Kai veesamma

My handsome and charming son, who is the proud father of my adorable and perfect grandchild, who is just 4 months old, asks me, "Amma, how did you teach Anna to speak before he was 1 yr old?". While our elder son started speaking even before he was 1 year old and started speaking fluently by the time he was 18 months of age, our younger son started speaking only after he was 2 years of age (My parents have told me that I started speaking before I was 1 year old while my astute and blessed m-i-l has told me that my husband started speaking only after he was 3 years of age). Our elder son even started reciting stories when he was just 2 years old and he could read before he was 3 (How this put us into a big predicament, I shall get to at the end of this post).

I told my son, "we speak to children from the day they are born." But it beats logic that one child in the family starts speaking before 1 year of age and another sibling starts only after 2 years. Anyway, as I have often said, there were so many visitors at home on a day to day basis and when there was a small baby, they spent some time talking to the baby. And there were always people surrounding the baby. They found a meaning in what ever the baby did and responded with, "Oh, where are you looking?", "what is it that you want?", "why are you crying?", "are you looking for amma?", and on and on. And then as the baby grew up they made him wave his hands and sang to him,

Kai Veesamma, Kai veesu (wave your hands, baby wave)
Kadaikku pokalam kaiveesu (we will go shopping, wave your hands)
Mittai vangalam kai veesu (we will buy toffees, wave your hands)

I forget the rest of the song.

They made the baby clap hands, chanting

Krishna Rama Govinda
Rama Krishna Govinda
Venkata Krishna Govinda
Kalla Krishna Govinda
Govinda Govinda

And when the baby started making fists, the song went like this,

Kuppi, Kuppi,
Chandukuppi, Chandanakuppi,
Tharumayya, Tharum

(Chandu was the paste used to adorn the forehead of children. When we were young, there were no sticker bindis, we used home made bindi paste, known as chandu, only black. Later we started getting chandu  in black and red colors in bottles (kuppis). The chandu pottu was applied on the forehead of the baby to ward off the evil eye)

Listening to continuous blabbering made them pick up words early, perhaps. It also was an exercise for the baby to move his hands and legs.

My Kalathappa (paternal grandfather) had his own gibberish vocabulary to play with his grandchildren and he enjoyed every minute he could get to spent with the babies. He would ask the baby to be put near him when he had breakfast or lunch. When he was relaxing in his easy chair, he would have the baby on his lap. One could hear his gibberish from half a kilometer away. He would come all the way from our farm, about 3 kilometers away in the hot sun so that he could spend some time with his grandchildren.

I spent all my time in my maternal home or my in-laws' until our older son was 1 year old. This meant he was always surrounded by a host of uncles and aunts and cousins all the time. In my husband's home, our child was the first son after my husband and my in-laws and other aunts (my small mothers-in-law, as one of my friends used to say) would not move away from the baby even for a second. They were always talking to him. Perhaps that was the reason why he started speaking before he was 1 year old.  When our younger son was born, I came to Bangalore even when he was just 3 months old and he was not lucky to have so many people pampering him all the time.

As I said earlier in the post, our elder son started reading even before he was 3 years of age. So, when he was 3 years old we put him in a kindergarten school. They taught the kids to write the English alphabet and numbers 1-10 in the first 6 months. They had also issued a Hindi book with the alphabet. So when he came home, I started teaching him the Hindi alphabet and numbers 1 - 100 and some simple addition. At the end of 6 months, his teacher said she could not keep him in the class as he had learnt everything that was to be taught for the next 6 months also, and he was promoted to what then was known as Upper KG. Having finished his lower and upper KG in one year, there was no class he could go to the next year. As he was only 4, they would not give him admission in 1st standard. We had to run around many schools, before we could get him admitted to a pre- primary class, the next year. So, my advice,"take it easy!"

Navarathri Neivedyams

Having said that Navarathri is the celebration of the power of the Divine Mother, Shakthi, and hence the celebratrion of womanhood, it also has to be admitted that it is the busiest season for women. Any festival is a lot of activity in the Indian families and a festival spreading over 9 nights and 10 days keeps the women all the more busy.

The preparations for Navarathri has to start a couple of weeks in advance, like preparing the “kolupadi”(steps for arranging the dolls), taking the dolls out from their safes, cleaning the dolls, decorating the kolu mantap, planning the kolu neivedyams and invitee lists, planning the give away gifts,planning the pujas, the list is endless.Though there always was a lot of activity prior to Navarathri in the olden days, it has become much more hectic in the present day situation for the working women.

For the Puthucodians though, Navarathri is even more hectic as there is the 10 day temple festival in the Bhagavathi temple. Navarathri is the annual festival in the Annapoorneswari temple and has always been a big celebration. The celebrations are getting grander by the year with Her children, who are spread all over the world, becoming more and more prosperous. This annual festival is also the time for a grand reunion for all the Puthucodians.

When we were children,we had wooden collapsible steps for the arranging of the dolls, which would be put together by the carpenter at the beginning of Navarathri and dismantled after Navarathri every year. From the time the carpenter arrived for putting up the Mandapa padi (the steps), we children would get ready for the bigger events to follow. We had to run a lot of errands to get things ready. The great event was making a adhesive paste with maida. There were no quick fix or instant adhesives then. The local decorator was Mr.Swamy, who would get called to all the households to cut and paste flowers, animals and festoons out of crepe paper. With the help of the children (children from all families helped Mr.Swamy in this in all the houses), Mr.Swamy would finish the job in time for the women to arrange the dolls on the first day of Navarathri. Then we had to take out the dolls from the wooden boxes and almirahs, clean them and do minor repairs if needed. We had to dress up some of the dolls. With scraps of material collected from the tailor, we would dress up the dolls and make necklaces with beads for decorating them.

After installing Devi at the Kolu mantap, puja and neivedyams were offered three times a day and special pujas were offered on the last three days. Some households observed a special Navarathri puja on all the 9 days which was more elaborate. Our echiyamma and Kalathappa (my paternal grandparents)observed the special Navarathri puja whenever they were in Puthucode during Navarathri. Sometimes the harvesting season, when they would be at our farmhouse, coincided with Navarathri. Our Kalathappa believed in the dictum, “Work is Worship” and stayed put in the farm house. Only our echiyamma would make a lightning trip home on the important days of Navarathri. In those years, we had special puja only on the last three days. However, we children participated in the daily special Navarathri puja at our Amman’s (our echiyamma’s beloved brother) house.

There would be a payasam for the Navarathri puja every day in the morning. It could be palpayasam, maasi pournami payasam, kovil payasam or neypayasam. When one had enough of payasams, there would be what in our house is knowns as Shashti payasam. This is an interesting payasam. Some rice would be cooked in milk and water and 2 pieces of jaggery would be kept on top and offered for puja. We children would fight for the piece of jaggery.

The practice those days was to invite everyone on all days and distribute prasadams and thamboolam to all. We children would visit all houses on a regular basis and by the time we returned our hands would be full of little packets filled with all sorts of goodies given as prasadams from all houses. That would suffice for our dinner.

In Puthucode (that is the only place I have been to for Navarathri other than Bangalore), a variety of neivedyams were offered. We had sweets as well as savouries for Neivedyams and each day there was a new one. The common neivedyams offered were Sweet Payar (this was a must),Chundal (we knew about only one type of Chundal, that is the Kondai kadalai chundal), Neyyappam, Morappam, Bajji, Bonda, Pakoda, Sweet Aval, Okkarai, Kozhukkattais (Sweet, Ulundu, Ammini, Sweet Ammini), Puttu, Vada, Pori urundai etc. In Bangalore, where I have seen only Tamilians having the Bommaikolu, the neivedyams are almost always a chundal, either chana or chana dal or moong or rajma, etc.

