Maavilakku Maavu

Maavilakku  is prepared on  Aadi  Velli  (  Friday  of Aadi month) or Purattaasi Sani ( Saturday of Purattaasi month )

Recipe courtesy :  Chitvish and reference from other sites.

Ingredients

Raw rice:  1cup + one fist full of rice.i.e...  It is customary to take one fist full of rice more than your measuring cup.  Normally we say 'padiyum pidiyum'.

Jaggery: one cup.

Ghee : 4 tsp. ( unmelted thick ghee to fill lamp )

Melted Ghee:  2 tbsp to mix with the rice flour 

Cardamom powder  :  1 tsp 

  Method:            Soak rice in water for 1 hour. Drain rice and let it dry on a kitchen cloth or paper. When it's still little bit wet, grind it into a nice rice flour.  Grate or powder jaggery and mix this with rice flour. Add cardamom powder,  melted thick Ghee.    Prepare the dough without using water . Can sprinkle milk if needed for easy shaping .

Make two same sizes of spheres from the rice dough. Make a dent at the centre .  ( You can see, in one of my photo, I have made it in Agal vilakku shape , just for convenience ) .  You can also insert wick holder ( removable part from our regular pooja vilakku ) in center of the maavilakku dough to have a perfect grip for wick and you can comfortably pour unmelted ghee in the dent / hole.  Pour required amt of ghee in the cup shape.  Apply chandan and kumkum on all 4 sides of the cup shape.   Place jyothi wick  and smear it with ghee.   Now place these maavilakku on the plate or banana leaf.
                Now draw rangoli in front of your pooja place on a wooden plank.  (in temples we directly draw rangoli after sprinkling water on the floor and keep the banana leaf.)  keep this mavilakku plate on the rangoli.  Light the (separate) lamp, swamy vilakku.

                Take a separate wick in a spoon (dhoopakkal ) light it.  By using this lighted 'thiri', light the maavilakku jyothi. (that means you should not directly light the maavilakku  jyothi by using match stick).   Offer flower, show incense stick.   Keep thamboolam, broken coconut , fruits .   Offer neivedhyam  and take karpoor arathi . .  keep the light for some time & carefully watch for ghee. 
  

                After sometime,  Just place a pinch of sugar on the burning wick to stop the burning.   Remove wick and mix the spheres well and have prasadham.

Note : 

• Use Organic or good quality Jaggery.
• Use Maavu Arisi or  Patni Chawal or  Ambemohar rice variety. 
• After grinding rice flour, finally add jaggery powder and give a run in the mixie for the perfect mix of rice flour and jaggery powder.