GOKULA ASHTAMI 2012 ... AVAL LADOO

Happy Gokulaashtami to all my readers !!!!

Pooja Thali includes Fruits , Milk ,Butter,Curd,Flowers and Laddoos .

INGREDIENTS :

Aval - 200 gms
Dessicated coconut - 200 gms
Sugar - 200 gms
Cashews,Raisins,Elachi powder
Milk 
Ghee

METHOD OF PREPARATION :

1) Ghee roast aval first till golden .
2) Then , add coconut and fry well till the flavour rules out.
3) Then , mix it up well with sugar.
4) Allow it to cool  down .
5) Then , add ghee raosted cashews, raisins and elachi powder.
6) Add warm milk to it , mix it up well . Keep this aside for 5 minutes . Then , roll ladoos of it .

AADI PERUKKU / AADI VELLI FESTIVAL

Aadi month is a special month in Tamil Calender . All the fridays in this month,Aadi Velli's, are very auspicious and special for Goddess Sakthi/Amman . People will offer porridge/koozh in all the amman temples on all fridays . Aadi pooram , day which comes with star sign 'Pooram' is also very special . Aadi perukku or Aadi Monsoon Festival of Tamilnadu is celebration done on the banks of river for rain god to have more rain and surplus water all through the year for flourishment .  This is celebrated on the 18th day of the aadi month . 

During the day , we wear new clothes and offer neivedhyam which includes Variety rice (Lemon rice/Curd Rice/Thenkkai sadam/Puli sadam ) , Payasam and Vadai . 

VARALAKSMI POOJA 2012

This year's Varalakshmi pooja was celebrated here in UK.  This is fourth year of my celebration . Here are few of the celebration pictures ....

A new copper pot with goddess lakshmi engraves on it . Mounted the kalash on a cute candle light holder with beads in it .

With all the pooja cup and plate left in India , i used these cute saucers .Bangles , Pearl Necklaces , Pooja stole , Turmeric , Kumkum and Yellow sacred thread for the pooja .

Decorated kalash ...

Linking it up with Color's Dekor -- Weekly Story # 87 .

GANESH CHATHURTHI NIMARJAN 2011 ; IN OUR APARTMENT

One of the most beautiful celebration , we love in Hyderabad is Ganesh Chathurthi . It's been celebrated to the fullest extent like our family function .

Here are some of the photos of our celebration in our previous apartment this year .

FESTIVE SEASON - VARALAKSHMI VIRATHAM , GOKULAASTAMI / VINAYAKAR CHATHURTHI 2011

Hope everyone had a good time with this festive season with lot of happiness and sweets . This year's celebrations in my home .

GOKULA ASTAMI :

Workshipped Krishna with Curd , Milk , Butter and Athirasam .

GANESH CHATHURTHI :

Workshipped with 3 varieties of Kozhukattai's : Jaggery Stuffed , Dal Stuffed and Sivapparisi Kozhukattai , Pori , Pottukadalai and Aval , Fruits .

VARALAKSHMI VIRATHAM :

Workshipped with Dal Payasam, Fruits and Curd Rice .

VINAYAKAR CHATHURTHI 2010

Hai Friends ,

Hope you all had a wonderful celebration of Vinayagar Chathurthi .........still celebration is in full swing in Hyderabad . I loved this clay idol of ganesh , looks so perfect .





Prasadam includes Sundal , Kolukkattai , Aval , Peanuts , Roasted Channa Dal , Fruits ,Idli , Pori .

RAVA LADOO

Gokulashtami or Janmashtami or Sri Krishna Jayanti , marks the birthday of Lord Sri Krishna. It is observed on the astami thithi , the eighth day of the dark half , when there is rohini nakshathiram . I celebrated this for the first time .

Neivaidhyam includes Butter , Milk , Fresh Curd , Sundal , Rava Ladoo and Fruit .

RAVA LADOO :

INGREDIENTS :

Rava - 2 cups

Sugar -- 1/2 cup or as per your taste

Lukewarm Milk - as per requirement

Ghee - 2 tbsps

Cashews , Raisins and elachi - few numbers

METHOD OF PREPARATION :

1) Roast Rava with a tbsp of ghee till the flavour rules out.

2) Transfer it to a big plate and allow it to cool . Meanwhile , ghee roast cashews , raisins and elachi .

3) Add sugar to rava and mix it well , then followed by adding cahews to it . Add milk little by little to rava and make small balls of it .

Ladoo goes to Nithu's Celebrate Sweets - Ladoo event , initially started by Nivedita .

VARALAKSHMI VIRATHAM 2010

Varalakshmi viratam is a sacred day for the Hindus. It is performed in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu . All married hindu women will perform this pooja to seek the blessings of Lord Vishnu and Lakshmi , who is considered to be the God of prosperity and wealth.

This year celebration for Varalakshmi Viratham .




Prasadam includes Rice , Sambar , Rasam, Poriyal ,Sweet Pongal , Sundal and Paruppu Vadai .

AADI PATHINETTAM PERUKKU 2010

This festival is celebrated in the 18th day of Tamil month "Aadi". It is celebrated as a thanksgiving to rains which fills the rivers .People will do pooja on the river banks with family and friends .

Usually Chitrannam (Variety Rice ) is prepared on this day . We celebrated with Curd Rice , Sweet Pongal and Coconut Rice .