With people getting busier and having to visit many houses and also entertain guests in their houses, these days it is very difficult to determine the number of guests you would have on a particular day. The new trend is to fix one or two days and invite people on those days only so that one can have an idea about the expected guests. And yet, somebody would always drop in on some other day. So these days, I make a  sweet and savoury like rava ladoo, ribbon pakoda, thenkuzhal, manoharam or muthucharam at the beginning of Navarathri which would keep until the end of Navarathri. This could be offered to guests visiting anytime. Additionally, I would prepare limited quantities of  fresh neivedyams every day for distribution. I plan it in such a way that I would have couple of people visiting everyday for thamboolam.

Puthucode Navarathri itself is material for series of blog posts, which I dare not attempt now.

Happy Navarathri!

Counting Down

The frequency with which I am writing gives me jitters that I might not finish the wedding episode by the time my children celebrate their anniversary.Ever since our son got married we have been taking vacations like never before. The recent one at the peak of the summer to Kerala was both enjoyable , because we visited many places that we had been planning for years and very tiring because of the heat and humidity. Bangalore itself saw one of the worst summers in the recent times with temperatures hitting a 30 years high and the months of April and May this year were just unbearable. We followed it with a really humid summer in Kerala. Thankfully, we had the satisfaction of visiting all our destinations without any problems.

To continue with the wedding, as I said earlier, I was like a robot once the children arrived. I had to accompany them on their shopping and check with the tailor on the new dresses to be made, visit the hotel for the last minute briefings and arrangements about the decoration, food, etc., and be at home for meeting with various event managers and do up the house. Y was a great help in decorating the house. She and our elder son did all the decoration at home. I was also cooking all the meals at home especially because we did not want Y to get any problems eating out as this was her first visit to India. I am proud to say that Y ate all her meals at home (the regular tambram food) and never complained. We all appreciated her for that gesture.

As the D day was approaching we were almost ready with all the preparations and plans and moves and what should be done whens and who should be doing whats and where would one be at any given times, and…. ….. And yet there were things that could be done only on the given day and we made sure everything was well planned

And it was 1st February. Y’s parents arrived and were comfortably put up in the same hotel as the wedding was to take place. We had planned a meeting at home and wanted to serve home made food. As Y had been with us for few days now, I had planned a menu in consultation with her so that her family would be comfortable with the food served. They all enjoyed the Kali, Kari, Bajji, Mysorepak and especially the black tea that they preferred. Indian tea is very tasty, they said. On the 2nd, Y with her brother and parents went around Bangalore. Since it is a custom with us to give lunch to the bride’s people after the wedding, we decided to take them out for lunch on the following day (there was not enough time after the wedding).

On the evening of the 3rd was the Mehendi ceremony. As we were not sure about the contents of the commercially available mehendi cones, we were planning to use the mehendi powder we had made at home from hand picked mehendi leaves . We were not very successful in getting the powder to a consistency that could be squeezed through a cone. We tested the commercial cone and were satisfied that Y had no sesitivity to the product. Y was very excited about getting the mehendi applied. My friend’s daughter applied mehendi for Y.




Our guests from outside Bangalore started arriving on the morning of the 4th. Lunch was arranged at home. The decorators did up the house and the house was reverberating with the usual “Kalyana veedu” conversations.

We had arranged for a get together with all the family members and Y's family in the evening. Y’s parents were very surprised that all the guests present at the function were immediate family members. We told them that there were many more who could not make it for the function. We also had a sort of Nischayathartham in the evening and presented Y with the saree and the jewellery she was to wear the next day. Our son was also presented with the clothes he would be wearing the next day. As is the custom, my mother and brothers gave gifts to us and our son. We wrapped up the evening with dinner at home. The guests went back to their rooms for a good night’s rest.

We were busy till late into the night keeping everything ready for the next day and double checking. We had to leave home by 5.30am so that we would have enough time to get Y ready. We had not hired a professional for bridal make up, as again we were not sure if Y would be comfortable with the cosmetics used by the local beauticians. My friend Veena had taken up the responsibility of helping Y to get dressed up for the function. And so, we also went to bed for a short rest in the wee hours.

Preparations get frenzied

My husband and I reached Bangalore by middle November and we were glad that we had only recently had the house painted and refurbished just before we left for Hyderabad. We did not have to do anything towards preparing the house for the occasion except for the routine cleaning.

And yet, by the end of the first week at Bangalore, we were nowhere near our target. The first and foremost requirement was to fix the venue for the wedding without which we could not submit the affidavit at Arya Samaj (we had to mention the date and time and venue of the wedding) nor could we print the invitations. Though we had asked our friends at Bangalore to shortlist a few venues not much progress had been made on that account. By end of the first week, we decided to visit some of the hotels we had shortlisted and make enquiries. My nephew who is a student of hospitality management suggested The Chancery Pavilion and we visited the hotel and were very happy with the ambience. It was also centrally located in the city for the convenience of all the guests. Moreover, we could book our international guests in the same hotel. We did have some initial difficulties with the rates but with the help of a good friend we could get the services at an affordable price. It was 5^th December and the date of wedding was fixed for 5^th February 2010. We had exactly 2 months to go and the list of things to do was growing like Hanuman’s tail. We prepared a list prioritising the things to do and marked the date by which each activity should have been done. This list was getting updated every day.

Having decided on the venue the first thing to do was to submit the affidavit at Arya Samaj. Next was getting invitations printed. Getting the card blanks was not a difficult issue as we knew exactly where to go for them and our son had already indicated the type of card he would like to have. A good friend of my brother who owns a printing press promised to get the cards printed in 2 days. By 15^th December, the cards were also ready. We decided to post the card for outstation guests in the first stage so that they would receive them well in advance. Then started the process of inviting the local guests personally. While doing the rounds inviting people, we made it a point to visit the famous shops in those areas and get a good picture of the things available at each place so that we could decide on the shop and purchase the items on a convenient day. This made our final shopping very easy.

Meanwhile we were also busy with getting the saree blouses stitched for Y which was one of the most difficult tasks. As Y did not have a saree blouse for sample, I had asked her to send me the necessary measurements to get a blouse tailored, but none of the tailors we approached were ready to stitch a blouse with only body measurements. They all needed a sample blouse. Different people take measurements differently, they said. I would have stitched the blouses for Y myself, but I was already running short of time doing the various other things and decided it was not a wise idea . Finally I remembered one of my teachers from whom I had learnt embroidery, who was also a very good tailor and approached her. I knew she was too old to take any orders but she ever so kindly recommended my problem to her niece who is a very good tailor. My idea was to get 2 sample blouses done and send one to Y so that she could try it on and tell me of any corrections to be made. That was a big relief and the tailor promptly delivered the blouses so I could send one to Y in time for her to try and comment.

2010 arrived on time. We were progressing as scheduled. Invitations had been sent and acknowledged. We had a fair idea of the number of outstation guests who would be attending the wedding and accordingly accommodation had been booked for them. All shopping for the bridal couple as well as gifts for the other family members and guests had been done, except the jewellery for the bride. We were waiting for Y to arrive and choose her jewellery. The dates of arrival of the bride and family were known and accommodation booked. I felt that we were in a comfortable situation. Yet I would spend sleepless nights occasionally counting on the long list of small errands yet to be run. All the other members of the family assured me that everything was going as planned and there was no need to panic.

Finally, our handsome, charming and now soon to be wedded son arrived. I had taken an assurance from him that he would be present wholly at home with no phone, no office work, to be with me to help organise my thoughts and plans and do the last minute finalisation of the photographer, florist, etc.

