Thalakom

Thalakom... This is my Grandma's masterpiece and my Dad loves this soo much...

Ingredients:

• Ladies finger - 2 nos
• Pumpkin - 1 small piece
• Potato - 1
• Carrot - 1
• Raw Banana (Vazhaikai) - 1/2
• Tamarind - 1 lemon size
• Salt - To Taste

For Grinding:

• Red Chillies - 8
• Raw Rice - 2 teaspoon
• Thurdhal - 2 teaspoon
• Sesame seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Grated Cocunut - 1 cup
• Oil - 2 teaspoon

For Seasoning:

• Oil - 1 teaspoon
• Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Fenugeek seeds/Vendhayam - 1/2 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - few

Method:

• Cut the vegetables for the thalagam as we cut for the sambar.
• Soak the tamarind in the water and extract the juice and keep it separately.
• Heat the oil in the pan and fry the thurdal, sesame seeds, red chillies in the oil.
• Once the dhal becomes light golden color add the grated cocunut and fry it till it becomes light brown color and grid all these into a fine paste in a mixer along with the raw rice.
• Cook the vegetables in the pan , and when the vegetables are half-cooked, add the tamarind extract and salt and let it boil for sometime.
• Finally add the ground paste and allow it to boil.
• Season the thalagam with mustard, fenugeek and curry leaves.
• Thalagam is ready for serving

Thiruvathirai Kali

Thiruvathirai Kali is prepared on the auspicious occasion of Thiruvathirai. Cendanar of Naukoor, a disciple of Paddinattu Adigal, used to eat only after feeding some Saiva devotees. Due to a constant bad weather he could not get together all the essentials for a proper meal. He had no option but to mix water with flour and prepare a mashed paste. Lord Siva understood his predicament. He wanted the people to know how sincere his devotee was to him. Therefore he disguised himself as a Siva devotee and visited Cendanar’s hut and enjoyed what was given to him as food. The temple attendants saw the premises scattered with the mashed paste the following morning. Inquiries led to an understanding of Cendanar’s piety and he was thereafter bestowed with all due respect. This incident took place in a Markali Thiruvathirai. This is why Thiruvathirai Kali forms an important prasad on this holy day.

Ingredients:

• Raw Rice - 1 cup or ground rice powder - 1 Cup
• Grated Jaggery - 1 1/2 Cups
• Water - 3 Cups
• Moong Dhal - 2 table spoon
• Cardamom - 6
• Grated Cocunut - 4 table spoon
• Cashew nuts - 6
• Ghee - 2 tablespoon
• Salt - A Pinch

Method:

• Wash the raw rice in a water and rinse it. Immediately after rinsing put the rinsed rice in a Kadaai and fry it until the rice becomes golden brown color.
• Grind the Raw Rice in a mixer and the rice powder should be like Rawa. Take the contents in a bowl.
• Put the moongdhal in the kadaai and fry it till it becomes golden brown color and pour one cup of water to cook the dhal. It will take approximately 5 minutes to cook. The dhal need not cook completely. It should be in half boiled consistency. If you take one of the dhal and press it with your fingers, then it should get smashed. This is the right consistency.
• While the dhal is getting cooked, you can prepare the jaggery juice in parallel.
• Heat another pan, add water (till the jaggery immersed in the water completely) and add grated jaggery. When the jaggery dissolves completely in water, strain it to remove dust and sand particles. Keep the strained jaggery juice in a separate bowl
• Once the dhal is almost cooked, pour two cups water, strained jaggery juice and a pinch of salt.
• When the jaggery mixture begins to boil, add the powdered rice and stir well to avoid bumps. (like we do for the preparation of upma)
• Powder the cardamon and add it along with the grated coconut.
• Fry the cashews in the ghee and add to the kali. Add the remaining ghee to the kali and stir it one.

                  

Thiruvathirai Poduthual

Thiruvadhirai is celebrated in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, though the rituals in both the states are very different. In Tamil Nadu, people generally, wake up very early, take a bath and prepare the offerings of Kali (a sweet rice pudding) and poduthuval (curried vegetables). I don’t know how our ancestors came up with this unusual combination of sweet and savoryJ.

Thiruvadhirai Poduthuval/thoran or kootu is a side dish that is served alsong with Kali. Every household has their own way of preparing it. Some prepare like how it like a dry curry. Some prepare like a kootu and still others prepare something like a Sambar with 5 or 7 different vegetables

 I am posting the way my mother prepares it. A special vegetable called Kaavathu is an important part of this thoran. It does not matter how much you add, even a very small piece of it would do. But according to mom, kaavathu is important. But if you don’t find it in your neighborhood, use the other vegetables and prepare this thoran.

 What you’ll need

1. Pumpkin – 1.5 cup, cut into medium sized cubes
2. Broad Beans/Avarakkai – 8 Nos, cut into 1inch pieces
3. Green Peas – 1/2 cup
4. Kaavathu – ½ cup, cut into cubes
5. Fresh scraped coconut – ¼ cup
6. Green Chilly – 1 or 2
7. Salt to taste
8. Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp

For tempering

1. Coconut oil – 1 tbsp
2. Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp
3. Urad Dal – ½ tsp
4.  Curry Leaves – 8 to 10 leaves, torn

Method

1. Wash all the vegetables well.
2. Toss the vegetables with salt and turmeric powder and place them in a steamer and cook till the vegetables are done. (If you do not have a steamer, place the vegetables in a vessel, toss with turmeric and salt and cook in a pressure cooker for one whistle. Do not add water to the vegetables)
3. Once the vegetables are done, remove and allow to cool.
4. In the meanwhile, grind the coconut and green chilly into a coarse paste without adding water.
5. Heat a Kadai with coconut oil, add mustard seeds, once they splutter add the urad dal.
6. After the dal become golden, add the curry leaves and cooked vegetables and mix carefully, taking care not to break the pieces. Let everything get heated up well, i.e for about 4 to 5 minutes.
7. Finally add the crushed coconut and green chillies and mix carefully. Remove from heat after 3 to 4 minutes.

Thiruvadhirai Poduthuval is ready.