Deepavali Legiyam

Legiyam is good for digestion. Since we eat a lot of sweets and savouries on the diwali we start the day by eating the legiyam first.

Ingredients

Pepper - 2tsp

Cumin seeds - 2tsp

Dry ginger - 2 small pieces

Cardamom - 4nos

Omam(ajwain) - 4-5tsp

Jaggery - 2cup

Honey - 3tsp

Ghee - 1/4cup

Corriander seeds - 2tsp

Method

1. Soak all the ingredients except honey, jaggery and ghee for 4hours.

2. Grind it nicely with water and disolve it in 3/4cup of water.

3. Heat a kadai and pour the mixture and start to stir, once it becomes little thick add jaggery and stir. Add ghee now and then. Once it comes to halwa stage, pour honey and remove. Let is cool and store it in a airtight container.

Diwali 2008

Wish you all a very happy diwali. We celebrated diwali as usual with traditional legiyam, sweets, savouries, new dresses and last but not the least - the crackers, which signifies the spirit of Diwali. Diwali epitomises the triumph of good over evil. Different parts of India celebrate it in different styles. Being a south Indian, we take oil bath early in the morning, wear new dress, fire crackers, offer prayers and eat legiyam before eating sweets and savouries. The agenda is not complete without exchanging sweets and savouries with friends and relatives. A visit to the temple in the evening followed by bursting of fire crackers rounds off the celebration. My diwali dishes are From Left - Muruku, Ribbon Pakoda, Halwa, Cashew-Badam Burfi, Legiyam and the diya in the centre was coloured by my son at school.




Have a look at the Little India street, Singapore decorated with lights for Diwali.

Wheat Halwa

Ingredients

Samba Wheat - 1cup

Sugar - 2.1/4cup

Cardamom - 3nos

Saffron - little

Milk - 1tsp

Cashew - 15nos

Badam - 6-8nos

Ghee - 1cup

Kesar color - little

Method

1. Soak samba wheat (i used the broken wheat) overnight.

2. Next day grind with little water and extract the milk. Do it 2-3times, depending on the milk consistency. Allow it to set for 15-20min. Remove the water.

3. Chop cashew and badam into small pieces. Remove the cover of the cardamon and powder it.

4. Heat the kadai and add sugar and little water. Make a thin syrup and add the wheat milk. Mix thoroughly. Add kesar color. Add hot water now and then. You can see a glass like consistency. Add ghee and mix nicely. Later add cardamom, cashew and badam. Mix nicely add ghee now and then. Grease a plate. when the mixture leaves the sides, pour it over the plate. Slice it into diamonds and serve.

Cashew Badham Burfi

Ingredients

Badam - 1cup

Cashew - 2cup

Saffron - little

Milk - 1/4 - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 3-4cup

Ghee - 1/4cup

Method

1. Soak badam and cashew seperately overnight. Next day morning peal the skin of badam and soak it in water.

2. When you are ready to make the burfi, grind the cashew and badam together with milk into a nice paste. Measure the paste in the cup.

3. Heat a kadai and add the paste and saute for 5-7 min till the badam white color turns little brownish, add sugar (for 1cup paste add 1cup sugar). Add ghee now and then and turn the mixture without removing the hand. Grease a plate with ghee. When the mixture leaves the sides, pour it into the greased plate and cut into diamond shapes.

Navarathri 2008

As usual this year navarathri also was celebrated in a great scale. I got the steps made by the carpenter. My parents were there to help me organise the dolls. My kids spent some time in making the swimming pool and the recreation corner.

Due to fear of denque it didnt pour water in the swimming pool.

On all the nine days i had my friends visiting my house and we had a good social gathering. I made different types of sundal everyday. The last 2 days saraswathi pooja and vijayadasami day were celebrated and we prayed to GOD for his blessings.

Tomato Dosai

The batter need not ferment. You can do it immediately after grinding.

Ingredients

Raw rice - 1.1/4cup

Parboiled rice - 1cup

Coconut - 1cup

Dry red chilli - 4-5nos.

Tamarind - a small size

Tomato - 3 nos. big size

Salt - little

Hing - little

Curry leaves - little

Onion - 1no

Method

1. Soak both the rice for 4-5hours.

2. Grind it with coconut, salt, tamarind, red chilli and tomato. When done finally add salt mix well and set it aside.

3. To the above add curry leaves and chopped tiny onions.

4. Heat the dosa tawa and pour the batter and make round dosai. Turn both sides and cook till done. Serve with chutney or podi.

Coconut Burfi

Being navarathri season, i had lots of coconut shredding in the fridge. I decided to do burfi out of it, though it is not good for health. I made a small quantity for our tastebuds.

Ingredients

Coconut - 1cup

Rawa (sooji) - 1/2cup

Milk - 1 cup

Cardamom - 2nos

Ghee - 2-3tsp

Cashews - 8nos

Sugar - 1.1/2cup

Method

1. Grind coconut and cardomom in the blender without water.

2. In a heated kadai add 1tsp of ghee and roast the rawa. Once it is golden brown, switch off and then add the coconut powder and mix well. After 10min add the milk to it and keep it aside for 1 hour.

3. Take a plate and grease it with ghee.

4. In a kadai add 1 1/2 cup sugar and very little water and when it boils nicely add the coconut mixture and mix well. After some time, the mixture will start to leave the ends and form a ball. Add a 1-2tsp of ghee mix thoroughly and pour it into the greased plate. After 5min cut it into diamond shapes.