Thiru Karthigai Deepam

Karthikai Deepam  is a Hindu Tamils Festival of Lights. The festival is observed in most Hindu homes and every temple, and falls in the month of Kārthigai   🪔🪔🪔

Karthikai Deepam is among the oldest festivals celebrated by South Indians. Its roots stretch far back into ancient Tamil tradition, with references found in Aganaanooru, Karnarpadu, Seevagasinthamani & several other classical works dating as early as 2500 BC

Here's one such example...!

வளைக்கை மடநல்லார் மாமயிலை வண்மறுகில்

துளக்கில் கபாலீச் சரத்தான் தொல் கார்த்திகை நாள்,

தளத்தேந்திள முலையார் தையலார் கொண்டாடும்,

விளக்கீடு காணாதே போதியோ பூம்பாவாய்!

Saint Gnanasambandar sang this divine verse at the sacred Kapaleeswarar Temple in Mylapore in the Mattitta Punnaiyan Thirumurai. A timeless hymn that beautifully expresses the essence, devotion, and festive joy of Karthikai

With many sacred tales woven around this festival, its essence remains timeless...the lighting of the earthen lamp signifies the burning away of the ego (the wick), allowing the radiance of divine awareness to shine forth. As the flame glows, it dispels inner illusions & fills our surroundings with warmth, clarity & auspiciousness.

Rows of Agal vilakkus (Clay Oil lamps) are lit in every house. Karthigai is essentially a festival of lamps. The lighted lamp is considered an auspicious symbol. It is believed to ward off evil forces and usher in prosperity and joy. While the lighted lamp is important for all Hindu rituals and festivals, it is necessary for Karthigai.

Dhiyaa outside the house

Karthigai festival in Tiruvannamalai is very famous. On Karthigai day, a huge fire lamp is lit up on the hill, visible for several kilometers around. The fire (deepam) is called Mahadeepam. Hindu devotees visit the place, to pray and make offerings to lord Shiva

Dhiyaa inside the rooms

 Tamil Brahmins lit Agal vilakku in the Evening and offer Neivedhyam for those vilakku.  All the Lamps will be applied with Kumkum and Sandal powder . 

Kuththu Vilakku will  be well decorated with flowers, Kumkum and sandal powder and kept on wooden planks that is decorated with Maakolam ( Rangoli ). 

Sweets and Snacks are offered as Neivedhyam. After offering neivedhyam,  lamps are distributed and kept in all the rooms inside the house as well as outside the house.

Dhiyaa outside the house

The main Neivedhyams are... Nel Pori Urundai , Aval Pori Urundai , Appam or Sweet Adai , Vadai, Any type of Paruppu Payasam and Adai .  

Neivedhyam

 Nel Pori Urundai, Aval Pori Urundai ,

 Appam 

 Medhu Vadai,

Payatham Paruppu Payasam 

Kadalai Paruppu Payasam  

  Adai

Dhiyaa outside the house

Parched Rice Grain Balls / Pori Urundai

Parched Rice Grain Balls /  Pori Urundai

 

Aval Pori and Nel Pori are prepared during Karthigai Festival for Neivedhyam along with Payasam, Vadai , Adai , Fruits, Coconut and Betal and Betal nuts.

Pori / Parched Rice grains.

Nel Pori / Parched Rice Corns.

Aval Pori /  Parched Flattened Rice.

 

Aval Pori : 3 Cups

Jaggery powder : 1 cup

Dry ginger powder : ¼ tsp

Coconut pieces : 1 tbsp

Ghee : 1 tsp

Cardamom powder : ¼ tsp

Rice Flour for dusting.

          Clean the Pori and remove husks if any .

Finely chop coconut and remove the brown skin.   Powder the Jaggery .   Paagu Vellam is idle for this Urundai. 




Urundai Vellam  /  Paagu Vellam

Keep all the ingredients ready.

 

In ghee, fry coconut pieces nicely so that the coconut should not have any moisture in it. It will eliminate the coconut oil flavor and at that time switch off the flame. Add Cardamom powder when the ghee is still hot.

In a greased plate or wide vessel, spread the Pori and keep it ready.

 

In a ladle of water heat jaggery and when it is completely dissolved, filter it to remove dust and sand.

 

Again heat the jaggery to get ‘getti paagu’.  i.e. In a small cup of water, add few drops of jaggery and when it comes to form a nice ball and really very firm , when you roll it, then it’s the correct consistency.
 

 

Remove from flame and add dry ginger powder quickly and pour over the Pori and mix nicely using greased ladle or big spoon to get uniform coating.

When you can handle the temperature of pori, start making balls out of Pori mixture.  Grease your hands with ghee.  Take hand full of pori and by pressing with both the hands, you should be able to make a big round balls.   If you find it difficult , dust your hands with rice flour.  Start making balls. It need not be very perfect in shape.  Just finish doing all the mixture into the big round balls like in shape. 

