Navaratri series - Vijayadasami, Day 10

I wish you all a very 'Happy Vijayadasami'. As for the Navaratri series posts, it ends today! Though it is 'Navratri' - 9 nights, it officially ends on the 10th day where we do special pooja and complete the 9 days vrat/fasting. This day is considered to be the most auspicious day to start any new task! Schools generally open on this day after the dasara holidays!

I remember my cousin was waiting for this day so that she can put her kid to school. OMG! He is the naughtiest kid I have ever known! So how many of you are the proud parents of toddlers who have grown big enough to become Pre-schoolers? I surely can say that, now you will have a lot of free time! Your 'me' time.

As everyone would be, I am completely tired after the pooja work and a good massage is highly appreciated. oh! where is the spa near my place? Have you ever been to spa? when I hear the word spa... OK I am diverting here. I will surely share my one time 'spa experience' which I still brag about.

I am sending all my Navratri prasadams to Srivalli's JFI - Festival treats. Here is the list of what I did throughout the nine days of Navratri.

Day 1

Groundnut/Verkadalai Sundal and Rava/Suji Kesari

Day 2

Pattani Sundal and Ladoo

Day 3

Channa dal Sundal and Kaju Katli

Day 4

Payathamparupu/Gram Dal Sundal and Mysore Pak

Day 5

Chickpeas sundal and Kasi Halwa

Day 6

Rajma/Red Kidney Beans Sundal and Beetroot Halwa

Day 7

Payaru/Whole gram dal sundal and Rice pudding/Arisi Payasam

Day 8

Corn Sundal and Rava Ladoo

Day 9 - Saraswathi Pooja

Carrot Kheer and Vadas

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Navaratri Series - Saraswathi Pooja, Day 9

Hiya! It is Saraswathi pooja! Apart from the variety of food that will be cooked for this occasion, the best part of saraswathi pooja is 'Not touching your books'. As a kid, I have longed for all the days to be this day! Getting up early morning, having your bath and starting to clean the house is what every one will do on this day. Me no exception.

With kumkum in one had and sandanam (sandal) in the other, I used to roam around my house! Keeping them on my cupboards,books,TV etc, it is lot of fun! After which I wait for my mother to finish making the vadas, so that we can do the pooja and then its party time! I will complete most of the vadas before lunch time. Oh! I miss the saraswathi pooja celebration at my parent's.

Here in US, today I made Carrot Kheer and Vadas for Prasadams. Yes no sundal today! This whole week has been full of high calorie food at my house. I am planning to balance it out next week. hmm let me see!

To prepare Carrot Kheer, you will need,

Shredded Carrot - 1 cup
Ghee/Clarified butter - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Milk - 2 cup
Few Fried cashews
Whole cardamom - 2



Method:

In a pan, add ghee and then add the whole cardamom.

Add the shredded carrot and saute for some time and then add milk.

Cook the carrot in milk.

Now add sugar and mix well.

Add the fried cashews and mix.

Serve hot or cold. I loved it after refrigerating it for 30 mts. It is a perfect dessert.

Do check out my Navaratri series recipes.

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Navaratri series - Sweet and Sundal, Day 8

Navaratri is nearing its end. My husband is feeling sad because from tomorrow he won't be getting sundal and sweet daily. It has been like a feast for him every day. After coming from office, the first thing he asks me is 'What have you prepared today?'.

Tomorrow is Saraswati pooja. The one thing I used to love and am still loving about the day is keeping all the books in pooja! Hurray! No studying tomorrow! Only watching TV! As a kid, I bet all of us would have had this thought! Anyways people in US have to wait for another day to enjoy Saraswati Pooja!

Today's Navaratri Prasadam is Corn Sundal and Rava Ladoo.

Corn Sundal:

1 cup Frozen/fresh corn
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tsp of urad dal
1 tsp of channa dal
2 Dry Red chillies OR Green chillies
Few curry leaves
2 tsp of oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp mustard
A pinch of Hing



Method:

In a pan, add oil, mustard seeds. When it pops add hing powder.

Add the urad and channa dal and saute. Add curry leaves and Red/green chillies.

Add the onions and salt. Saute for few seconds.

Now add the frozen corn. If using fresh corn, cook the corn before adding.

The Corn sundal is ready!

I am sharing the Rava Ladoo as today' Sweet.



Check out my other Navaratri series recipes

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Navaratri series - Sundal and Sweet, Day 7

As told in my yesterday's post, here is the golu from my friends house. She is my college mate and like my sister! I love her so much. Her name is Madhura!







Treat for your eyes is over! Now coming to treat for your tongue! Today's Navaratri special is,

Payaru/Whole gram dal sundal:




Ingredients:

1 cup Payaru/Whole gram dal
1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)
1 tsp of urad dal
1 tsp of channa dal
2 Dry Red chillies OR Green chillies
Few curry leaves
2 tsp of oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp mustard
A pinch of Hing

Method:

Soak the Payaru/whole gram dal for 4 to 5 hours. Pressure cook it for 1 hisses.

Add a pinch of salt while pressure cooking. Do not over cook.

