Anitha Jayaraman

While Aadi Velli, Peruku, Pooram are the busy festivals during this special month. Most of the familes do not forget to make the Raagi (Kaezhvaragu) Koozh on atleast one of the sundays during this month. My elder sister follows this custom and I got so attached to the Koozh because of her. Non-vegetarians have their suitable side dishes but I made my yummy counterpart last sunday. My sister did her ritual in India on the same day and I wanted to be a copy-cat.

Koozh-

• Its a 2 day process. Soak the raagi flour the previous day morning in suitable quantity of water. Maintain the consistency in equal to the Idly batter.
• In the night, cook 3-4 cups of rice using the traditional method. While it gets to over-cook, add this raagi batter and start stirring.
• Stir to boil and then leave it aside.
• The next day morning, add a cup of curd and salt and mix it again. To this add finely cut onion pieces.

Bean curry

• I used the motchaikottai dried bean. Soak it in water the previous day night.
• The next day pressure cook it to 1-2 whistles.
• You can choose any vegetable to go along with it. I chose eggplant(brinjal). Cut the vegatble into small pieces.
• In a pan, after seasoning add finely cut onions and tomatoes and deep fry them.
• To this add little water and add chilli powder and salt. Let it boil to a precipitate.
• To this add the cut vegetables and boiled beans. Let it cook for a while to bind to the precipitate.