And now take each piece of ball and make them to perfect round balls by gently pressing them from all the sides.   Shaping should be done, when the mixture is still warm.  Don't press too much as it may stick to your hands or it may break .

 

When it gets cool, it will be perfect.

Follow the same method to prepare Nel Pori Urundai.

 

·       Paagu Vellam ( jaggery ) is very much suited for making Urundai.

·       Instead of shaping them into balls, we can also shape them as cone .  In that case, we have to prepare two Cones, as we are doing it on auspicious day.   Don’t prepare single cone.

 

Very healthy and easy to prepare Pori Urundai is ready for Neivedhyam.

We can prepare this sweet on normal days too and enjoy eating healthy snack.

 

Green Gram Balls / Payatha maavu Urundai / Moong dal Ladoo

 

 

Payatha maavu urundai /  Green gram balls / Moong dal ladoo

 

Green gram / Moong dal / Paasi Paruppu : 1 cup

Jaggery Powder : 1 cup

Ghee : ¾ cup

Cardamom Powder : ¼ tsp

Dry fry green gram till it changes its colour little bit and nice aroma comes. Let it come to room temperature.

Grind it to a nice powder.

Mix it with jaggery powder and cardamom powder.

Heat ghee to a smoking point .

Immediately , Mix with green gram powder mixture.

Immediately start making balls by tbsp. of mixture and gently pressing and shaping them into balls. 

You could be easily able to make balls.

Very simple, easy , healthy and tasty Payathamaa urundai is ready to serve.

·       Use pure organic jaggery as we are adding jaggery powder directly without filtering it for dust or sand.

·        

Palgova / Thirattupaal with Jaggery

 

Thirattupaal / Palgova with Jaggery

 

Full Cream Milk  : 1 ltr

Jaggery powder : 1 cup

In a heavy bottom , big pan pour milk and give a boil.

When it starts boiling nicely, reduce the flame to low.

Here after , it should be  cooked in  the low flame only.

Frequently stir so that you will not get burn at the bottom.

Let the milk cook and reduce to no water consistency, i.e. almost no water in it… and it’s time for us to add jaggery powder.

After adding jaggery , it will become little bit watery …

Let it reduce nicely and come as a mass and will not stick to the pan.

when, you stir with a ladle, the bottom of the pan is visible & there is no more watery liquid visible.

Switch off the flame.

Let the palgova stay in the pan itself till it reaches to room temperature.

Tasty and healty Thiratipaal with jaggery is ready to serve.

·       Buy organic Jaggery , which is pure, without sand and dust as we are  adding jaggery powder directly .

·       Thiratipaal with  jaggery instead of sugar, is prepared during Devasam but we can  prepare like this during normal days too.  

 

 

Broken Wheat Jaggery Halwa / Godhumai Halwa

Broken Wheat Halwa / Godhumai Rawa Halwa  (With Jaggery )

Broken Wheat / Lapsi / Samba Rawa Godhumai : ½ cup

Jaggery : 1 cup

Ghee : ½ cup

Water : 2 cups ( 2/3 + 2/3 + 2/3 )

Cardamom : ¼ tsp

Yield :  10 pieces

          Soak Broken Wheat for 2 hrs. Drain the water.

Grind it using 2/3 cup of water.  Filter and take the thick milk.

Again grind using 2/3 cup of water. Filter and take the medium thick milk and add it to thick milk.

Finally grind using left over 2/3 cup of water and grind and filter to get thin milk.  Add it with the wheat milk taken previously.

Now pour this milk into a tall jar like vessel and keep it aside for an hour.

Remove carefully the top thick layer of the milk .

  And preserve the rest of the milk.

In a broad heavy pan heat the jaggery powder adding a ladle of water. When it melts completely , filter it to remove dust and sand.  Reheat the jaggery syrup and when it comes to soft ball consistency ( when you pour few drops of syrup in water, you could be able to gather the syrup like butter ) add wheat milk gradually and keep stirring to avoid lumps…. Let it cook in low flame.

When the halwa starts thickening, we should start adding ghee.

Ghee should be added in stages .

Add some portion of ghee and keep stirring frequently .

Gradually keep on adding ghee.

Meanwhile keep ready a greased plate.

When you have used all the ghee and the halwa becomes thick and it will start leaving the sides of the Pan.  Mix cardamom powder nicely in it and immediately pour the halwa on a greased plate.

Let it cool down completely and allow it to set.

Cut them into square.

Very soft and healthy Broken Wheat Jaggery Halwa is ready.

Generally we do wheat halwa with jaggery instead of sugar, on Devasam days.

But we can also do this on normal days and enjoy having it.

Sesame Balls / Yellurundai

 

Sesame Balls / Yellurundai

 

Black Sesame : ½ cup

Almond or Cashew or Peanuts : Hand full

Powdered Jaggery : ½ cup

Cardamom Powder : ¼ tsp ( Optional )

Rice flour and Ghee for dusting and greasing.