A week later our elder son arrived and so did Y. We got busy again shopping for the jewellery for Y and also the wedding dresses for our sons and some Indian dresses for Y. The wedding was less than 2 weeks away and I was getting busier and busier as I had to take care of the preparations at home as well as accompany the children for the shopping. I was working like a robot.

Happy Gowri Ganesha

Our house is being renovated and so I cannot find enough time to sit at the computer to write about Ganesh Chathurthi which falls on Sunday. So, here's wishing you all a Happy Ganesh Chathurthi, or as they say here in Karnataka, Happy Gowri Ganesha!

The picture above is from one of the street celebrations in our neighbourhood last year.

Don't forget to make kozhukkattais!

Mango Mania

This is the first time I spent all the summer months in Hyderabad and what an experience it has been. For a person who has lived in Bangalore for 35 years where the maximum temperature never exceeded 34 deg C, the day temperatures of 45 deg C for a continuous period of almost 3 months is an experience. We just got roasted. Not used to this high temperature and losing essential minerals and salts by perspiration one always felt exhausted and tired with muscle cramps and summer boils. However, I learnt to beat the heat by drinking juices with added salt, and having kanji with added salt for dinner. At last the monsoon rain reached Hyderabad yesterday evening. We had a heavy down pour for about 20 minutes yesterday and we have been having sustained showers since the afternoon. I hope the temperatures come down.

The best thing about summer is the surfeit of mangoes. We had plenty of mangoes this year and we really enjoyed them. For a true Keralite no amount of mangoes is too much. There is a saying in malayalam, “Aaru maasam chakkayum mangayum, Aaru maasam anganeyum inganeyum,” which means Keralites live by jackfruits and mangoes for 6 months in a year and somehow manage the remaining 6 months. The saying was of course true only in the olden days when, as I have always said, people lived by the seasonal fruits and vegetables of that particular region. Especially in remote places like my maternal grandparents’ home, where we used to spend all our summer holidays during our childhood, we actually had only mangoes and jackfruits curries and preparations on all days. It was either manga koottan or chakka kari or chakka kootan and manga pachadi. Did we ever get tired of eating so many mangoes and jackfruits? Never. These days with all types of vegetables and fruits available all through the year, people don’t have to depend on chakkayum, mangayum. And yet, give me a manga pulissery or chakka kari any day and I would enjoy it immensely. Even the younger kids of our family, though they don’t like most of the traditional dishes prepared at home, devour manga kootans.

When we were growing up we had large mango orchards both at our paternal and maternal grandparents’ homes. In our maternal grandparents’ home where the house stood amidst acres and acres of greenery, wherever you turned you could see mango trees and jack fruits trees laden with fruit. Just one breeze and the court yard would be full of mangoes. When you stepped out of the house you could collect any number of mangoes. Any one who came home, from guests to beggars would be sent back with a big bag of mangoes. In our paternal grandparents’ home where we grew up, the orchards were far from home and only baskets and baskets of mangoes arrived as headloads. The mangoes were spread on hay in a room upstairs and we ate mangoes as and when we pleased. That was also the time all the cousins who were living outside the state would come home for summer holidays and our Kalathappa (our grandfather was called Kalathappa by all) was beside himself with joy seeing all his grandchildren enjoying the fruits of his labour. “Thinuungo, Thinnungo, Thinnin, Thinnin” (eat as much as you want), he would say.

Mangoes and Jackfruits in all forms are used by Keralites . From this size for kadugumanga

to this size for manga koottans, pachadis, aavakaya, manga curry, manga chammandi, pachakadugumanga.

And fruits as well. We also make special dishes with the mango fruit.

Similarly with jackfruit.
Idichakka

Big jackfruits.

Vishu Ramblings

I had a whirlwind trip to Bangalore over Vishu and as has been happening ever since I started spending more time in Hyderabad, this trip was also very hectic with too much fitted into each day. At the end I was able to finish most of the errands, chores and visits on my schedule and shelved the rest for the next time. More importantly, I was able to meet some old friends (literally) who were living alone and who were really pleased to meet me. I cannot forget what Mrs. Thomas told me when she saw me at her door.”Nobody visits me anymore and hence I was surprised to hear the door bell ringing. I just spend my days all alone moving from one room to another. I am not able to do any cooking also. I get everything from outside” she said. I was glad I made it to meet her.

What was special for Vishu? Well, we had the Kani. For the first time in all these years, I did not cook a Vishu lunch. My brother had invited us for lunch at his place along with my other siblings as he was turning 50 on that day. So I prepared Paladai Pradhaman (Recipe soon) and took it along. We had a sumptuous lunch of Manga Koottan, Erissery, Thoran, Koottu, Pappadam and a simply yummy Palpayasam. I enjoy these rare occasions when I get to eat a lunch I have not cooked. The reason – very simple - As I have not been inhaling the flavor of the various dishes being prepared at the preparation stage, my palate is still fresh to devour the dishes being served and believe me, they taste superb. Especially so when the food is cooked by my mother. In my brother’s house, the lunch was prepared by my mother and my sisters-in-law, who all follow my mother’s method of preparation.

On my return to Hyderabad I had to attend the engagement ceremony of my nephew where I got to meet many of my cousins whom I had not met for a long time. The engagement ceremony or Nischayathamboolam in tambram lingua was a small affair in the olden days. It was only a small function attended by the elders from the bride’s and groom’s family in the presence of village elders. The function was usually conducted in the groom’s house and the bride did not attend this function. The bride went to the groom’s house only after the marriage. The bride and groom had no part to play in the function. This was called vangnischayam or oral commitment by exchanging thamboolam (fruits, mostly the yellow plantain fruit, coconuts, betel leaves and nuts) and was like an assurance by both the families to go on with the other preparations for the marriage. The actual Nischayathamboolam (vedic ritual) is performed on the eve of marriage. These days of course the nischayathamboolam itself is performed in a grand manner with both the bride and groom present in the function with exchange of rings and gifts and followed by a grand dinner or lunch.

In the olden days, once the vangnischayam was over there was no deviation from the promises made by both the parents unless there was a major problem. These days cancellation of engagements is very common. While we were at the function there were stories of cancelled engagements which could have been avoided and the innocent party spared the pain of ignominy associated with it. It would be better for the youngsters to come clean with their parents at the time of agreeing for marriages (even today most marriages are arranged by parents) and to keep up their promise after giving their consent. How does one explain the incidence when the groom withdraws his consent for the marriage the morning after engagement or the bride calling up the groom and saying “I have no intention of living with you after marriage and have agreed with my parents only because of their threat,” and so on? The parents as well as the groom and bride should be very frank when it comes to marriage as it involves another family and set of people who are no party to the other people’s hang-ups and reservations. The parents would do well to have a one to one talk with their children and get their whole hearted consent before agreeing to a marriage with a person of their parents’ choice. The youngsters also should be able to convince their parents of their approval or disapproval of the bride or groom of their parents’ choice and should be bold enough to stand up to their decision so that nobody would get hurt. I really wish parents and children do not put any pressure on each other when it comes to marriage. We'll all be better for it.

Recipe: Balushahi

That was a long time off. Getting back to blogging after so long is like getting back to school or work after a long vacation. The mood just doesn’t set in. Many things happened during this period, mainly I was shuttling back and forth between Bangalore and Hyderabad.

For Diwali, I made Balushahi, the recipe for which I had blogged a long time ago when I was new to this. I had not published the pictures then. This time around, I managed some pictures, holding the camera with the right hand and managing the balushahi with my left.

Last time around, I had given the measurements in cups. For those who would be more comfortable with weights, I have the measurements in weights now. Here we go.
Ingredients:
Maida : 500gms
Margarine or Vanaspati : 250 gms
Sugar : 500 gms
Thick curds: 2 tbsp.
Soda bi carbonate: a pinch
Rose essence : few drops(optional)
Oil for frying
Method is here.

