Nevri/karjikayi/karanji

Wish you all a very happy Ganesh chaturthi .

Read about how Gauri tadige/Vayna pooja and Ganesh chaturthi is celebrated in Konkani homes(I am very specific to how it is celebrated at my home, every one has their own method of celebrating it, which is going on from generations). This festival is one of the very popular festivals of Hindu calendar year. From the day we came to US, we terribly miss all the festivities here. So I try to celebrate few of the important festivals in a small way here.

The Ganesha idols are kept in only few homes who are following the traditions for generations now. At my parents’ home, we don’t have this tradition, but we follow Vayna pooja . At my in-laws’ home, we bring home the Ganesha idol, but we don’t follow Vayna pooja .

The Ganesha festival would start with the loud speakers playing all Ganesha songs on these days. Every place we could see the festivities going on. The songs, the procession in which idol was brought home, the pooja bells, the fire crackers going on would make these days very special. We all kids would enjoy going to see the idols and always had a competition going on to see who saw more idols :).

Anyway, this year, I made a simple spread, where I picked up few very important dishes that are cooked at my in-laws’ place. I wanted to create a small festival environment at home. I picked these because for my husband, these dishes are a part of the festival. Then we did a small pooja , we played sukhakarta dukhaharta song in the background.

The above picture shows, rice(with the tulsi/holy basil leaves), mooga mole randayi , rice- chana dal paays , dali thoy , modak , nevri , idlis . Traditionally, khotte or hittu – idlis cooked in jackfruit leaves are served on this day. Along with these idlis, fresh scraped coconut mixed with asafoetida water, coconut oil, ginger, green chilies, salt is served. While eating, these tasty coconut scrapings are mixed with powdered idli and savored by dipping it in the mooga mole randayi .

I am sending this to Lakshmi’s Ganesh festival event .

Ingredients: 1 cup maida Salt Oil for deep frying

Stuffing: 3/4 cup coconut 1/2 cup jaggery 1/2 tea spn cardamom powder 1 tea spn sesame seeds( til )

Method: Heat 2 tbl spns of oil and add it to maida . Mix it very well till all the maida gets the oil. Add salt and water to make it a very stiff dough. Keep aside the dough for around 1/2 an hour. Roast the sesame seeds lightly. Heat jaggery and coconut together till jaggery melts and forms a uniform mixture with coconut. Mix sesame seeds. Remove from fire and add cardamom powder. Mix well. Take small balls of the dough, roll it into rounds (do not make the covering too thick). On the left side, keep the stuffing as shown.

Fold the right side, and press down the edges.

Heat oil and deep fry the nevris .

Sukhakarta dukhaharta song(Jai dev Jai dev)

• Gajamukhane and other songs (Kannada) – Real player format
• Ganesh chaturthi and other devotional songs – Windows media streaming

A website on Ganesh Chaturthi, related information and eCards

Tandul – rice, chane dali – chana dal , paays – pudding also called as madagane , is one of the offerings I made for the Ganesh festival . Infact I had this on my to-do list for a long time now. Since it is one of the dishes made for the festival at my in-laws’ home, I finally prepared it. My aayi makes this pudding frequently for different festivals at home. On one particular pooja (we call it devakarya ), some rice vades – which are made soggy just to be paired with this pudding, are served with this. So while eating, you dip the vades in this paays and enjoy the combo. Ohh, this combination is just delicious. I didn’t have the patience of making vades , so I prepared this alone, without the combination of pays-vades

The traditional way is to soak rice for few hours, then grind it to a coarse or a smooth paste and then cook it with jaggery, cooked chana dal , coconut milk and cardamom. But these days people use either rice rava or rice flour to speed up cooking time. I like the rava/coarse paste version better because it gives a little body to the dish. The cooked chana dal that you bite into while having this pays , provides a very unique experience.

Ingredients: 1/2 cup rice 1/2 cup thick coconut milk(ready made) or milk from about 3/4 cup coconut 3-4 tbl spns jaggery(approx) 2 tbl spns chana dal 1 tea spn cashew pieces 1/2 tea spn cardamom powder

Method: Soak the rice for about 4-5 hrs. Grind it to a coarse paste by adding enough water. Cook chana dal and cashews in cooker with a little water. Dal should be completely cooked but should not be mashed. Heat the rice paste with enough water on medium flame. Keep mixing it with a spoon (if you stop mixing, the paste becomes lumps. So take care). When the mixture is cooked, (when it is cooked the color becomes slightly transparent) add jaggery, chana dal, cashews, and mix well. Cook till all jaggery gets melted and mixed with it. Add more water if necessary, and do not let the mixture become too thick. Add coconut milk and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Take off the heat and add cardamom powder. Mix well.

Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins

Home made coconut milk : Grind fresh/frozen coconut with a cup of water to a coarse paste. Sieve the paste and squeeze all the liquid off the particles. Again add little more water and repeat.