          Soak Black Sesame seeds for 1 hour.

Nicely press and squeeze them inside the water to remove its husks.  If some of the skin is still intact, don’t worry.  Let it be as it is.

Clean and Drain them very well.

Dry roast them nicely, stirring frequently till it pops.  Make sure to close the lid while roasting or you may end up spreading popped Sesame all around.

Dry fry Nuts and coarsely powder them.

Dust some rice flour on a plate and spread the roasted Sesame and nuts powder .  Keep it ready and prepare Jaggery Syrup.

In a ladle of water add powdered jaggery and when it melts completely, filter it to remove the dust and sand.

Now heat it again till it reaches ‘Getty Paagu’… if you pour some drop of jaggery syrup in water , you could be able to roll them inside the water.  Add Cardamom powder and mix nicely.

Remove from flame and pour the syrup on top of Sesame and mix them nicely using ladle.

When you can handle with the temperature , start rolling into balls.  The mixture should be little bit hot. 

You should finish rolling before the mixture comes to room temperature.  So First roll them to slightly , need not be in perfect round in shape.  

When you finish doing this with all the balls, you can start making all the balls into perfect round in shape, by gently pressing them from all the sides.   Grease your hands with ghee while rolling them to avoid them sticking with your hands.  You can also use rice flour for this purpose.  

Size of the balls will be generally small. 

Instead of making them into balls, you can even spread them thin in greased tray and cut them into squares .  In that case , leave the mark of square on top of the sesame thin spread, using greased knife, when the mixture is still warm .

     Let it cool.  You can cut into square easily just by breaking them with your hands , following the mark you have done.

Very healthy and tasty sweet is ready to serve.

·       You can prepare the same using White Sesame.  For that, you need not soak.  Can directly dry roast and start preparing.

·       On normal days, apart from ‘Sraardham/ Devasam’ , we are not supposed to do plain Yellurundai .  So we are adding some nuts along with it.

·       Instead of Nuts , you can also add dried Coconut or Khus Khus .  

·       Need not be on special occasion but we can have one or two balls daily also.  

·        

 

 

Baingan ka Bharta / Brinjal Smash

Baingan Ka Bharta /  Brinjal smash

Baingan ka Bharta is done in tandoori style, i.e. exposing the food to live-fire.   It tastes delicious because of its unique smoking flavor .  It is generally prepared as very thick gravy .  Simple menu of roti with baingan ka bharta can become a wonderful feast.  Though it is commonly had with roti or chapathi, we can also have it with hot rice, just like Brinjal Thogayal.

Baingan Ka Bharta recipe:

Big Variety , Purple Brinjal – 1

Tomato :  2 ( finely chopped )

Onion : 1 ( finely chopped )

Green chilly : 1 ( finely chopped )

Ginger : ¼ inch ( finely chopped )

Garlic : 6 cloves ( finely chopped )

Red chilly powder : 2 tsp

Coriander powder : 1 tsp

Cumin seeds : 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Sugar : ¼ tsp

Tandoori masala :  1 tsp

Oil : 3 tbsp

Ghee : 1 tsp

Coriander leaves : 1 tbsp ( finely chopped )

First we have to roast the Brinjal , directly in flame. 

Brush oil on Brinjal skin.  Use wire mesh ( can use pulka mesh ) and keep the whole Brinjal on it.  Keep the flame in low and roast it.  Keep turning frequently to get it evenly cooked.  Get roasted on all the sides of the Brinjal.

It may take 10 to 15 mts . 

If the skin of the brinjal nicely wrinkled and become black in colour, … it shows, it is ready and cooked.

Remove from flame. 

Let it comes to warm temperature.

Meanwhile prepare for the gravy.

In oil , termer with cumin seeds.  When it stops  spluttering , add ginger and garlic and stir for few seconds .  Then add onion, green chilly . Add a pinch of salt. ( Adding a pinch of salt will help onion to cook  fast ).  Stir fry for a minute.  Let the onion not change its colour to brown. Before that, add tomatoes , all the dry powders like, red chilly powder, coriander powder, salt , sugar, tandoori masala powder .

Let the veggies fry nicely in low flame , till the oil oozes out.

By the time,… peel the skin of the Brinjal. 

 You can remove it very easily.   Mash the Brinjal using Potato masher.

When the tomato becomes soft and oil oozes out , add the mashed brinjal.

In low flame cook it for 2 minutes.

Add a cup of water and continue cooking in low flame … again… till it reaches very thick gravy. Now and then stir it.

The more time it gets cooked, the tastier it will be.  So don’t tempt to cook in high flame.

 Finally add ghee and give a nice stir.  Remove from flame.

Garnish with Coriander leaves.

Very flavorful Baingan ka Bharta is ready to serve with Pulka / Chapathi/ Naan or Rice.

·       If you don’t have Tandoori Masala , you can add Garam Masala.

·       If you want it like a gravy , add extra water.