ENJOY

Recipe: Obattu

Happy Ugadi to all. It is new year’s day for many people on Ugadi or Yugadi. The new year that has dawned is known as Sarvadhari . The Sarvadhari varsha for people in Tamil Nadu and Kerala who observe Suryamana Ugadi starts on the 14th April.
As always festivals mean good food and also food made of seasonal fruits and vegetables. The season is also the start of spring or Vasantha rithu in India and trees and plants are blooming after the gloomy winter months. The neem trees are full of fragrant blooms. Hence the use of neem flowers in cooking on this new years day. Neem flowers have anti fungal, antibacterial and anti diabetic properties. In Karnataka, the ritual is called eating bevu bella or neem and jaggery, bitter and sweet to symbolize that life is full of sweet and bitter turns.
In Andhra, the ritual is to make a chutney known as Ugadi pachadi using neem flowers, mango, jaggery, chili powder and salt. These raw ingredients are mixed and served as pachadi. This is supposed to cleanse the system.
Besides Ugadi Pachadi the special dishes prepared for Ugadi are Obattu and Ambode in Karnataka. I understand Andhra people also make obattu(known as bobbatlu in telugu) and Pulihore and payasam and vadas.
It is my long-standing promise to post the recipe for Obattu and Ambode. The time has at last arrived, with my making obattu and photographing them.
Obattu or Holige(Kannada), Poli(Tamil), Upputu(Kerala iyer), Bobbatlu(telugu), Puran Poli(Marathi) all refers to stuffed sweet parathas made of Maida. The sweet stuffing can be made from a variety of ingredients, most popularly using chana dal, jaggery and coconut. Kannadigas use equal quantity of chana dal and toor dal and coconut. This filling can be prepared using only coconut and jaggery or green gram dal and coconut and jaggery (Kerala Iyers make uppitu with this stuffing) and in the new age, the sweet stuffing can be made with carrot, coconut and jaggery to give a vegetable touch to it (healthy and nutritious as the presenters of tv cookery shows like to say). And again the rolling is done like parathas or on banana leaves.
Given below is the recipe for Karnataka obattu, as prepared by my authentic Kannadiga friend, Veena.
Ingredients:
Filling:
Chana dal: 250 gms.
Fresh grated coconut: 1½ cups
Grated jaggery: 2½ cups
Dry ginger power: 2 tsps.
Cardamom powder: 2 tsps.

For the outer covering:
Maida: 250 gms
Salt : a pinch
Turmeric powder: 1 tsp.
Gingelly oil: ¼ cup
Water to knead the dough
Ghee for brushing on the obattu
Preparation:
First make the dough by kneading the maida with salt and turmeric powder and water to a soft and elastic consistency in a large bowl or plate. Add 2 tbsps.of gingelly oil and knead again. Make a well in the centre of the dough and add the remaining oil and keep it aside for 10 minutes. Knead again incorporating the oil well into the dough to make the dough more elastic and pliable. Keep the dough covered with a moist cloth. The quantity of oil could be increased to get more pliable dough or if you are calorie conscious, decrease the quantity of the oil (honestly speaking let go when making obattus, if the quantity of oil is decreased the obattu do not come out as flaky and tasty).
To prepare the filling, cook the chana dal with just enough water to cover the dal in a pressure cooker until just done (Do not over cook). Strain to remove the water. (Kannadigas use this water to make a special rasam ). At this stage I deviate a little from Veena’s method.
Veena continues thus: She heats the strained dal, coconut and jaggery in a kadhai until all the moisture evaporates then cools and grinds the mixture and adds cardamom powder and dry ginger powder to get the stuffing.
As I have always said, I like to strain the jaggery to remove the dirt and sand, hence the following method. Grind the strained dal and grated coconut .Boil the jaggery in ½ cup of water until the jaggery dissolves. Strain to remove the sand and other dirt particles. Pour into a heavy bottomed kadhai and boil until the syrup starts thickening. Add the ground dal and coconut mixture and continue stirring until the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan. Remove from the stove, add cardamom and dry ginger powders. Mix well and cool. Make lemon sized balls of this mixture and keep aside.
Knead the dough once again. (People with weak shoulders like me may use a electric kneader for this to get excellent result or else seek the help of your better half like I do). Take small quantity of the dough and pat into a small circle with the palm of your hand on a banana leaf or plastic sheet. Place one ball of the filling in the centre and close from all sides. Pat the ball into a thin paratha with the palm of your hand. Heat a tava. Gently remove the obattu from the plastic sheet and roast on the heated tava on both sides until brown spots appear. Remove from the tava and drizzle ghee on it. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Serve the “Melt in the mouth hot obattu“ drizzled with ghee and enjoy your holiday with your family.
To add to the sweet taste,Kannadigas serve this obattu with a payasam made of khuskhus, coconut milk and jaggery . We love it with ghee.
ENJOY!

Merry Christmas

During the Christmas weekend I paid a flying visit to Bangalore and back which was eventful and hectic to say the least. Well, we had Thiruvathira, Christmas, visitors for lunch and brunch, personal work to attend to and generally oiling up for the smooth functioning when I am away. Before I left I made sure that our elder son would not have any difficulty during my absence by cooking and freezing a few things and before I left Bangalore I had to once again see that my husband and our younger son would have a few things for their immediate use after I left.

For Thiruvathira I made Kali and kari the usual thiruvathira goodies, exactly the same way as I had explained earlier and it turned out just right. This time, we used, Kavathu, red pumpkin, avaraikkai, sweet potatoes and fresh thuvar peas.Our younger son, who is back home for Thiruvathira after a long time, enjoyed the kali and kari.

Immediately after reaching Bangalore, the first thing we (my husband and I) did was to chop and soak the dry fruits for the Christmas cake. This time, we used, almonds, walnuts, pecans, cherries, dates, cashew nuts, raisins, pineapple, figs, prunes and ginger. We baked a cake with 1 kg of dry fruits, 6 eggs, 225gms each of flour and butter and sugar. Our younger son who is always ready to do the beating and mixing of the cake took over the responsibilities and I just had to oversee the process and the actual baking. The cake was fluffy and spongy and melted in our mouths.

During my visit, we also entertained my son’s friends. For one couple we prepared vangi bath, puttu and kadala kari, masala dosa and rava kesari. For another friend’s visit, we prepared, bisibele bath, curds rice and neypayasam.

In between we also prepared carrot halwa, porivilangai and pori undais, peas pulao, Aloo ki tehni and Rice ada.

I shall soon start posting the recipes of all the goodies for which recipes have not been posted.