In a pan, add oil, mustard seeds. When it pops add hing powder.

Add the urad and channa dal and saute. Add curry leaves and green chillies.

Now add the cooked payaru and mix well.

Now add the shredded coconut and check for salt. If needed add some more salt.

The Payaru/Whole gram dal sundal is ready!

And the sweet is Rice pudding/Arisi Payasam




Checkout my other Navaratri special recipes

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Navaratri Series- Sundal and Sweet, Day 6

I really miss Golu! So I asked my cousin to send a picture taken from his golu and here it is.



It has 5 steps and usual dolls. The Dasavatharam, Kalyana set (my fav) and also Ashta lakshmi dolls. These dolls will mostly be sitting in the steps of golu in almost all the houses. Then comes the god and goddesses dolls.

Decorating the golu with small light bulbs, serial lights is also very famous. It gives a very rich look! Now for my today's Navaratri Sundal and Sweet,

Tomorrow I will share Golu pictures at my best friend's.

Rajma Sundal (Red Kidney Beans) :




Ingredients:

1 cup Red kidney beans/Rajma
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 tsp of urad dal
1 tsp of channa dal
2 Dry Red chillies OR Green chillies
Few curry leaves
2 tsp of oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp mustard
A pinch of Hing

Method:

Soak the Rajma for 4 to 5 hours. Pressure cook it for 2 hisses.

Add a pinch of salt while pressure cooking Rajma.

In a pan, add oil, mustard seeds. When it pops add hing powder.

Add the urad and channa dal and saute. Add curry leaves and green chillies.

Now add the cooked Rajma/Red Kidney Beans and mix well.

Now add the shredded coconut and check for salt. If needed add some more salt.

The Rajma/Red kidney beans sundal is ready!

Now for the sweet, I am sharing Beetroot Halwa for today as Navaratri special sweet recipe.



Checkout my other Navaratri special recipes.

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Navaratri Series - Sundal and Sweet, Day 5

When You say Navaratri, I automatically say Dolls for Golu. I love the doll collection. Every year we make it a point that we buy atleast 1 new doll for our golu collection. Though it has become more costly now a days, it is a tradition in many houses to buy atleast 1 new doll every year.

Shopping for Golu is fun! We generally go with our granny to shop. We all believed that she knows more about festivals than anyone else in the whole world. It is like this in all the house. Is it not? Granny knows more when it comes to traditions. Some traditions are favorable to us but some really get to our nerves. Leaving all that apart if you see Navaratri as a festival which teaches about our culture and history, it gives more pleasure and satisfaction.

So you all know that I am going to talk about few golu collections. But you have to wait. Come back tomorrow for more. As for today, I am ending this post with today's navaratri Prasadam - A sundal and sweet.



Chickpea/Konda Kadala Sundal - This is a very healthy sundal which I prepare often for snacks.



Pumpkin Halwa/Kasi Halwa - Actually this Halwa is made with Ash gaurd, the white pumpkin. As I did not get white pumpkin, I prepared this with the orange one which was equally delicious.

Do check out my other Navaratri Series Recipes.

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Navaratri Series - Sundal and Sweet, Day 4

Yesterday it was all about Golu competition. Today, I would like to share about the most interesting part of Golu, the park. Usually, kids plan for months together for setting up the park. They also have competitions among their friends and brag about their park/zoo.

Everytime it has to be different and unique, so we keep the theme as a secret. No body should copy our idea. If someone kept the same theme for park, then undoubtedly it is a copy, even it was their original idea. Kids! ok I know what you are thinking, even I was like that.

We have many themes like zoo, cricket match, park, village set up etc. Mostly boys will go for the...cricket duh! Girls will opt mostly the zoo or the village. Sometimes we also set up volcano and pouring lava. We mix some colour water and pour it inside the volcano. How it comes out, god only knows! It was the geeky department, we have people to work on that! Oh network!Our friends elder brother's friends brother.. it goes on.but we have someone to help us out! Cool na!

Enough of memories. Now coming to today's Navaratri special prasadams.

Payatham parupu/Gram dal Sundal:



Ingredients:

1 cup Gram dal/Payatham parupu
1/4 shredded coconut
2 dry red chillies
1 tsp channa dal
1 tsp ural dal
A pinch of hing
Salt to taste
1 tsp oil
Few curry leaves

Method:

Be careful when cooking the gram dal. It gets easily mashed if it is over cooked. So I would suggest you to cook Gram dal/Payatham parupu by boiling it with some salt in a pot/pan, till it is cooked right.

In a pan, add oil, mustard and when it pops add the urad, channa dal,curry leaves and hing.

Add the chillies. You can also use green chillies instead of red. Wither way it gives a great taste.

Now add the cooked dal and mix well.

Add the shredded coconut and serve hot. Actually you can omit coconut if you are health conscience. It tasted great without it too.

Today's Navaratri special sweet is Mysore Pak.



A traditional sweet which is great for any festival.

Do check out my other Navaratri series recipe.

