Moor Kuzhambhu

Ingredients:

For 1 litre kuzhambhu :
1 cup Toor dal (To be soaked for 1/2 an hour).
2 cups grated coconut.
2 Green chillies
1 teaspoon urud dal
1/2 teaspoon fenugreek
Salt to taste
1/2 litre sour curd
1/4 litre water
2 teaspoon rice flour
1 teaspoon besan flour
Few coriander leaves

For seasoning:
Oil for tempering
Mustard
Asafoetida - a pinch.
Turmeric a pinch.

Method:
1. In a kadai take some oil and roast the urud dal , fenugreek,slit green chilles,grated coconut and soaked toor dal for a minute.
2. With the help of a mixer , grind these into a coarse paste.
3. Take the sour curd in a vessel and add water and churn it into buttermilk(moor).Add turmeric,salt,riceflour and besan flour to the buttermilk and mix well.
4.Now add the ground coarse paste in the butter milk and keep aside.Temper some mustard and asafoetida in oil and add it to the butter milk mixture.
5. Boil some water in a vessel and add some vegetables like ladies finger or pumpkin and cook them until they are soft.Add some salt too.
6.Take a thick bottomed vessel , pour the butter milk mixture and also the boiled vegetable and cook them in a slow flame for 2-3 minutes until froth appears.
7.Garnish the "Moor Kuzhambhu" with freshly chopped coriander leaves.




 

Ulunthu Vadai

Ingredients:
Urad Dal /Muzhu Ulundhu - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 2
Salt - To taste.
Curry leaves - Few
Asafoetida - Few pinches.

Method:
1.Soak the urad dal for 1 hour and remove the excess water before grinding it.Use very less water and grind the urad dal along with few curry leaves and green chilles into a thick and smooth batter.
2.Add few pinches of asafoetida and salt to the batter and mix well.
3.Heat enough oil in a kadai to deep fry the vadas.Take a banana leaf or a polythene cover .Take the batter a lemon size in the banana leaf. Grease your hands with water,flatten the batter and put a hole in the centre.Transfer the flattened batter gently to the kadai.
4.Cook in a medium flame until both sides are golden brown.Transfer the vadas to a tissue paper to absorb the excess oil.

The Mango Pachadi :

Ingredients:Raw Mango - 1 small
Jaggery - 4 tablespoon
Neem Flower - few strands.
Rice flour - 1 teaspoon

For seasoning:
Oil - 1/2 teaspoon
Mustard - 1/2 teaspoon
Dried Red chilli - 1/2
Salt - a pinch.

Method :
Cut the raw mangoes into small pieces . Boil some water and cook the mangoes in it. After the mangoes are cooked,add some jaggery and wait until they dissolve in the water. Add a pinch of salt to the mixture.
Dissolve rice flour in water and add it to the pachadi and let it boil for few minutes to thicken.
Now for the seasoning add oil in the pan. Add mustard and let it temper. Add the red chilli and the neem flower. Now add the tempered seasoning to the mango mixture.






 

Today is "Tamil Varushapirapu" the start of spring season.Every festival starts with a traditional kolam "padi kolam" laid in the front entrance of the house.The pooja room is cleaned and prepared for the occasion.Manjal and kumkumam is applied on the "pudhu panjankam" or the tamil calendar along with vethala pakku ,pushpam and pazham and is displayed in the pooja room.
A special pachadi with mang...oes and neem flower is prepared which consists of six tastes innipu,kasapu,thuvarpu,uppu,karam and pullipu.
"Alangara Thaligai" consists of sadham,paruppu, moor kuzhambhu, sathumadhu,kootu ,karimedhu,pachadi,vadai and thirukannamadhu along with the mango pachadi has to be presented to the lord followed by a "karpoora aarathi".Reading few lines from the pudhu panjankam is considered auspicious today.