Busy times

It has been more than a month since I sat to write a new blog post and what a busy and exhausting time it has been! I was actually all ready to post my Navarathri thoughts when I came down with a nasty viral fever that sapped the juice out of me. Even before I could recoup from the after effects of the fever, I came to Bangalore on a short visit, my itinerary all planned and I did not have a single moment’s free time. I had been away from Bangalore for 4 months and putting the house back in working condition takes days in ordinary circumstances. And here I had 50% of the household packed and 50% of the packed items shifted to another house. When we had planned our move to a newer place and packed our items and shifted half the things, our younger (need I say, h&c) son, called and put a stop to all the proceedings. “Give me some time, he said, before you take any decision about the move.” So we froze all our plans. And so when we returned from Hyderbad, also to receive our younger son back to India for good, our rooms still were packed with cartons. I was reminded of the story of Kanyakumari. Legend has it that, Adishakthi as a young girl (Kannika) was doing penance at the southernmost tip of India to win the affection of Lord Siva. As the incarnation of Adishakthi as Kannika was to slay the demon king Baanasura, the devas were not in favour of the marriage between devi and Lord Siva. Hence the muhurtham for the marriage was fixed before the daybreak. As the procession of the Bridegroom with his entourage was on way, one of the devas (I don’t remember if it was Lord Indra or Mahavishnu) in the guise of a rooster crowed heralding the day break. The bridegroom and party had to return as the muhurtham had lapsed. A disappointed Devi decided to remain a virgin and hence the name of the Goddess as Kanyakumari (virgin Goddess) As all the preparations for the marriage were already underway, all the vegetables and other things turned into stone and hence even today one can see stones in different shapes and multicolored sand on the Kanyakumari coast. Similarly, when our son asked us to stop our move, everything froze and the packed cartons remained where they were.The first job for us, then was to make room for our son and the baggage he was bringing. We had to once again fill the cupboards and lofts with the things we had emptied from them.
We were having heavy rains in Bangalore and the weather was chill. I started looking for blankets inside the cartons and after searching for few hours, realized that they have been shifted to the new premises. This meant a trip to the new place to bring the blankets and bedsheets back.

Our son returned home after spending 11 years in the US. We are feeling great. All our friends are saying, “how lucky you are, your son has decided to come back and spend time with you.” Until now, every time he came home on vacations, I would plan all the programs during his stay not to mention, the menu for each meal. This time around, I don’t get to see him at all as he is busy running around to get set up to start work as soon as possible. He continued to work from where he left at his office in US, from the moment he reached home. Getting a mobile and broadband connection took almost 3 to 4 days.

Our elder (also very h&c) son was also coming to meet his brother and this meant preparing another room. Diwali was around the corner. For the past 19 years, Diwali has meant “anniversary” of my father-in-law and preparations for the Sradham. I started looking for the special utensils meant for the sradham and of course they were all in the new flat.The incessant rain crimped our ability to move around at our will. Somehow we made the trip to the new place and brought back all the necessary things. The sradham was conducted to everyones satisfaction. Now we had to start taking stock of the inventory in the kitchen to the minimal required for our son to manage comfortably when he stayed here by himself. (We were going to Delhi to attend the seemaaantham of my sister-in-law’s daughter-in-law in another 4 days). Again hectic repacking and reorganizing. It was Saturday evening and my mind boggled with the list of things to do on Sunday, before we caught the flight on Monday early morning. I was not able to sleep and decided to get out of bed and start doing my chores at least. Then the phone rang.

Puthucode Memories

As promised, I am (finally!) ready to write about my trip to Kerala to participate in the Upanayanam and Choulam of my nephews.

I would like to warn at the very outset that this is not intended to be an elaborate commentary on Upanayanam and Choulam, as I could not keep questioning the priest at each ritual. Even otherwise, whenever I asked him to explain the meaning of some ritual, he would say, “here she comes with a paper and pen.” However, the meanings of some of the rituals could be seen here and there.

As I have already said, we had just done the grihapravesham (i, ii) of our flat and were planning to shift to the new place before we left for Kerala. Only later did we realise that the builder had some more work to finish, like the final coat of painting and the final polishing of the floor. Hence we decided to postpone shifting to a later date. However we had started the packing and were loading one room with the packed cartons.

This is how one of our rooms looked then (and now also).


Going to Kerala has always been exciting for me. I get lost in nostalgia. Though I have spent only ¼ of my life in Kerala, to this day that remains the most memorable time to me. We didn’t have any coffee joints or any cinema houses where we friends could get together. Nor did we have any shopping sprees where daddy’s hard earned money could be spent. We were confined to our agraharam and we did not even go to the other agraharams, unless there was a purpose. Then we had our thodu, (the stream) where we friends would meet every day and exchange stories (what happened between 6.30pm the previous day and 8.00am on that day) and had a lovely time splashing about in the water. Some of us also took along our younger siblings and taught them swimming. Our washing would also get over along with the bath. When we did not return in some reasonable time, our elders would stand outside our houses and would send word with others coming to the thodu, to ask us to come home soon “or else.” After school, we would again get together on the street, gramam or agraharam as it is known and play games of dice or I-spy, or simply run around and make a lot of noise. Nobody would check us. Then we would all go to the temple and meet others from the other gramams and by 6.30pm, we had to be inside our respective houses. No staying out after 6.30pm. There were so many events and happenings and stories to relate to our echiyamma (grandmother) and others when we came home. This was the only communication line they had. No phones; no getting together for the older women. Even we young girls had the privilege only till we attained puberty. After that it was only going to the thodu and temple. No loitering around in the gramam. Luckily for me, I left my gramam at that age, so I did not have any restrictions until I left. All these memories rush to my mind each time I plan a visit to Puthucode.


How come there isn’t as much to remember from the later years as there is from the first 14 years of my life? As usual, I always put this question to my best friend and philosopher, my dear husband. Depending on the mood of the day, he will give me a different but acceptable answer each time.

I had been going back almost every year in the beginning; actually every vacation when I was in college and also as long as our children were in primary school. It was only after I took up a full time job and my in-laws became old and I could not leave them alone that my visits became rare, just popping in for some important functions and returning the same evening.

As always, having started writing about my Upanayanam trip, I have drifted to my childhood days and Puthucode. This is, perhaps, what makes it so memorable. I don’t know if today’s children have so much to remember about the place they grow up in. Even today, when I start talking to my mother over phone, we will drift from one topic to another and finally wouldn’t discuss the topic on hand at all. Alas, that trend is fast disappearing. Today people have nothing to talk about after the cursory, “Hello, how do you do”. I sometimes feel, they are afraid they would disclose something about themselves or their family, if they talked more. It was not so then. Two people had to just meet and they would exchange everything they knew about everybody. They were not hesitant to discuss their children or family with others. Everyone accepted that every family had problems and by discussing with others they would invariably get a solution from the experience of someone or by drawing parallels. At the very least one got the tension out. I do not remember hearing of anyone having to go to a cousellor or a psychiatrist in those days. There were always friends, philosophers and guides in the gramam. It was one large family after all.

First century!

This, my 100^th post, has been a long time in coming owing to various reasons, one of them being my moving to Hyderabad to spend time with our elder son. Having started to blog in 2005 while visiting with our younger son, the two years of my blogging have gotten me a lot many friends from all over the world, and it feels nice when total strangers compliment me on my blog. Two years is definitely a very long time for 100 posts and I sort of try to feel justified in my irregular blogging whenever people ask me how I find time to blog.

Our son lives in a huge house with a vast garden; we need an intercom to communicate with each other and a bicycle to go around the house. I have my own exclusive enclosed cobbled courtyard to gaze at the sun and the stars; only the mosquitoes will not allow me to have the pleasure for long. It took a while settling down in the new house, as my son himself has recently shifted here and had not unpacked the boxes containing the kitchenware. He had done an excellent job of the packing though; the contents of all the boxes neatly tabulated down to the spoon and fork and carefully packed. Though they had been cleaned before packing, I am so fussy about the cleanliness of kitchenware that I had to clean and sun-dry them all over again. After 2 weeks, I am almost through with the job. As always with company allocated accommodation, there are lots of small jobs to be done, a switch here, a tap there and so on which gets done at its own slow pace.

The weather in Hyderabad is very pleasant at this time. It is cool and breezy (we are surrounded by tall neem trees and other trees like sithaphal, moringa, etc) with intermittent showers.

Now that I have started blogging again, I hope to be more regular. Wish me Good Luck!

