Varalakshmi Vratam Vantalu / Sravana Sukravaram Prasadam / Naivedyam

Varalakshmi Vratam falls on the second friday of the Sravanam Masam. It is widely performed by the married ladies all across South India for their husband's long life and for riches to the family. This year Varalakshmi Vratam falls on 28 August.

Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped throughout this holy month of Sravana in the form of Ashtalakshmis Aadi Lakshmi, Dhanya Lakshmi, Dhairya Lakshmi, Gaja Lakshmi, Santana Lakshmi, Vijaya Lakshmi, Vidya Lakshmi and Dhana Lakshmi. For any pooja bhakti is the main element but a lot of preparation go into this pooja.  

Apart for Pooja, 3,5,7,9 or 12 different naivedyam / prasadam will be made. It is completely depends on you on how many prasadam varieties you can make and offer. If you want to offer 9 varieties here is the list Boorelu, Garelu, Paravannam, chakkara pongali,  Pulihora, miriyala pongali, plain rice with pappu (Plain Dal/Tomato Dal/ Yellow Cucumber Dal/ Mango Dal/ Green Sorrel Dal), daddojanam, Aratikaya Bajji.

Boorelu	Garelu	Paravannam
Chakkara Pongali	Pulihora	Miriyala Pongali
Pappu	Daddojanam	Aratikaya Bajji

Curd Rice / Daddojanam - South Indian Rice Item

We South Indians can't end our meals without curd rice. In everyday meals, we just mix curd with rice and eat it with a pickle but when I make as an offering to God, specially on festival days I follow this recipe. 

You can beat the summer heat with this yummy curd rice. Some people also add pomegranate to this recipe but curd rice just with tempering and no fruit and vegetable also tastes heavenly.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Raw Rice

2 cups of Water

3 tablespoons Milk

1 cup Thick Curd

Salt to taste

3 tablespoons chopped Carrot

1 tablespoon Ghee

10 Cashewnuts

To Temper

2 teaspoons Ghee

1/4 teaspoon Mustard Seeds

1/2  teaspoon Urad dal

2-3 Green Chillies

1/2 inch Ginger 

1 Sprig Curry leaves

1. Pressure cook rice with 2 cups of water for 4 whistles. Let it cool, then mash the rice. Add milk, curd and salt. Mix it well.

2. Chop green chilli to small circles and chop ginger to small pieces. In a small pan, add 2-3 teaspoons of ghee , mustard, urad dal, saute for till dal turns to light brown. Then add green chilli, ginger and curry leaves. Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add this to curd rice. Chop carrot to small pieces. Add this to curd rice. Mix it well.

3. In a small pan, add a tablespoon of ghee, and cashews. Saute it till cashews turn to golden brown. Add this to curd rice. You don't have to follow this step in case you don't want to add cashews. Mix it well.  

4. Yummy,  heavenly delicious curd rice. Add water if required to make more smooth. Adjust salt accordingly. Have it with any Indian pickle.

Tamarind Rice - Andhra Pulihora

Happy Ugadi  and Sri Rama Navami!!!! 

On Ugadi we make Ugadi Pachadi and Sri Rama Navami  we make Panakam and Vadapappu. 

Click on the links for recipes :

Ugadi Pachadi

Panakam & Vadapappu

Paravannam

Lemon Rice

On all festive day along with main prasadam  we also make few traditional recipes on this day like Paravannam, Pulihora. Nimmakaya Pulihora (Lemon Rice ) and Chintapandu Pulihora (Tamarind Rice) are the varieties which we normally make.  Pulihora actually means Tamarind Rice (Puli means Tamarind) and also known as Andhra Pulihora. This is tangy and sweet. 

This Andhra Tamarind Rice (Chinatapandu Pulihora) is a very common preparation in our house. We can eat Pulihora almost everydady. This tastes more good the next day.

