Sri Rama Navami

Srirama navami is Lord Ram’s bday. It is celebrated grand both in my home town and my husband’s.  But after coming to Chennai everything have become so dull. There is no celebration spirit. But I don’t want to give up, I want my daughter to see and enjoy, like enjoyed my childhood. So I make sure I do all the routines my mom did.

 Its good to fast on this day and eat these vrat foods.

·         Panakam (Spiced diluted jaggery syrup)

·         Neer more (Spiced butter milk)

·         kosumbari ( carrot salad with soaked moong dal)

Panakam:

Ingredients :

·         Jaggery – ¼ cup

·         Water – 3 cups

·         Dried ginger powder / Chukku podi – ¼ tsp

·         Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp
·         Lemon Juice - 1 tsp

Method :

Heat kadai, add jaggery and water. Mix well. Let the jaggery melt. Switch off the stove. This step is purely to remove the dirt from jaggery if any. Strain the mixture.

Add dried ginger powder and cardamom powder and lemon juice. Now panakam is ready for neivedyam.

Neer More:

Ingredients :

·         Butter Milk – 3 cups (Or u can dilute curd with water and blend well)

·         Salt to taste

·         Asofitida – ¼ tsp

·         Curry leaves and coriander leaves finely chopped as much as needed

·         Ginger – 1 inch small piece

·         Green chili – 1

Method:

Grind ginger and Green chili into fine paste.

Mix salt, Asofitida, chopped leaves, ginger chili paste to the butter milk well.

Kosumbari:

Ingredients :

·         Carrot – 2

·         Moong dal – 1/2 cup

·         Cooking oil – 1 tsp

·         Mustard seeds – 1 tsp.

·         Green chili – 1 (Chopped finely)

·         Curry leaves – Few

·         Grated coconut – 2 tbsp

·         Salt to taste

·         Asofetida / Hing – ¼ tsp
·         Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp

Method:

Wash and soak Moong dal for an half an hour in warm water. Drain well.

Grate the carrots and keep it aside.

Heat a kadai, add oil , once heated, add mustard seeds and let it crackle.

Add curry leaves, chopped green chilies and grated coconut and mix it well.

Add salt and hing. Switch off the stove .Add the Moong dal and mix well. Squeeze lime .

Finally add the carrot and give a stir.