Dasara, Kolu, and Paal Payasam

DASARA, KOLU, & PAAL PAYASAM

What better way to celebrate the victory of Sri Chamundeswari over

the demon Mahishasura and his retinue, than Dasara! According to the legend, the war lasted for nine days and victory prevailed on the tenth day - the Vijaya Dasami day. It is considered auspicious to start any venture on this day for its glorious success.

Mother Goddess is worshipped on all the ten days with great fervor. It is also a dolls festival and children and women get busy with Kolu or Bombe Koorisodu. The various types of dolls made of mud are show cased on nine steps constructed for the purpose. This is to illuminate the fact that the diverse creations are all made up of the one and the same element.

Animals, fish and birds are usually arranged on the first step from the ground, and then human beings and the avataras follow, culminating in the Divine form of the Goddess on the ninth or the highest step, indicating the evolution of creation.

The picture alongside shows a Nala Gowri puppet. These puppets are life size, an can be assembled in a variety of postures, and dressed up in different costumes.

Married women (Suvasinis) and young girls (Baalaas) are considered as the Goddess personified. They are invited and honoured with taamboolaas (Betel leaves, areca nuts, kumkum and turmeric powder, coconuts and flowers) as a mark of reverence. They are even treated to a grand feast at least on one day, if not on all the ten days.

Every day a special dish is offered to the deity during the pooja. Sakkarai Pongal, Ven Pongal, Curd rice, Tamarind Rice, and different types of payasams are prepared for the purpose. Sundal is prepared and offered in the evenings and it is distributed to the visitors who come to view the kolu.

Here is the recipe for Paal Payasam which I learnt from my athai (aunt) - who used to celebrate Navaratri with great religious fervour.

PAAL PAYASAM
Paal Payasam is a rice and milk based porridge like sweet, cooked a in heavy bottomed bronze vessel called Urli (see picture below). Rice is cooked in milk on slow fire for a long time until it reaches the creamy and right consistency.

We can achieve more or less the same result by using a pressure cooker which is less time consuming and demanding less attention.
INGREDIENTS:
Rice – ½ cup

Milk - 3 cups
Sugar – ¾ cup
Cardamom – 4
Saffron – a few strands
Almonds – 8
METHOD:
1. Soak saffron in a tablesppon of warm milk and keep it aside.
2. Soak almonds in warm water, peel and coarsely crush and keep aside.
3. Dry roast rice until it acquires a reddish colour.
4. Wash the roasted rice and add the milk and pressure cook until three whistles.
5. Leave it on low flame for five more minutes and turn off the flame.
6. When the pressure subsides, open the cooker and add sugar.
7. Cook without the lid until the sugar blends with the payasam.
8. Add saffron, powdered cardamom and crushed almonds.
Enjoy the creamy and rich Paal Payasam after offering it to the deity.

This post goes to Navaratri & Navaratri Festive Food Event hosted by our dear blog friend Lakshmi of Taste of Mysore.

Refreshing Watermelon Cucumber Juice

It's quite hot here in LA! So I bought Watermelons and baby Cucumbers and made a juice to beat the heat. I loved it totally. The subtle flavor of cucumber blends very well with the watermelon. Addition of ginger gives a little zing to the juice.
I am sending this recipe to Culinarty's Original Recipe event.

Ingredients:
Watermelon pieces-3 cups
Baby Cucumbers(not the bitter ones)-3(skin peeled)
Tomato-1(optional)
Ginger pieces-1 tsp
Salt-a pinch
Sugar-1.5 tbsp
Lime juice-1 tbsp

Method:
Blend everything together with little water to a smooth paste. Sieve through a strainer and enjoy this refreshing drink.

All For a Good Cause

Okay, we're famous!

Well, maybe we're not famous, but we are mentioned in a news article for a local homeless shelter. Friendship Shelter in Laguna Beach recently did some work, remodeling, among other things, their bathrooms. AB&R Plumbing did the plumbing! You can read the article under "It takes a village to build a bathroom". They liked our work so much that they have asked us to quote the bathroom on the floor above!

This was a pretty good job and it shows off the versatility of AB&R Plumbing. Most "service plumbers" aren't set up to do this kind of work. AB&R has an advantage; we have our parent company. New Technology Plumbing is a new construction commercial plumbing company. They have done many large commercial buildings, including the 8-building Broadcom complex for The Irvine Company. Check out their website to see what kind of work "the Hawgs" can do.

This means that, between AB&R and New Tech, we can handle anything from a clogged drain to new construction of your eight-story office building - and anything in between.

Now, off the subject of plumbing...

Have you watched Dancing With the Stars? My wife and I love this show and we Tivo and watch it faithfully. Between this and So You Think You Can Dance, we get a good "dance fix" from our TV for most of the year. If you have read any of my earlier blogs, you know that we are ballroom dancers, so it is a lot of fun to watch really good dancers dance.

Cloris Leachman has to go!

I loved a lot of the acting she did, but as a dancer she is a train wreck! Enough is enough! Some of the other dancers are really doing well but the fact that people keep voting her back every week is unfair. I think she should have gone in the first week, even if she did dance better than Kim Kardashian this week.

Let's hear your thoughts!