Recipe: Brinjal Masala curry

I have been preparing this curry for a long time. I don’t think I learnt it from any recipe book or from anyone. I just started making my own recipes and this one turned out to be superb. I learnt how delicious it was only when my sister-in-law asked me once, “I understand you prepare a new variety or brinjal curry that is just superb, how do you make it?”

Here is the recipe.

I use the round violet brinjals for this.

Ingredients:

Dhania : 1 tbsp,
Chana dal: 1 tbsp+1tsp
Urad dal: 1 tbsp.+1tsp.
Hing : size of a pea
Red chillies : 2 or 3
Curry leaves : few
Brinjal: 250 grams
Onion: 1 big (100gms)
Tomatoes: 200 gms
Turmeric powder: 1tsp.
Mustard seeds : 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
Oil : 2 tbsp.

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Preparation:

Wash and cut the brinjals into 2” long pieces. Cut onions into small pieces. Cut the the tomatoes into small pieces.

Roast the hing, dhania, 1 tbsp. chana dal, 1 tbsp. urad dal, red chillies, and few curry leaves to a light pink color. Cool and coarsely powder.

Heat the oil, add mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add the urad dal and chana dal. When they turn light pink in color, add the curry leaves and onion and saute until onions turn light pink in color. Add the tomatoes and saute until they are mushy. Add the brinjal and turmeric powder and salt and saute in medium heat until brinjal is cooked. Add the ground powder and remove from heat. Garnish with finely cut coriander leaves.

Serve with rice or chapatis.

Enjoy!

Update: Needless to say, this post along with my recipe for Vangi bath and my first post on brinjals are my entries for JFI July.

Recipe: Vangi Bath

Vangi bath is a Karnataka specialty and is a full meal in itself. It is prepared with the long green variety of brinjals.

Ingredients:

Brinjal : 200 gms
Dhania : 1 tbsp.
Chana dal : 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp.
Urad dal : 1 tbsp. + 1tsp.
Khus khus : ½ tsp
Hing : size of a pea
Sesame seeds: 1 tsp.
Cloves: : 2 nos.
Cinnamon : ½" stick
Marathi moggu: 1 piece (this spice looks like a big clove, I do not know the Hindi or English names of this spice. It is called Marathi Moggu in Karnataka)
Red chillies : 2 or 3
Curry leaves : few
Copra or dry coconut : 2 tbsp. (grated)
Gingelly (sesame) oil : 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp.
Ground nuts : 1 tbsp.
Turmeric powder : 1 tsp.
Salt to taste.
Coriander leaves 1 tbsp.
Rice : 1 cup

Preparation:

Any cooking oil can be used according to individual taste. I prefer gingelly (also known as sesame or till) oil for this preparation for the flavour it adds to the dish.

Wash and cook the rice adding 1 tsp of gingelly oil to keep the rice grains separate (it should not be very soft). Spread in a plate to cool.

Heat ½ tsp oil and add the hing, dhania, 1 tbsp chana dal, 1 tbsp urad dal, khus khus, cloves, cinnamon, marathi moggu, red chillies and curry leaves and roast till the dals turn light pink in color and give off a nice aroma. Cool and powder coarsely.

Wash and cut the brinjals into 1” square pieces.

Heat the remaining oil and add the mustard seeds. When they start spluttering, add the remaining urad dal, chana dal, ground nuts and curry leaves. When the dals turn light pink in color add the cut brinjals and saute them on low heat, adding turmeric powder and salt. When the brinjals are almost done add the ground powder and saute for another 5 minutes until they are thorughly mixed. Add the cooled rice and mix well. Garnish with finely cut coriander leaves and your vangi bath is ready.

ENJOY

Optionally 1 tbsp. of lemon juice can be mixed to the vangi bath.

Suggested accompaniments: Vangi bath is just delicious as such, or can be served with roasted papads, or raita, or keerai masiyal ( more about it later).

Update: Needless to say, this post along with my recipe for Vangi bath and my original post on brinjals are my entries for JFI July.

Grihapravesam (II)

After getting the car repaired and getting it home, we all breathed a sigh of relief. We started getting busy with the other arrangements. Once again, our handsome and charming son took an auto and went to the new house to get it cleaned. Hubby dear went to the market to get the flowers and other pooja materials. I got busy at home packing the various things to be carried for the pooja and checking with my list to see if I had forgotten something.

The things we carried included:
Kumkum
Haldi
Sandal powder
Camphor
Incense sticks
Flowers for pooja
Garlands for decoration
Different types of vilakkus (lamps)
Oil
Wicks for lamps
Ghee for homam
Homakundam
Woodshavings and other materials for homam
Various pooja utensils
Rice paste for kolam
Rice, urid whole and other navagraha dhanyas (paddy was being brought by the vadhyar)
Navagraha cloth pieces
Coconuts
Vengalapanai for boiling milk
Gas stove
Match box

It is a practice to spend the night on the day of the Grihaparvesam in the new house. Therefore we had to carry some sheets and pillows for sleeping there.

In between I summoned the services of my beautiful and talented niece to make the kolams. Locating her took almost an hour as she was on her holiday outing.

Finally around 4 pm, we loaded as many things as possible in two cars (my niece brought her car and we dared to take a chance with the repaired car. My son’s argument “anyway, we have to take the car there. Why not make use of it to transport our things?”)

Since the flooring was marble, we added some haldi powder to the rice paste so that the kolam would be prominent. My niece made the kolams, while we arranged all the other things so that in the morning it would be easy to manage the things.




We got the chairs and tables for lunch. We called the caterer and confirmed the arrangements. We also called a taxi and asked him to pick us up next day morning from home.

It was already 9pm by then. We had to get ready by 6 am next morning. So we hired an auto and reached home, had dinner and went to bed around 12 pm and set the alarm for 3 am.

The muhurtham for the grihapravesham had to be either at 5.30 am or after 9.30am, We had chosen the later muhurtham as it would have been impossible for us to reach the place well in advance for 5.30am muhurtam, after preparing the payasam for the neyvedyam and Havis for the homam.

I got up at 3 am and prepared payasam and havis after my bath, by which time, my husband and son also got ready. The taxi came at 6 am sharp and we all (my friend, Veena, also joined us) left on time. The Vadhyar had said “you carry lighted vilakku, flowers, rice, dal,coconut, haldi powder, chandanam etc., when you go in. Accordingly we decorated the entrance with garland and entered the house and kept things ready for the Vadhyar.




By then my mother and niece arrived followed by my brothers and their families and other invitees. Breakfast arrived punctually at 08:30am and we all had good breakfast of idlis, vadai, kesari and coffee. As lighting of the stove was not allowed inside the house until after the grihapravesam, we had made arrangements for another gas stove to be placed outside in the veranda/lobby for preparing coffee. The caterer had brought milk, cups, coffee decoction and sugar. This way we ensured that fresh and hot coffee could be served to the guests as when they arrived. To our satisfaction, we could give breakfast to our guests upto about 10.30am. This was essential as many of the guests were not familiar with the location and had to spend a little extra time searching/enquiring etc to locate the address. Being peak summer many were quite tired by the time they arrived. We had also arranged fresh lemon juice to be prepared and served to all. The caterer also had brought enough and more of the food items to be served for all the people.



Around 9 am the Vadhyar arrived with 4 other vadhyars and started the preparations for the pooja.



We were once again asked to enter the house with kumbham, vilakku, flowers, coconut, etc.
At 9.30am, punyaham and kshiraprasanam (the stove is lighted for the first time in the house and milk is boiled. This milk is offered to the God as neivedyam and is taken by the yajamana, his family and guests) were done, followed by Ganapathy Homam, Navagraha Homam and Vasthu Homam.

All the homams and pooja went quite satisfactorily and all the invitees attended the function.






