SRI RAMA NAVAMI

Its Sri Rama Navami today and I thought of sharing the recipes of the prasadams that I made. Sri Rama Navami is a festival celebrating the birth of the Lord Sri Ram, He was born on the ninth-day (Navami) of the month Chaitra. In most of the places it is celebrated for 9 days with navami being the last day of the utsav. On the day of Navami, Sita Kalyana Mahotsava is done in the south of India and the new born Ram Lala is put into the cradle in the north.

During my days at Mettur, I and my sister used to wait for this festival to come, as Panagam and Neer Mor were served to all the devotees who carried the Rama's Idol and also to the ones who accompany them. What could be more refreshing than Panagam and Neer Mor to ward off the summer heat in India!!

The whole week used to be packed with events in the Bhajana Madam, with Ramayan discourses in the evening and Seetha kalyanam & the colony Oorvalam on navami. I still cherish those sweet memories of eagerness to catch the front row seats, our giggles over old people dozing in between and not to mention the taste of the prasadams!

The Prasadams: Panagam, Neer Mor and Vada Paruppu

The good calorie from jaggery, calcium in the buttermilk and protein in the vada paruppu makes this combination not only tasty but, one of the most nutritious prasadams I guess. And above all its a childsplay, literally even a kid can make it. So this is how I made them.

Panagam: 

Ingredients:

Jaggery – ½ cup

Water- 2 Cups

Lime- half

Sukku (Soont) or Dry ginger powder- A pinch

Cardamom powder- A pinch

Method:

Soak the half cup of jaggery in two cups of water for around half an hour and filter it to remove any dirt. Add the ginger powder, cardamom and squeeze the lime to it. Give it a good stir and serve it chill.

Neer Mor :

Ingredients:

Yogurt – ¾ cup

Green Chilli – 1 if small or ½ if big

Cilantro – 2 small sprigs

Asafoetida- A pinch

Water- 2 cups

Salt to taste.

Method:

Beat the yogurt well and add 2 cups of water to it. Add asafoetida, salt and chilli- cilantro paste to it.

Give it a good stir before serving.

Vada Paruppu:

Ingredients:

Moong Dal- ¼ cup

Mustard seeds- For seasoning

Urad dal- For seasoning

Asafoetida- For seasoning

Green chillies-1, finely chopped or slit

Lime- half

Shredded Coconut – 1 Tbsp

Corriander

Curry leaves

Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the dal in water for half and hour and strain the water. Add salt, lime, chilli, coconut and cilantro to it. Season the mixture with mustards, urad dal, asafoetida and curry leaves. And thats vada paruppu!

After some food for the body, heres something for the soul too,

The significance of Ramayana ; I heard it in one of the live discourses of Sri Tejomayanand ji (The present head of Chinmaya Mission) during my under graduation days at college.

He told “ Sita is peace of mind and when Ravana (Bad qualities) abducts Sita, Lord Ram (the good qualities ) fights to get Sita (Peace) back”. It does make perfect sense , isn’t ?

And heres a small sloka on Ramayanam,

Eka Shlokam Ramayanam

Poorvam Rama-tapo-vanaadi-gamanam Hatva Mrugam Kaanchanam
Vaidehee-haranam Jatayu-maranam Sugreeva-sambhashanam
Balee-nigrahanam Samudra-taranam Lankapuri-daahanam
Paschaat Raavana-kumbhakarna-hananam Etatdhi Ramayanam




Lord Rama went to the forest in order to fulfill the promise his father had given to one of his wives (Kaikeyi).  In the forest, Seeta was attracted by the golden deer and Rama went after it.  At that time, the wicked Ravana kidnapped Seeta.  Jatayu tried to defend Seeta and save her, but was killed by Ravana.  Lord Rama then befriended Sugriva and killed Vali, the unrighteous.  He crossed the ocean and entered the city of Lanka.  He then destroyed the city of Lanka, killed the wicked demons Ravana and Kumbhakarna and set Seeta free.  This is the story contained in the Ramayana.

