BlackRice Recipe/Payasam

    "Black rice" plays a major role in china and Burma cuisine .Our ancestors were traders in Burma and carried this wonderful rice to chettinad .In Chettinad ,Black Rice "Kavuni arisi" present in almost every occasion,normally a pudding will be made with black rice ,sugar and cardamom , such a simple and rich .

   Whatever occasion or festival there should be one kind of this Payasam/Kheer present along with the meal in India .There are so many variation you can make to this  Payasam recipe, change colours by using food colours or adding fruit to make fruit pudding etc.

I keep saying Payasam/Kheer .

What is payasam /kheer/phirni?
   
  "Payasam" is nothing but "kheer" in north India  and "phirni" in south Asia made with boiling sabudana,semiya,poha,broken wheat ,rice in milk and sugar.. flavoured with cardamom ,nuts,dried fruits etc  .
    This black rice payasam is done in the same way for navarathri prasad (offering to god) .Keep on stirring the kheer otherwise it will stick to the bottom .I added cranberries instead of  dried grapes/raisins ,you can add raisins too .You can add cashew nuts instead of badam.You can substitute black rice with regular rice as well to give a twist to the recipe.

Some other payasam

1. Oats payasam
2. Javarisi payasam(sabudana)
3. Parruppu payasam(pasiparupu) 

     

Preparation time:3 hours(soaking)
cooking time:20 min
serves:2-3

Pattani Sundal/Sundal Recipe

        Dried green peas also known as "pattani " in Tamil.So its called Pattani Sundal .This peas like other legumes is rich in fibre and antioxidants ,folate and protein.It has carbohydrates which are complex to digest so while adding this legume add ginger ,fennel along with it for easy digestion.
     While beach sundal is a variety of sundal which has coconut and mango in it , taste is not uncompromisable with other varieties .Sometimes vendors in street also sell these varieties ,even in bus stations of Tamilnadu you can find similar variety of this sundal .This type of sundal got the taste and nutrients so what are waiting for ?try this and get back to me .

Some other sundal recipes

1. Chickpeas Masala sundal 
2. Green gram sprouts sundal

Preparation time:6 -8 hours(soaking time)
Cooking time:20+10 min
Serves:2-3

Aloo Paratha

 Aloo paratha is everybody's favorite ,isn't it ?Mine too.
        There are two instances ,how i started liking this Aloo paratha?
       First one is: When i stayed in hostel, my pals from Punjab make aloo paratha.Even though they are younger to me ,they make these parathas and i eat them hehe..
      Second one is :While we stay at Bangalore we usually go to a Singh dhabha near by every week.They serve perfect aloo paratha and serve it with plain yogurt .When i hear itself  my mind is now where here.
    Even though my hostel friends add onions to their paratha's ,I haven't added in this version .You can very well do so if you love onion flavor in paratha.In that case chop the onions fine and add it .

Some similar parathas

1. Plain Paratha
2. Methi Paratha 
3. GreenChanna Paratha

Preparation time:25min(including pressure cooking potatoes)
Cooking time :20 min
Yields:6 large parathas

Sweet Lassi Recipe/Peach Lassi

      Sweet Lassi is a flavored yogurt kind Indian drink ,which would be served along with a meal  in northern  parts of India.People are fond of  making lassi with mango, which is very popular and will be available in most Indian restaurants .
          We love to eat fruits as is .I don't do cakes ,slushes,milkshakes,lassi very often with fruits.But once in a while i do some of these to my daughter(she loves fruits in any form) .This peach lassi i did for one of our road trips ,because  i am not sure how to consume peaches.Peaches are very good fruit which gives lot of fiber, resembles apple.
        I used home made yogurt (with 2 percent milk)for making this sweet lassi .Do you see , it is little watery ?.If you use store bought yogurt ,lassi will be thick and creamy .If your kids love yogurt this is the best way to add some fruits to their diet .This lassi is sweet and tangy with tutti fruity its just good .

   Tip:
      You can do lassi with fruit like mango,blueberry.This will be a good quick snack or breakfast for kids that will be made in no time .You can  involve kids while you make them.

Preparation time:5 min

Serves:2

Navarathri recipes/Neivedhyam Recipes

Navarathri Festival starts from today and will end on 3 rd October which is vijayadashami .
Navarathri is celebrated different in different regions .
First lets see how its celebrated in Tamilnadu:
        Navarathri means nine nights of celebration/pooja for goddess Durga ,Lakshmi , Saraswathi in manner of 3 days each .In Tamilnadu navarathri means "golu " ,"golu" means dolls .People arrange 9 steps for 9 days of pooja and the steps should decrease in length considering the dolls placed in each step .People place kalasham and worship it as durga .First step which is the bottom step up to 3 steps gods idols are placed.On 4 the step enlightened persons like saints idols have to be placed .on 5 the step philanthropist ,freedom fighters dolls should be placed.On  6 th step human beings dolls can be placed.On  the 7th step animal dolls,on 8th step birds dolls ,on 9th step insects dolls has to be placed considering from the base to lowest .Each day people come visit golu .If we keep golu prasad as to be made and distributed to the people who visit golu .
How Gujarati people celebrate.
       Garba and dhandiya are the main things happening on navarathri at Gujarati place.They start the festival by placing "Garbo"  which is a small coloured pot with holes .In the pot they light candles and worship it for 9 days .Most the people do fasting on first day which they place Garbo at house .9 days they do dhandiya which is a special dance with festive clothes like gaghra choli .

MasalaChickpeas Sundal	Greengram Sundal	Gothumai Halwa
Pasiparuppu payasam	Paal kolukattai	Lime rice
Javarisi Payasam	Coconut rice	Moongdal Ladoo
Carrot-apple Halwa	RockCandy Rice	Pattani sundal
Medu vadai	Tomato rice	oats payasam
rava kesari	BlackRice Kheer	Kadala paruppu sundal