By the time the homams were over, lunch had arrived. We had arranged with the same caterer we had arranged for the “Grihapravesham” of our house, we are living in now. The only difference being that then he had come and cooked at our premises and we had a buffet lunch with more invitees, this time around, he prepared the food and brought it and we had fewer invitees.

The lunch consisted of:

Kichadi
Pineapple Pachadi
Kootukari
Aviyal
Thoran
Puliinji
Mango pickle
Sambar
Rasam
Parippu vadai
Mysore pak
Chips
Pappadam
Curds

AND

Idichu Pizhinja Payasam

The reviews were soon in, “The lunch was grand!”

Grihapravesham (I)

For sometime now, we had been planning to move to a smaller city/smaller place, just to get out of this maddening crowd in Bangalore. The roads have become very crowded, the vehicular traffic has increased to such an extent that walking on the roads is next to impossible. The haphazard parking of cars and motor cycles makes it difficult to get out of the houses or even enter people’s houses when you go visiting. The problem worsens if it rains.

We had always wanted to go back to a quiet and leisurely village in Kerala surrounded by greeneries and flowing water. Running water has been a weakness for me for so long. I would give anything to be able to take a swim in clear and unpolluted water. It has remained an unfulfilled dream so far. Somehow, moving to Kerala was not happening due to various factors. So when my brother suggested about an apartment a little away from the crowd, our handsome and charming son decided to buy it so that we could move in there and have a quieter life. The added incentive was that all my brothers were also buying an apartment each there, although none of them had plans to move in there at the moment.

The apartment house was ready for occupation from the builder’s point and people had already occupied. We wanted to make some minor modifications/additions here and there and also get the interiors done. We were promised everything would be done in 2 weeks time and we could occupy it by 1st week of March. We gave a month’s extra time and decided to conduct the grihapravesham after Vishu, so that our son could also get some vacation.We made trips to the new apartment almost everyday and though the interiors were ready by end of March, the additional masonry work had not even started. With lots of coaxing and cajoling we got some of the work done and decided to conduct the grihapravesham on the 23rd of April.

In the meantime, we started packing our things and also preparing for the grihapravesham. We had arranged to conduct a Ganapathi Homam, Vasthu Homam and Navagraha Homam and host lunch for a few of the near and dear.

We had to buy a whole lot of things and transport them to the new place, 6 kms away. The weather was scorching and humid..To reach this new place either we had to take an autorikshaw who would oblige at his will and ask for that extra 10 bucks or we had to walk upto 1½ kms if we decided to travel by bus. At times we walked almost 1 km to get a rikshaw. My memories went back 19 years when we had moved to our present house and did the grihapravesham in a much more elaborate manner. Things weren’t so difficult then, I remembered. We both were working full time and children were in school. When I said this to our handsome and charming younger son over phone, he said, “Patti was there amma.” True. My astute and blessed mother-in-law was around and she was a great manager and co-ordidnator. She was not at an age where she could get out and manage things but I could give her a list of things to be done by the various people and leave home in the morning for work and reach back late in the evening after visiting the construction site and every thing would be ready at home. Most importantly, all the four of us were mobile (on our own). We could finish many chores on our way up and down and didn’t have to depend on each other. Things were different now. Patti is no more with us and nor is any one mobile.

Couple of days to go for the function, my husband borrowed his friend’s car so that we could commute much more comfortably. Our son brought the car from the friend’s place. We all went to the apartment and stayed back longer to get the pending electrical work finished without any worry about reaching back home as we had a car. We came down at 7.30pm and found the car with a flat tyre. With great difficulty we got a mechanic to repair the flat tyre and we left the place around 8.30 pm. Hardly had we moved a kilometer and suddenly the car jerked and was going towards the electric post by the side of the road. We did not know what was happening and only our son’s presence of mind saved us from a major accident. He could somehow bring the car to the side of the narrow road and that was it. The car wouldn’t move, the steering wheel was not controlling the wheels as it had had come loose from its couplings. We were in the midst of a very busy road, hardly enough room for single lane traffic. We just couldn’t move the car. My husband phoned his friend, who just gave his mechanic’s phone number and said we could get in touch with the mechanic. It was futile even to imagine that the mechanic would be available at the garage at 9.30pm. My husband tried his luck with one of the workmen we had engaged to get some grill work done and it clicked. The nice man came with two of his boys and still we couldn’t move the care. Cars and buses were honking on all the four sides and I was sitting inside a hot and humid car. With nothing else to do, I just sat there and started reciting my Lalitha Sahasranamam per my daily schedule. Just then two boys came as if from nowhere and asked us what the problem was. They were car mechanics, they said and with great difficulty with the combined effort of all of us, we could push the car away from the road. The boys said, they would get their tools and see if something could be done. Meanwhile, our son insisted that we go home. With difficulty, we hired an auto and reached home at 10.00 pm. Later our son also reached home after having deposited the car under the care of the grill maker.

So the next day getting the car repaired was also on our shoulders. With luck, we could get the job done by evening after spending a handsome amount.

We had just 30 hours to go for the function.

Vishu 2007

Another Vishu. What was special about this year’s Vishu was that our son was with us to celebrate Vishu.

Though Vishu is the new year day for Malayalees, Tamilians, people of the North eastern states of India and also the Punjabis, this year (as in many other years), all the other people except Malayalees, celebrated their new year day on the 14th and the Malayalees celebrated it on the 15th April. That was because the Mesha Sanakramam or the time at which the sun entered the Mesha rasi was at 11.40 am on the 14^th. The Vishu Kani is seen on the morning after the Mesha Snakramam, Hence, though April 14^th was 1^st of Mesha masa, This year the Vishu Kani was seen on the 15th morning.

The year that was born on the 14th is named Sarvajith. There are 60 years starting with Prabhava according to Hindu Astrological science.

As usual, we had the Vishukani in the morning. From early morning on Vishu, I had a very bad throat and by breakfast time, it developed into very bad bronchitis and I was feeling so exhausted I had to drop the idea of making a grand feast with Chakka Pradhaman. I had been looking forward to this since our son was with us. But both the son and father insisted that I shouldn’t overstrain myself and we had a simple lunch of Manga Koottan, Kootu and Palpayasam instead.

While almost all the other Indian states celebrate Diwali with crackers, Kerala has crackers during Vishu. Cracker shops would sprout even in the remotest of villages a couple of days before Vishu. Usually schools start their summer vacation from the 1^st of April and hence children are at their leisure.

When we were growing up we could buy a big bag of crackers for just Re 1. A day prior to Vishu, Kalathappa (our grandfather) would give us 4 annas (25 paise) each to buy crackers. We would emotionally blackmail Echiyamma (our grandmother) to part with another 4 annas and the three of us (my sister, my cousin and I) would have in total Rs 1.50. This firmly in hand, we would march to the market. Before we left, Kalathappa would say, “don’t forget the “malapadakkam” for the kandam. This meant, ½ anna would go for that. Anyway, we would come back with a bag full of colormatches and sparklers and flowerpots and very few bursting crackers. Back home, we would divide our shopping and dry them in the sun separately. On vishu morning, after seeing the Kani, we would start bursting our crackers. On vishu morning, we would again be richer by Rs0.50, got as Kaineettam from Kalathappa and Echiyamma. So we would do one more round of the market to get some more crackers for the evening.

Recipe: Idichu Pizhinja Payasam

When I had written about the Wedding feast, one of the commenters said that (s)he had never heard of Idichu Pizhinja Payasam and I had promised I would post the recipe soon. I was waiting for a good excuse to prepare this payasam and the golden opportunity dawned today. Today was the “star birthday” of our elder son and as has been our practice for the past 15 years or more, we celebrated his birthday in his absence. Usually, we cook a grand lunch and he eats whatever stuff is available at his work place away from home. Thankfully, this time he went to my cousin’s home and had a grand lunch.

