Anitha Jayaraman

I made this for Diwali. This time I finally followed the right proportion and did not use hot spices.

Required Items- 2 cups of Rice flour, 1 cup of Moong Dhal(Passi Parupu) + Chenna Dhal, Cumin seeds, Butter, Salt

• Fry both the dhal using a pan. Once its start changing color, remove them from heat and allow them to cool.
• Grind them using a mixie to powder.
• Take a small stick of butter and melt it.
• Mix 2 cups of rice flour, 1 cup of dhal flour, butter, salt and cumin seeds.
• Add a pinch of asafoetedia too.
• Add appropriate quantity of water.
• Start making the shapes on a plastic sheet or ziploc.
• Start frying them in hot oil

Gautham  & Surya are ready to rock the Diwali 08. Awaiting for its release since long time. Though Surya’s Vel was released last year same time, it still seems to be too long since we had a Surya movie. Hari will always have his touch in his movies and I would call Vel as Hari’s movie.

Lot of expectations are set on this movie. Surya with dual roles, with 3 heroines, a US happening story, 6-abs & what not. Whatever be the case, the only thing that gets to light before the movie is released is the MUSIC. Harris has proved it again for Gautham. Songs are awesome and Adiyae Kolluthae’s music and the dolby voice of Shruti Hassan is going to simply dominate very soon. I think its already doing it! Its a great intro to the famous actor’s daughter. Hoping to hear more songs from her. I hope Rehman already have her in his mind.

I wish this turns out to be a great success to Mr.Menon and also to charming Surya.

Not sure whether you want to call it this way or Puliyogare / Puliyodare / Pulisaadham. My mom calls it with the last one. However I make it, the Iyengar style will top the rank. But I cannot give up my mom’s old style of making it. When its a school picnic or family outing/travel, this will be made without fail. I did Thaligai for Perumal so I got a chance to do it this time.

Required Items – 1 cup of tamarind, peanuts, 6-7 red chillies, curry leaves, chenna dhal and other seasoning items

• Soak the tamarind in 4-5 cups of water. Add little salt and turmeric to it. Let it soak with it.
• Once it has soaked really well and you can get a concentrate out of it, start the process.
• In a vessel, season the mustard seeds, chenna dhal using gingelly oil(sesame oil)
• Add curry leaves and peanuts to it and fry for a while.
• Add 5 red chillies and fry them too.
• Add the tamarind concentrate and appropriate quantity of salt.
• Let it boil for ever. You need to wait until you get the required concentrate of it.
• While boiling, I added powdered Chenna dhall + red chillie powder. This is optional.

Oh yes, it a Kerala item, I thought I will give it a shot. I did not try it from scratch, instead I used the readymade puttu maavu(flour) from the shop. You need the Puttu kozha for cooking.

Puttu rolls

Required items – Puttu flour, Salt, Grated coconut and water

• To the flour, add little water and allow it to soak for 5 mins. Add a pinch of salt.
• After which use your hand to press & break the flour into tiny pieces.
• Put a pressure cooker on stove with water and let it boil.
• Wait until you see the vapor passing our of the cooker’s needle on top.
• Take the puttu Kozha and add the flour and grated coconut alternately.
• Close it and fix it on the cooker’s needle.
• Let it cook for 10mins, now remove the puttu kozha and use its rod to push the puttu from backside.

Kadalaicurry

Required Items – Garbonza beans(Chenna), Onions, tomatoes, Coconut milk, Chillie powder, salt, Coriander powder

• Pressure cook the beans for one whistle.
• Fry the cut onions and then tomatoes in oil
• To this add the chillie powder and salt and fry for a while.
• Add water to make it a gravy.
• To this add the boiled beans and mix them thoroughly with the gravy.
• Let it cook for a while. Add coconut milk to suppress the spice.

I made this for Satyanrayana Pooja. I would classify Kesari as one of the items that can be bravely attempted inspite of not being allowed to taste before pooja. Its a matter of ’sweet content’ and the appearance of the cooked food will guarantee the other aspect which is ‘properly cooked’.

