Ugadi Wishes with Ugadi Feast..

Wish You all a very Happy Ugadi. Hope this year brings you in good Health, Peace and Prosperity.

Ugadi marks the beginning of a new Hindu lunar calendar with a change in the moon's orbit. It is a season for raw mangoes spreading its aroma in the air and the fully blossomed neem tree that makes the air healthy. Also, jaggery made with fresh crop of sugarcane adds a renewed flavor to the typical dishes associated with Ugadi

Preparations for the festival begin a week ahead. Houses are given a thorough wash. Shopping for new clothes and buying other items that go with the requirements of the festival are done with a lot of excitement.

On Ugadi day, people wake up before the break of dawn and take a head bath after which they decorate the entrance of their houses with fresh mango leaves. The significance of tying mango leaves relates to a legend. It is said that Kartik (or Subramanya or Kumara Swamy) and Ganesha, the two sons of Lord Siva and Parvathi were very fond of mangoes. As the legend goes Kartik exhorted people to tie green mango leaves to the doorway signifying a good crop and general well-being.

After doing prayers, we serve jaggery mixed with neem leaves. The bitter taste of neem leaves and the sweet of jaggery symbolize joy and sorrow in life. Here we just had jaggery as we din't get neem flowers:-).

This festival brings back lots of memories. It is mainly of the food we used to have. We used to help our mom prepare the feast. After doing the pooja we used to sit down and eat on banana leaves. This time, I found banana leaves in a mexican store and was very exited. I have tried my best to do all the dishes my mom used to make for this festival. So here is the feast on a banana leaf..

The dishes are from left ..Salt, Kossambari (salad), Hullikayi Palya( Green beans fry), Thondekayi Palya( Tindora fry), Aloogadde Fry (Aloo Fry), Mosaru Pachadi( Raita), Mavinakayi Chitaranna (Mango Rice), Halasandi vade (Black eyed peas vada), Shavige Payasa (Payasam), Burfi, Obattu (Puran poli), Rice and Obattu Saru ( Rasam).

Will post the recipes soon.. Happy Ugadi..

Happy Sankranti / Pongal

Wish you all a very Happy Makar Sankranti / Pongal

Here is the Till mixture from our house to yours.

In Karnataka, the festival is called 'Sankranti'. Special prayers are offered in the temples and houses. After the pujas, white sesame (ellu) mixed with pieces of jaggery, peanuts, dry coconut and sugar blocks (shakkare achchu) are exchanged. The significance of this exchange is that sweetness should prevail in all the dealings.

All cows and bullocks are bathed, their horns polished and painted in bright colors, and garlands of flowers placed around their necks. The Pongal that has been offered to the Gods is then given to cattle and birds to eat. In the evening, the cattle are led out in procession to the beat of drums and music. In the night a bonfire is lit and the animals are made to jump over the fire. Nowadays all these are done in Villages. When we were kids, they used to do this in Malleshwaram. People used to gather to watch this.

At Gavi Gangadhareshwara (Siva) temple in Bangalore's Gavipuram, a rare phenomenon is witnessed in the evening. The Sun's rays pass through the horns of the Nandi briefly to fall on the Lingam in the sanctum. It is an architectural marvel. The temple will be crowded during this time.

We used to enjoy doing every bit of the preparation for this festival. My mom, my sister and myself used to sit and do the sakkare achchu together but for the ellu preparation, my mom used to do it alone as it was only cutting the jaggery and coconut. In the evening we used to go to distribute(ellu beerodu) to all the houses in our colony. I am really grateful to my mom for teaching us all these cultures and traditions.. I would like to teach all these to my daughter. So, hoping she will learn all these things and have fun..

I used to do only the till mixture as I did not have the mould for the achchu. When I went to India, I got one mould from my mom. So, have prepared the till (ellu) mixture and also sakkare achchu (sugar blocks) .