How simple !!

 A happy Ram Navami to all of you !

Jai Shri Ram!!

DIY COFFEE COASTERS

Its very self satisfactory and sweet when you use something thats handmade by yourself, as its your effort and you saved some money. Recently I made coffee coasters at home using felt.

Please follow the link at the end of the article to know the procedure. I stumbled on this while browsing “Apartment Therapy”. Its quite simple and easy, but is sure to give you the "Do-It-Yourself" High :)

Materials Required:

1. Felt
2. Scissors
3. A good sharp pen knife
4. And the template (The link is specified in the below mentioned website as well)

http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2012/03/modular-felt-coaster-tutorial.html

Enjoy your new handmade coasters!!

Parotta

This parotta reminds me of the road side shop cooks stretching the parotta dough like a gargantuan rubber bands and sweeping oil onto their jumbo tavas with a small coconut leaf rib brooms. Well I can never mimic that dexterity of roadside masters, but definitely try to make decent and  hygienic parottas! 

 

Basic Recipe,

Make a moist dough with maida or all purpose flour, soak it for half an hour stertch the dough and roll and toss them on the tava.

Ingredients:

1 cup All purpose flour or Maida.

Water

2 Tbsp oil

Salt to taste.

Method:

Make a moist dough with the above mentioned ingredients and let it sit covered for at least half an hour.Knead the dough well on to a hard surface. (Island or the counter)

Take small balls of the dough and make thin chapathis out of it.

Dribble some oil and sprinkle corn flour over the chapattis spread them well over the chapatti surface.

Now pleat the thin chapatti and make a roll out it.

Roll the swirled rolls into chapatti again and toss them over hot tava with oil.

Serve the parottas with hot Kurma.

Vegetable Kurma

The very word Parotta or Barotta as they call in in Tamilnadu makes you search for its partner Kurma. Parotta and Kurma is one of the most sumptuous tiffin that you would find in any restaurant or roadside shop in Tamilnadu. You can have it at any time, I have seen people having it for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner too, so its completely your choice, but it would make quite a heavy dinner I would say. This kurma is typically made in two different ways, one with tomatoes and one without. If you are a tomato lover go for the one with it.

Basic Recipe,

Its quite simple and you can even teach your teen kids to make this.

Saute the onion and tomato with ginger garlic paste and add the boiled veggies and a ground paste to it.

And thats Kurma!

So, lets take a deep dive into the recipe.

Ingredients:

Vegetables,

Dice the below mentioned veggies into small cubes.

2 Carrots, 7 to 8 Beans, 1 big Potato and and few florets of Cauliflower. You can also add green, red or yellow peppers to it.

Half cup of Green peas.

1 medium sized finely chopped onion. (Preferably Red Onion as it adds the desi flavour to the dish)

1 big finely chopped tomato. (Tomatoes are optional)

1 Tbsp of ginger and garlic paste.

1 Tsp of turmeric. (Optional for the anti-tomato one)

For the paste:

1 Tbsp of Fried gram or Pottu kadalai.

2 Green chillies.

1 small cinnamon stick.

2 Cloves.

2 Cardamoms.

Half cup of fresh coconut.

1 Tsp of Cumin seeds.

1Tsp of Fennel seeds.

1 Tsp of Khus-Khus or poppy seeds. (Optional)

1 Tsp Garam masala.

Method:

1. Boil the veggies and keep it aside.
2. In a pan take 2 Tbsp of oil and splutter some jeera in it.
3. Saute the onions till they turn transparent and add the ginger and garlic paste to it and saute it until the raw smell goes off.
4. Toss the tomatoes until they turn soft and mushy. Add turmeric and garam masala.
5. Make a smooth paste of the ingredients to be ground.
6. Add the paste to the Onion tomato mixture and bring the mixture to a boil by adding some water.Add salt to taste.
7. Then add the cooked vegetables and bring it to a boil.
8. Garnish it with some coriander or cilantro and serve it hot with Parotta or Barotta.