each and everyone present would partake of the divine neivedhyam and experience the supreme Bliss.

Image Courtesy: Google - gayasrikrishna.blogspot 

Am presenting here the recipe of Akkaravadisal with a twist wherein I have replaced Rice with Barnyard Millet or Kudiraivaali. The same recipe can be used to make with Saamai/Little Millet or Thinai/FoxTail Millet. 

Happy Koodaravalli....:) 

This Year Koodaravalli is today 12 Jan 2016, Tuesday. 

Aarudhra Darshan - Tiruvaadirai Kali and Thaalagam / 7 Kari Kootu

Aarudhra Darshan is a festival celebrating the ecstatic Cosmic Dance of Lord Shiva (Anandha Thaandavam) in Natarajar Form. It is observed every year during the Tamil month of Margazhi on Thiruvaadirai Nakshatram. Aarudhra signifies the Shiva's dance inside the golden red flame.

This Cosmic Dance of Shiva is a symbolic representation of the continuous cycle of life on this universe ie., Creation to Destruction. Its believed that this dance takes place in each and every particle of the universe which is also a scientifically proven part that Universe is made of particulate matter which in turn is the source of energy (Einstein's Particulate Theory). The scientists have also shown that the movement of an atom is in the form of this Cosmic Dance performed by Lord Shiva. Hence Thirumoolar has also mentioned
"Avanandri Oru Anuvum Asayadhu"

Lord Shiva's Dance Pose is a complete symbolization of the cycle of life...

The Hour Glass Drum in his upper right hand is the symbol of creation which represents the Male and Female Vital Principles..Two Triangles infused..
The Flames of Fire on the left upper hand symbolizes the Destruction as per Hindu Mythology the Universe will be engulfed at the end by Fire.
Hence the two hands are kept at a balance...always there is a balance between creation and destruction..
The Second right hand showing Abhaya Muthra which means protection..
The crossed left leg and the and lower left hand indicates release from the cycle of birth and death..
The hand points the uplifted foot symbolizes Lord Ganesha who is the remover of obstacles..
Dwarf on which the Shiva Dances signifies creation is possible only when weight of the darkness of the universe is overcome and suppressed.
The ring of fire indicates the field of universe in which the dance takes place..
The Lotus Pedestal at the base indicates the universe in consciousness of each person...

On this day, we offer a sweet made of Roasted Rice Flour and Jaggery, Thirvaadirai Kali..which is a part of Hindu tradition. Along with this, a gravy is made with 7 vegetables also called as 7 Kai / 7 Kari Kootu or Thalagam.

My mom makes a very delicious texture of Kali and from her I learnt this recipe...There's a saying about this in Tamil ""Thiruvaadiraiku Oru Vaai Kali" 

Here's the Recipe for both...

This Year Aarudhra Darshan falls on 26th December.. Happy Aarudhra Darshan :)