Till Mixture:

ಎಳ್ಳು / Till - 1/2 cup

ಬೆಲ್ಲ / Jaggery - 2 cups

ಒಣಕೊಬ್ಬರಿ / Dry coconut - 1 cup

ಕಡಲೆಕಾಯಿ ಬೀಜ / Ground nut- 1 cup

ಕಡಲೆ ಪಪ್ಪು /Dhalia - 3/4 cup

Method:

• Dry jaggery and coconut in sun so that it will be easier to cut them later.
• When it has dried, cut them to small pieces.
• Grate the skin of the coconut and then cut them to small pieces.
• Fry ground nuts on medium heat till brown.
• Then remove the skin and split them to half.
• Keep dhalia also in sun till they become crisp.
• Fry Till also till they are brown.
• Then mix all of them together.

In the evening, myself and my daughter will go to friends house to distribute the till mixture(ellu beerodu). She is exited about it...So, once again wish you all Happy Sankranti and enjoy the till mixture..

I would like to send this to Festive Food hosted by Indian Khanna Thank you Preethi for hosting the event.

Happy Gowri & Ganesh Chathurthi

Vakratunda Mahaakaaya,

Suuryakoti Samaprabha..

Nirvighnam Kurume Deva,

Shubha Kaaryeshhu Sarvadaa.

Wish You all a very happy Gowri & Ganesha Chathurthi.

As you celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi, may Lord Ganesha shower his choicest blessings on you & your family.

Ganesha Chaturthi or Ganesha Festival is a day on which Lord Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati, resurrected to life on earth with the head of elephant. It is celebrated as it is the birthday of Lord Ganesha.. It is also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chavithi in Sanskrit, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu, Chavath in Konkani. Typically, the day falls sometime between August and September . The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on Ananta Chaturdashi.

This festival are widely popular, with local communities (mandalas) vying with each other to put up the biggest statue & the best pandal. The festival is also the time for cultural activities like songs, dramas and orchestra.

We just celebrate the festival for two days. The first day is Gowri pooja & the next day is the Ganesha Chathurthi. We dont have the custom of keeping the idol, we just make sweets on both days & do pooja.

The sweet below is called Sajjige. Mom makes this very often as everyone likes it a lot. It is similar to Kesari bath. I thought of making this sweet on the Gowri festival day as it is very easy & fast to make.

Ingredients:

ಸಣ್ಣ ರವೆ / Fine Rava-1 cup

ಬೆಲ್ಲ / Jaggery - 1 cup

ತುಪ್ಪ/Ghee- 1/4 cup

ಏಲಕ್ಕಿ / Cardamom - 2

ದ್ರಾಕ್ಷಿ / Raisins - 1Tb spoon

ಗೋಡಂಬಿ / Cashews - 1 Tb spoon

ಹಾಲು / Milk- 1 cup

ನೀರು / Water - 1 cup

Method:

• Fry rava with little ghee until golden brown.
• In a non stick pan add milk & water & allow it to boil.
• Then add jaggery & cardamom powder.
• After the jaggery has melted, add the rava & add the ghee & give it a stir.
• Close the lid & allow it boil on low heat.
• Fry raisins & cashews in ghee & add to the above.
• More ghee you add, the more it tastes good.

Varamahalakshmi Festival

I wanted to start my blog on an auspicious day, so I decided to do so on the Varamahalakshmi Festival day.

In Bangalore this is one of the biggest festivals and is the beginning of festival season. This festival brings back lots of memories. The festive atmosphere starts almost a week in advance. You can see the markets filled with different varieties of flowers, fruits, pooja items etc. We took our daughter to one of the markets in Bangalore during this festival time. She was very exited seeing everything on the road & she wanted to touch everything.

The atmosphere starts a week before in our house too. Cleaning the whole house, buying a kanchivaram saree for the God :-), polishing all the siver items etc.. We used to be so exited when this festival comes. I used to do all the arrangements in the pooja room & my mom & sister used to do all the cooking in the kitchen. After the pooja we used to have lunch & then again get ready for the evening as all neighbours used to come for kumkum. It used to be really fun.

Myself & my daughter were in India but were returning 3 days before this festival. As this festival can be done on any fridays of that month, my mother-in-law wanted to do it on first friday. My daughter was very excited and had lots of fun. On returning to US, we celebrated this festival again.

As always cleaned & decorated the house, decided the menu previous day & we had few friends on the evening of the festival day. These are the few items which I prepared on that day.