Ingredients

1 1/2cup Basmati Rice

1 lemon sized Tamarind

3 teaspoon of Oil

1 teaspoon Channa Dal

1 teaspoon Urad Dal

1/4 teaspoon Cumin Seeds

1/4 teaspoon Mustard seeds

2 tablespoon Groundnuts

1/2 inch Ginger Piece

2-3 Green chillies

2-3 Red Chillies

1 sprig Curry Leaves

1 1/2 teaspoon Salt

1//4 teaspoon Turmeric Powder

1 big pinch hing / Asafoetida 

Directions

1. Boil tamarind with 1 cup of water for 10 minutes and let it cool. Pressure cook rice with 3 cups of water for 3 whistles. Spread the rice on a wide plate or a bowl and let it cool. Squeeze out and discard tamarind.

2. Heat Oil in a pan, add Channa Dal, Urad Dal, Cumin Seeds, Mustard and ground nuts, saute till dals turn golden brown, add green chillies, red chillies, curry leaves and hing. Saute for 2 minutes. Add tamarind pulp.

3. Let it boil. Add Salt and turmeric powder. Boil it till oil oozes out. Mix it in between.

4. Add this to rice and mix it well with a big spoon. 

5. Very tasty, tangy andhra's traditional rice item. 

Carrot Rice

A quick. flavourful and nutritious rice item. It is best suited for kids and is healthy too.

I make it quite frequently for my kids lunch boxes and they just love it.

Carrot Rice is sweet because of carrots and ghee and bit spicy too because of the cinnamon, cloves and cardamoms.   

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup Basmati Rice

1 cup Grated Carrot

1/4 cup Sliced Onion

2 tablespoons Ghee

1 Cinnamom Stick

2 Cloves

4 Peppercorns

2 Cardamoms 

2 1/2 cups of Water

Salt as needed

Directions

1. Wash and keep rice in water for 10 mins. Drain the water and keep it aside. Heat a pressure pan with ghee, add cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns and cardamom. Saute for a min. Add sliced onion. Saute till onion turns traslucent. Add grated carrot, saute for a min. 

2. Add water,rice and salt. Mix it well, close it with the lid and pressure cook it for 2 whistles.( If you are not using pressure pan, transfer this into a pressure cooker and cook it for 2 whistles).

3. A very tasty lunch box recipe for kids. Try it.

Vegetable Fried Rice - Indo Chinese Style

Many of us order this from a Indo chinese menu. I always used to wonder what is the difference between Indian veg fried rice and chinese fried rice. In chinese fried rice they add sauces,spring onion and celery  and is a bit sweet.  In Indian version of vegetable fried rice they add pepper, anise or ginger to make to more spicy and is without sauces. 

In my recipe I am taking the goodness of both the versions and made my own of this Indo Chinese Fried Rice. In restaurants, they normally make it with leftover rice and tastes more tasty but at home I don't making it that way. 

2 cups Basmati Rice

3 cups of Water

1/4 cup finely chopped Carrot

1/4 cup finely chopped Bell Pepper

1/4 cup finely chopped Beans

1/4 cup Green Peas

1/4 cup sweet corn kernels

1/4 cup finely chopped Spring Onion + 2 tablespoons to garnish

3 teaspoons Salt

 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce

1 tablespoon Sweet Chilli Sauce

1 tablespoon Tomato Ketchup

4 teaspoons Oil

1/2 teaspoon Black pepper powder

1. In a wide pan, saute rice in 2 teaspoons of oil for 2-3 minutes. Transfer this into a bowl, add water and 2 teaspoons salt. Cover it and bring to boil. Rice gets cooked in 10-12 minutes. Mix it every 3-4 minutes.Don't overcook the rice. Keep the rice aside to cool.

2. Finely chop carrots, beans, bell pepper and cabbage. Heat the same wide bowl, add 2 teaspoons of oil, add chopped carrots, beans, bell pepper and cabbage. Saute every 5 sec for a minute. Add green peas and corn kernels. Saute for a minute. Add soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, tomato ketup and black pepper powder saute for a minute.

3. Then add spring onion and rice and mix it. Cook it for 2 minutes.

4. Garnish it with spring onion and serve it hot with veg manchurian or any other Indo chinese side dish.