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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Varalakshmi Nombu/ Vratham

Courtery - google

One of my reader had asked me to post about this festival here.
After Aadi maasam all festivals will start. Varalakshmi Nombu /Vratham / Vrat is a festival  observed in India. Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped on this day. Ladies decorate the kalasam with silver idol of lakshmi (Called Mukawada in Kannada) with a coconut , new saree, kolams(rangoli) and jewels. They fill the pot with rice, dal, money and beatle leaves. The pooja is performed in the morning. The procedures are slightly different in all states. This festival is observed by married women if only the ancestors were following. Otherwise they do not do nombu and just do Lakshmi pooja. Like before marraige in mom's place they will celebrate but at in laws place they don't follow it and vice versa. 9 yards saree is worn on any special occasions by Tamil Brahmins or Iyer.

Lord Ganesh pooja is performed first then followed by Goddess Lakshmi.

You can start decorating the house today itself with Madi. So early morning its easy to perform the pooja.

Evening kumkum with fruits, sweets and bangles are offered to the neighbours.

We don't celebrate this but my sister-inlaws house they do. So to blog I took some information from her. Thanks akka.

Coming to Recipes

Many varieties of dishes are prepared on this day.
(Click on the name for recipes)

Ullandu Kozhakatai - scroll down for recipe
Pooranam Kozhakatai - scroll down for recipe
Payasam
Paruppu Vadai
Vella Appam
Sundal
Panagam
Kalanda Sadam
White Rice
Sambar
Rasam
Poriyal
Pachadi

On all festivals cooking is done without Onion and Garlic. To know about any other festival click here.

I am giving recipe for

Pooranam Kozhakattai(Sweet Steamed Dumplings)

Ingredients
Rice flour - 2 cups
Water - As required
Oil - 1 tspn
Fresh Grated Coconut - 2 cups
Powdered Jaggery - 1 cup(As per choice of yours)
Salt a pinch

Preparation method
Filling
In a Kadai, heat the jaggery with little water. Once its dissolved and becoming thick, add grated coconut and mix well.
Once it becomes thick off the stove. Let it cool.

Dumpling
In a wide bowl, boil little water with a tspn of oil and a pinch of salt.
Then reduce flame and slowly add rice flour stir continuously until it thick.
Now once the dough is cooked for 5mins. Allow it to cool a bit and with oily hand make a soft dough out of it.
Take a big lemon size and spread like you do for puris. Stuff a tspn or more in the center and close it with water. So its almost crescent shape.

Do same with the rest of them and Steam for 10-15mins in Steamer or Idli cooker.

Ullandu Kozhakattai

Follow same procedure stated above for the dough.

Filling
Ullandu/Urad Dal - 3/4 cup
Kadala Paruppu/Channa Dal - 1/2 cup
Red Chilli - 2 nos(As per your taste)

Grind this to fine paste in blender or mixie.

Then in a Kadai, add oil, mustard, hing, curry leaves, dry red chillis saute for a minute.
Now add the grounded mixture, salt and mix well. Cook till the raw smell leaves. If required add little oil.

Now when done fill the dumplings and steam it in Idli cooker for 10-12 mins.

Offer Neivedyam to God and enjoy it.

Click here for detailed Kozhakattai recipe.

The next festival for us is on Aug 24th Avani Avittam click here for details.

Happy Varamahalakshmi Festival to all those celebrating.

18 comments:

Jeyashris Kitchen on August 19, 2010 at 5:05 PM said...

thats quite useful post for beginners. we do varalakshmi pooja tomorrow.

Rachana on August 19, 2010 at 6:46 PM said...

A very helpful post! Happy Varalakshmi!

Priya Suresh on August 19, 2010 at 7:24 PM said...

Happy varalakshmi viratham dear..

GEETHA ACHAL on August 19, 2010 at 7:35 PM said...

Thanks for sharing the information with this....Thanks a lot dear....

notyet100 on August 19, 2010 at 7:51 PM said...

thanks for the info

Lav on August 19, 2010 at 9:26 PM said...

Wonderful info !! Celebrating it too :) Happy nombu to you !!

Lavanya

www.lavsblog.com

Preethi Ram on August 19, 2010 at 11:03 PM said...

Hey sara,

Thanks for the kozhukattai dear,
really was searching for it...

Happy varalakshmi nombu dear....

Satya on August 19, 2010 at 11:53 PM said...

very informative post ...thanks for sharing such delicious recipes ...

Satya
http://www.superyummyrecipes.com

Guna's kitchen on August 20, 2010 at 12:00 AM said...

wow!! dats great.. very sweet of u dear.. thnx for sharing inforamtion with us.. really very helpful dear

Unknown on August 20, 2010 at 12:40 AM said...

Thanks for the detailed info dear. Love the dumpling recipe :)

Ms Hetal Yagnik on August 20, 2010 at 6:58 PM said...

dear saraswathi

thank you very much for your prompt reply and recepies.

keep sharing all dis

thanks

with love
regards

Hetal vishwanathan

Raks on August 24, 2010 at 1:06 PM said...

Nice post,sure will be useful for many!

Priya Sreeram on August 12, 2011 at 9:07 PM said...

lovely post !

Anonymous said...

homely recipies like thay veedu.

Anonymous said...

hi i do varalaskmi pooja.i just want to know that is 2 womens do pooja .one keep amman on kalasam and other one keep it in a bowl with amman is this a right way to do .please help me.

Saraswathi Iyer on October 13, 2011 at 12:26 AM said...

Hi, Its according to your own family custom. please check from your family member for your tradition and follow it.

Fairy Garden on August 26, 2015 at 3:21 PM said...

Both are right way to do. In my SIL house it is done by keeping kalasam while in our house it is the other way. It is just the way your ancestors used to follow.

Fairy Garden on August 26, 2015 at 3:23 PM said...

Saras really informative one. Hope never our rich tradition fades away.

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