MATTU PONGAL SPECIAL RECIPES

My Paternal Grandparents own Paddy Fields and we used to celebrate Pongal to the utmost enjoyment . We will arrange for a family get together on Mattu Pongal in my grandparents Village . The Whole village will be full of happiness and excitement . Villagers will arrange lot of competitions among them like Rangoli (each and every house will participate) , Bull decorations , Bullock Cart Race , Kabadi , Running race etc . The most important and popular among them is 'Jallikattu' .

Myself and my sisters will participate in Rangoli . Prizes will be distributed .

This temple is very special for our family . Lord Ganesh with Nandi face was given to this temple by my Paternal Great Grand father . So , for every pongal we gather here and keep pongal .

This year i missed it . Since my cousin haven't uploaded this year's celebration , i uploaded Pongal-2007 pictures when i was there . We used to clean the whole temple , apply oil to the idols and wash them , wear new dhotis for them , apply sandal and kumkum , new garlands and flowers .



We keep pongal in a very big pot for a family of 20 members . Each one stir it, when their turn comes.It will be a real fun to hold the ladle and turn huge quantity . One stir will make my sisters and myself tired . On seeing us exhausted , my grandmother used to give a menu chart of healthy village recipes to our mothers to make us strong and healthy .



My Mom in her turn...



My Aunty and her son doing their turn ,




Waiting for this year's celebration photos ............i really missed them......

This year rangoli in my home in hyderabad .



Special Rava Kara Pongal and Rava Sakkarai Pongal .



Will post the recipes soon!!!

PONGAL CELEBRATION 2010

Pongal is the harvest festival celebrated in Tamil Nadu . Well known as ''Ullavar Thirunaal '' .It marks the first day of the tamil month , Thai . From this year , this festival is also to be celebrated as Tamil New Year . This festival is highly enjoyed and celebrated in all the villages of TamilNadu . This festival is celebrated for 4 days,usually from January 13 --January 16 every dear . The first day as 'Bhogi' ---people burn all the old clothes,mats etc . The second day 'Pongal/Ullavar Thirunaal' --- people remove all the wastes from the house and white wash them , decorate their doors and windows with ' Koora poo' , keep pongal in a decorated mud pot and tie Sugarcanes to their gates . They draw colourful beautiful Rangolis .The third day ' Mattu Pongal '--villagers decorate their cows,paint their horns and keep bull game popularly known as 'Jallikattu'.The last day is celebrated as 'Thiruvalluvar Dinam ' .

This year's rangoli in my home ,



Pot decorated with flowers . Usually in TamilNadu , we tie with turmeric leaves . Since , here in hyderabad , we couldn't find them.I just decorated with flowers .


Pongaloo Pongal


Serving all the special food to God in a Banana Leaf, the menu includes Sweet Pongal , Sweet Pumpkin Curry,Green Peas Curry and Aloo Sambar . My grandparents used to say 'Sweet Pumpkin ' is a must on Pongal Menu.



Pongal Celebration in Hyderabad :

During this festival time , we can see lot of such decorated cows . People will decorate their cow and come to each and every home in the morning . In our place , we used to call the cow as 'Bhoom Bhoom Maddu ' . It will shake it's head for whatever it's master says.


Yet , another event is Kite Flying . People of different classes fly kites to mark the festival . Beautiful collection of kites were available in the market .

KARTHIGAI DEEPAM CELEBRATION AND AWARDS

In TamilNadu , Karthigai Deepam is celebrated as a festival of lights in the month of Karthigai . In Thiruvannamalai , it is popularly known as Annamalai Deepam . Once the deepam is lit in this temple , all the other temples in the whole state will lit the deepams . Lord Muruga is worshipped on this day . The festival starts with cleaning the house , decorating the house with new diyas , wearing new dresses , special dishes and finally bursting crackers . This year celebration in my home . Decoration in the hall , entrance of the rooms, Pooja table , In the balconies , In the front gate , Mrs.Menaga has passed these two beautiful awards .Thank you dear......they are my treasures. I would like to pass these awards to Raks , Happy Cook , Sandhya and Vij .

DIWALI CELEBRATION 2009

DIWALI --- FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS . Diwali ranks first among other festivals enjoyed by the kids . The main reason behind this is : Diwali gives them lot of sweets , savories and crackers . They wear their new dresses like Jeans , Shirt , Silk skirts , etc in their favourite colours and new trend . Crackers are special during diwali .........the most enjoyed by them .

For womans , diwali brings lots of challenges in preparing new different sweets and savories .
They need to get good remarks from their family members especially from their in-laws and hubby . They love to win wholelot of love of their family members by her cooking . They love to decorate their house with diyas and colourful rangoli in front of their house and in Pooja table. ...Would like to be the queen of diwali celebration .

For men , diwali brings a wholelot of sweets to fill their tummy without any restrictions . Quietly relax in a sofa , watch their favourite special programmes in TV , munching an array of special delicacies .

Diwali brings lot of happiness to grand parents with their grand children and great grand children running around bursting crackers , wearing new suits and munching sweets . Whole house filled with sounds of laughter .Whatelse can bring happiness to a person than these festivals ?......................

Diwali Celebration in my home .




Diwali feast includes Murukku , Vadai , Rava Paniyaram , Maida Biscuit and Fruits.


Decoration of Idols :



Laksmi and Ganesh pooja :



Diya's :


Bursting of Crackers :








Enjoy and have more fun

I am sending this to Priya's Diwali Feast and Purva's Diwali Damaka Event .