Required Items - 2 cups of Rava(Sooji), sugar 2.5 cups, 1 cup ghee and other flavoring items.

• Fry the rava in a spoon of ghee until it turns light brown.
• Add 3-4 cups of water to the fried rava and allow it to boil and cook well.
• Once its cooked, slowly add the sugar. Keep stirring.
• Sugar will melt and bind the cooked rava.
• Add the remaining ghee while stirring. Also add Kesari powder.
• Once its cooked, add ghee fried cashews & raisins
• To this add cardamom powder and Pachai karpooram(camphor used for flavoring)

Are we ready to celebrate our Tamizh New Year on Jan 14th(or 15th)? I am really waiting for the day to see people reacting to the State’s decision. All I can worry is missing an occasion from the list and I am sure Tamilnadu is going to miss a festival holiday too. I am also wondering how the greeting cards are going to change!!

Are we going to be without celebrating April 14th – (Chittirai -1)? May be my mom will try to do a miniature celebration?!? Not sure whether we can just change our minds and follow the rules or slowly transition out of it. One big change would be the rest of south India will be celebrating their Vishu, Ugadi in April and we will celebrate in January. But the rest of whole world is celebrating in January which a good close -:)

It was decided by our chief minister along with other scholars. No doubt he himself is a great tamizh scholar and nobody can deny his knowledge & passion for the language.Our governor had declared it saying, “On this day, let the people of this state plant trees bearing the ‘Mukkani’ fruits of banana, mango and jackfruit, draw colourful Kolams, decorate their houses with array of lamps showing them in new splendour, wearing new clothes sing and dance in praise of Tamil pride and self respect, spread the message of equality and shower their love and joy,”

Waiting for the big day!!

Yeah its Navarathri time and India is all ready to celebrate it in different ways in different parts of the country. Talking of which, we just completed our other Aug-Sep festivals and now we are into the festival mood again. I think we need to feel happy and proud to be born with our traditions & festivals. Its making our days so colorful, so busy and diverted from our usual chores.

The best part of it is looking forward for it and then accepting & celebrating them. Our families are following the traditions all through their ages, generation-by-generation. Now its our responsibility to take it forward and continue working on it.

A month ago I was chatting with my friend and we were checking when is Vinayaka Chathurthi coming up. Co-incidentally I found this website When-is.com Its useful to find our changing dates for most of our festivals.

Today is Ramzan too – Eid Mubarak to my muslim friends.

Breakfast can help prevent strokes, heart attach and sudden death.For those who always skip breakfast, you should stop that habit now.

Why?

Because the frequency of heart attack, sudden death, and stroke peaks between 6: 00a.m. and noon, with the highest incidence being between 8: 00a.m. and 10:00a.m.What mechanism within the body could account for this significant jump in sudden death in the early morning hours?

The answer is-

Platelet, tiny elements in the blood that keep us from bleeding to Death if we get a cut, can clump together inside our arteries due to cholesterol or laque buildup in the artery lining. It is in the morning hours that platelets become the most activated and tend to form these internal blood clots at the greatest frequency.

However, eating even a very light breakfast prevents the morning platelet activation that is associated with heart attacks and strokes. Studies performed at Memorial University in St.Johns,    Newfoundland found that eating a light, very low-fat breakfast was critical in modifying the morning platelet activation. Subjects in the study consumed either low-fat or fat-free yogurt, orange juice, fruit, and a source of protein coming from yogurt or fat-free milk. So if you skip breakfast, it’s important that you change this practice immediately in light of this research. Develop a simple plan to eat cereal, such as oatmeal or Bran Flakes, along with six ounces of grape juice or orange juice, and perhaps a piece of fruit. This simple plan will keep your platelets from sticking together, keep blood clots from forming, and perhaps head off a potential Heart Attack or stroke. So never ever skip breakfast