So for the birthday lunch, we prepared Mango kootan, Idichakka poduthuval (tender raw jackfruit curry), idichu pizhinja payasam, vadam and of course rice and curds.

While the recipes for Mango kootan and idichakka poduthuval will come later, today we will have the recipe for idichu pizhinja payasam.

The idichu pizhinja payasam is the most favoured payasam among Keralites and it gets its rather complicated name from the fact that the coconut milk, which is the main ingredient of this payasam, was extracted in the olden days by pounding the grated coconut in a stone mortar (called an “Ural” in malayalam and Tamil and “Okhali” in Hindi). The malayalam term for pounding and extracting is “idichu pizhinju” and hence the name. It is also known by the name Chathachathayam. It is the main neyvedyam in our Annapoorneswari temple during Navarathri, at which time this payasam is made with some 50kgs of rice and milk extracted from some 600 to 700 coconuts. The payasam is made in large urulis or charakkus and is stirred with long handled ladles known as chattukam which measure some 2 mts. long. I will try to get pictures of these during my visit to my native village next month. For the neyvedyam in our temple, a special type of banana known as kadali in malayalam is used. This is not very popular in Bangalore although I did see it in California during our last visit. I have not used this in my recipe. No flavouring agents like cardamom powder or dry ginger powder is used in the payasam and the natural fragrance of the coconut milk and kadali pazham and pure ghee enhance the flavour of this payasam.

It was very difficult for me to scale down the recipe for 4 servings, and I ventured to try it with milk from ½ coconut. I have never made this with less than 2 coconuts.

The pictures show the actual quantity of milk obtained from ½ a coconut and the quantity of payasam got from using the ingredients mentioned below.

Ingredients:

(4 servings)

Milk from ½ a coconut
Or
Readymade coconut milk ½ tin

Raw rice : ¼ cup
Jaggery : 1 cup
Sugar : 2 tbsp
Pure ghee: 2 tbsp


Method:

Extract coconut milk as explained in the recipe for Parippu Pradhaman.

Wash and cook the rice in the third milk (thinnest) . (This can be done in a pressure cooker).

Melt the jaggery in one cup of water and strain it to remove sand particles and other impurities.

Transfer the cooked rice to a thick bottomed wide mouthed vessel. Add the jaggery syrup and boil until the rice and the jaggery syrup are well blended and the raw jaggery smell disappears. Add the ghee and stir well.

(If using the bananas – make small round pieces of the banana and fry them in ghee until well blended and add to the payasam now.)

Add the second milk (thinner variety) and boil for another 5- 6 minutes until the payasam starts thickening. Add the first milk (thickest) and immediately switch off the stove. Keep stirring with a long handled ladle for another 5 minutes to prevent crust formation.

Enjoy!

P.S. : As I have said earlier this payasam is made in thick uruli made of an alloy called oodu in malayalam and vengalam in Tamil. This is a very thick alloy and retains heat for 1 – 2 hours. Hence the first milk is added only after removing the uruli from the stove. The payasam is not heated after the addition of first milk as the first milk might separate releasing coconut oil if heated.

Grahanam

We celebrated Ugadi on Monday. We refers to the Kannadigas, the Telugus, the Maharashtrians and the like. We at home of course celebrate every festival with everybody. As long as there is good food to be eaten, we Iyers are in! Ugadi is the new year’s day for all those observing the lunar calendar. People deck up the house and prepare a festive lunch and offer pujas in the temple. The important item of the festival lunch is Holige or Obattu and Ambode. I thought of preparing obattu, but then, my good friend Veena brought a few for us.

On Ugadi day, we also had a partial solar eclipse early in the morning. My mother was asking me, “did you observe the Grahanam(eclipse)?” I burst out laughing and asked her, “Amma, how do you observe Grahanam? After all you don’t have to prepare Parippu Kanji or payasam, right?” She said, “that’s true. You don’t have to prepare any thing.”

Having said so to my mother, my memories went back to the grahanams when we were growing up. Those days, grahanams were indeed days filled with lots of fun.
To start with, the whole village was in a relaxed mood during the time of eclipse as nobody was supposed to eat anything during the eclipse time. The last meal had to be had atleast 2 hours prior to the start of eclipse and the kitchens were closed till the end of eclipse. This meant that the womenfolk had no kitchen work and we could spend time with our mothers in relaxation. Otherwise, they would be always busy with preparing meals or other kitchen work. During the eclipse, nobody was supposed even to drink water. The stomach was to be free from work also, as digestive functions were also thought to be affected by the “rays emitted during eclipse.”

And then, there was a big congregation at the side of the stream to have a dip at the start of the eclipse along with some vedic chants to ward off the evil effects of the eclipse. (Most of the Kerala Iyer settlements were around a temple and there very often was a river, stream or pond on the banks of which there were some banyan trees. Many of these congregations took place under these trees. There was a platform built around the banyan tree which the men sat and discussed various matters from politics to everyday events). As it was rare to get the older women at the stream during the day time on the other days, we had swimming races with the daring seniors on such occasions. It was loads of fun to swim with Parvathi patti, Seshi patti and the likes, and observing them indulging in teasing each other and mock fighting. If the eclipse was for a short duration, the fun was much more, as we were all supposed to have another dip at the end of the eclipse. This meant all stayed back at the poolside until the eclipse ended and we never got out of the water. We were scolded when we reached home for being in water for so long “like buffaloes.” “What if you catch a cold,” we were asked. By then the mothers would get very busy anyway, as they had to prepare food for all from scratch, as they had emptied the kitchen for the eclipse. Not even dosa or idli batter would be kept aside for use after grahanam. The only item brought forward thru grahanam was curds in which a piece of dhurva grass was been placed to ward off evil effects.

During grahanam, various shanthi poojas were conducted in individual houses and also dhanams (alms) were given to brahmins, as it was believed that the people on whose birthstars the grahanam was falling, will have to suffer the ill effects of grahanam. They were also supposed to wear a pattam, a palm leaf on which some mantras were written to ward off evil effects. We would dance around the pattam wearers making fun of them. To my luck, I never had to wear a pattam when I was growing up, afterwards I never cared.

And how did we view the eclipse? We were sternly warned not to look at the sun directly. We did not have access to any special glasses/filters like the present day kids, we did not even have sunglasses, to view the eclipse. Our elders taught us to darken glass pieces with the soot from the oil lamp and view the sun thru this darkened glass. Another method was to look at the reflection of the eclispsed sun in a decanted solution of cowdung in water.

There was another important ritual to be observed by all pregnant women during the grahanam. They were advised to hide, literally, they were asked to stay inside a dark room, closing the doors and making sure that even a small hole or crack in a window or door was plugged. When I think of those days, I am surprised no one else kept conpany for these hiding ladies, atleast for small talk. They sat inside the room all alone during the period of grahanams. It was believed that pregnant women who did not hide during grahanam would deliver children with deformities. It is not clear to me whether this belief has any scientific backing, though we read often that many practices being observed blindly over generations on the advice of elders have sound scientific backing. I wonder what today’s young women do during grahanam and how many deformed children are born because of their not hiding. It is to be remembered here that today science has helped us to detect many deformities proir to the childbirth and corrective measures are taken immediately after the child is born and in some cases even in the foetus state itself. Such facilities were not available until toward the end of the 20th century. Today it is quite common to carry out many prenatal scans and tests.

There are people who advise the young generation to hide during grahanam today also, as was illustrated by our friend whose daughter had a child two days before this solar eclipse. He called us to give the good news and said, “see her luck, she does not have to hide during grahanam.”