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Navaratri Series - Sundal and Sweet, Day 3

If you had read my yesterday's post on Navaratri, I was telling about Golu contest. Let me write in detail now. This happened say around 6 years back. My parents stay at Nanganallur, which is a very famous place in chennai for temples. Usually, there will be Navaratri celebrations and the winning picture of the Golu will be posted in Nanganallur times, if I am right.




Photo by: Manvendra

Actually the Golu contest is not judged by the number of steps you keep, but the presentation and also how many new dolls you have kept this year. Each participant had to explain about their Golu and how it is special every year. I have not judged but I have witnessed few judging occasions. It will be real fun and informative to watch.

Usually the participant will be questioned by the judges and sometimes it will be hilarious too. When taking about Golu, how can I forget the parks created by children (mostly)? I will write more about the Parks tomorrow. Now coming to today's Navaratri special in my blog.

Kadala Parupu/Channa Dal/Lentil Sundal :



Ingredients:

1 cup channa dal
1/4 cup shredded coconut
2 dry red chillies
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp mustard
A pinch of Hing
Salt to taste
1 tsp of Oil
Few currey leaves



Method:

Pressure cook the Channa dal for 2 hisses. Make sure you do n ot over cook it. It is very important to add salt when pressure cooking.

In a pan, add 1 tsp of oil and mustard. When the mustard pops, add urad dal, hing and curry leaves.

Now add the red chillies and saute.

Add the cooked Channa dal and mix well.

Now add the shredded coconut and mix well.

Your Kadala Parupu/Channa Dal/Lentil Sundal is ready. You can also use green chillies but I personally feel that red chillies add a flavour to this sundal.

Now coming to the Sweet, I am sharing Kaju Katli, A famous North Indian Sweet.



Do check out my previous Navaratri series recipe.

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Navaratri Series - Sundal and Sweet, Day 2

The thing that I love about Navaratri is the arrangements of dolls in steps, called as Gollu. I know people love to participate in Gollu competitions. It is really fun to watch. Once happened in my colony in India. We had Navaratri celebrations and Gollu competition was the highlight. Judges will be going from house to house checking for the Gollu arrangements. I will write more about these competitions tomorrow.



Photo by public.resource.org

Now coming to day 2 of Navaratri. Today we worship Badrakali, another form of Durga. Remember? the first three days of Navaratri are about Durga! Today's prasadam or neivedyam is Pattani/Peas Sundal and Ladoo.

To make Pattani/Peas Sundal you will need,

1 cup of Pattani (Fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup of shredded coconut (fresh or frozen)
1 tsp of urad dal
1 tsp of channa dal
2 Dry Red chillies OR Green chillies
Few curry leaves
2 tsp of oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp mustard
A pinch of Hing



Method:

If you are using fresh peas, then pressure cook it for 2 hisses. If you are using the frozen peas then boil it for 2 min.

Both ways add a pinch of salt while cooking t he peas. Do not over cook the peas.

In a pan, add oil, mustard seeds. When it pops add hing powder.

Add the urad and channa dal and saute. Add curry leaves and green chillies.

Now add the Peas/Pattani and mix well. As the peas is already cooked you need not cook the peas at this stage.

Now add the shredded coconut and add check for salt. If needed add some more salt.

Your Pattani/Peas Sundal is ready.

This sundal is famous in Indian Beaches. They add some finely chopped mango to this and also add red chilli powder to spice it up . I am literally drooling just by this thought! It is called Thenga (coconut) Manga(Mango) Pattani (Peas) Sundal!

Now for today's sweet. I am proudly sharing the king of sweets, Ladoo as today's Navaratri special sweet.



Check out my Day 1 Prasadam/Neivedyam for navaratri.

Catch you tomorrow with more Sundal, sweet and Navaratri gossips!

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Navaratri Series - Sundal and Sweets, Day 1

Navaratri or Dasara is a very fun festival in India, especially for kids. In the evening, when that day's pooja is over, the kids go to each house for collecting Prasadams. They also sing to the god. I remember my childhood days carrying polythene cover to collect all the sundals. Fun!

Navaratri is celebrated for nine days. This year Navaratri started on 30 Sept 2008 and will run till Oct 8th 2008. Oct 9, 2008 will be Vijaya dasami. There are a lot of websites sharing information about this festival. Learn more about Navaratri 2008.

Navratri is divided into sets of three days to adore three different aspects of the supreme goddess. Today being the first day, we worship goddess Durga, in order to destroy all our impurities.

As today's Navaratri special, I would like to share Groundnut sundal/ Verkadalai sundal recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup groundnuts
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp channa dal
1 tsp mustard
2 green chillies
2 tsp oil
A pinch of hing
Salt to taste
1/4 cup onions (optional)



Method:

Pressure cook the ground nuts until you get two hisses.

In a pan, add oil, mustard. When it pops add a pinch of hing.

Add urad and channa dal and saute them.

Add the onions and saute.

Add Green chopped chillies and salt.

Now add the ground nuts and mix well.

Ground nut sundal is ready!. It is tasty even when not hot.


Navaratri special sweet :



Today I would like to share Rava/Suji Kesari.

Happy Navaratri to all readers!

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