Ananda Tandava,The Tao of Physics, and Thiruvadirai Kali

Ananda Tandava,The Tao of Physics, and Thiruvadirai Kali

The month of Margazhi (Tamil Calendar) or the Dhanur masa is dawn in Heaven, and the day breaks for its celestial inmates. Waking up the omnipresent Lord every morning by chanting the Suprabatha (Good morning!) is a very exhilarating experience for a staunch devotee. Since Margazhi is dawn to the Lord, praying and chanting during this month acquires greater religious fervour.

Lord Sri Narayana opens the doors of his abode Vaikunta for his devotees and blesses them on Vaikunta Ekadashi day. Similarly, on the day when the star Adhirai (or Arudhra) falls on the full moon day of the Margazhi Masam, Lord Shiva blesses his devotees with his blissful Cosmic Dance performance - the Dance which creates, sustains and destroys the entire universe. Thiruvadhirai is supposed to be the birth day of the Lord who is beyond births and deaths. Fritjof Capra draws a parallel between Shiva’s Ananda Tandava (Blissful dance) and the dance of the sub atomic particles in his book – The Tao of Physics, which was published in 1975. It explains the very faint line between modern physics and the age old mysticism. Therefore whether you are a scientist or a mystic, whether you are a theist or an atheist, Thiruvadirai is the day to celebrate Lord Shiva’s Cosmic Dance.

On Thiruvadirai day, we wake up early in the morning and offer our prayers to Lord Shiva. A sweet dish – Thiruvadirai Kali – is prepared and offered to the Lord along with Yezhu Kari Koottu, which is prepared with all the vegetables which are harvested during the season.

THIRUVADIRAI KALI
INGREDIENTS:
Rice – 1 cup
Jaggery – 1 cup
Cardamom – 4
Cashew nuts – 10
Raisins – a few
Ghee – 4 tbsps
METHOD:
1. Dry roast rice until it becomes pink in colour.
2. Dry grind the roasted rice till it becomes like fine semolina.
3. Dissolve jaggery in 3 cups of water and add 1 tbsp of ghee.
4. Bring the jaggery water to a boil, and add the roasted and broken rice.
5. Stir well and cook until it becomes a lump.
6. Add 3 tbsps of ghee and blend well.
7. Heat the remaining ghee in a ladle, and fry the cashew nuts to a golden colour.
8. Add the raisins and fry till they bloat, and add to the prepared Kali.
9. Mix in the cardamom powder and offer it to the Lord.

Relish the hot prasadam with a dollop of butter, and Yezhu Kari Koottu on a cold Margazhi morning. The recipe for Yezhu Kari Koottu is given here.

Lima Beans Pulao

I was tempted to try Indosungod's butter beans pulao. I thought butter beans and lima beans were different. I just figured out that they are one and the same. What I like about lima beans is it's buttery texture. It just melts in your mouth. I made some changes to the original recipe to suit my taste. It turned out very very tasty!

Ingredients:
Basmathi rice-1 cup
Frozen Lima beans(I used baby lima beans)-1/2 cup
Onions thinly sliced-1/2 cup
Green chilli(slit)-1
Finely minced garlic-3 pods
Oil-2 tbsp
Coriander leaves-to garnish
Salt

Whole spices:
Cloves-3
Cinnamon-2 inch stick
Bay leaf-1
Cardamom-2
Star Anise-1

Spice powders:
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Coriander powder-1 tsp
Kitchen king masala powder-1/2 tsp

Method:
Rinse the rice and soak it in 2 cups of water for 15 minutes.
Heat oil in a pan. Add whole spices. After a few seconds, add onions, garlic and green chilli. Fry till onions turn brown. Add spice powders, salt, and lima beans. Saute for 15 seconds. Transfer this mixture and rice(along with water) to rice cooker and cook till done. Check for salt.
Garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve hot with yogurt/raitha and chips.

Avare Kaalu Kurma

AVARE KAALU KURMA

It is raining Avare Kai in Bangalore! Pardon us for not providing the correct English name for Avare Kai. We tried net searching and found various names including field beans, lilva beans, hyacinth beans, navy beans and so on, but they seem to be used interchangeably with a number of varieties of beans! Avare Kai is called Mochai Kai in Tamil. The pods are removed, and the beans that are used in cooking are called Avare Kaalu or Mochai Kottai.

Most of us - Avare Kai Foodies - are eating, breathing and living Avare kai during this season. The flavoursome bean is grown around Bengalooru, and is ingrained in the food culture of Kannadigas since time unknown. As per legend, during his hunting expedition, a tired and hungry king was welcomed and served a meal of boiled beans by a poor old lady. Touched by the lady’s hospitality, the happy and contented king named the place after the delicious boiled beans as Benda-kaal-ooru literally meaning city of boiled beans. The present name of the metro city Bengalooru is believed to be the derivative of the above name. It was anglicized by the British to Bangalore, and has now again reverted to Bengalooru! Whether this is the real story of Bengalooru got its name is uncertain. Here is an interesting write up with other stories as well!

The yearly Avare Bele Mela, has commenced with all its star studded pomp and festivity. The entire venue at Bangalore's Sajjan Rao Circle, looks fresh and green, and the atmosphere is filled with the unique aroma of the beans. Sri Vasavi Condiments, is the shop which hosts the mela and offers hoards of huge varieties of eatables, sweet and savoury, prepared from avare kai. A true Avare Kai buff never chooses, but grabs all the varieties offered and craves for more!

Mother-in-law was a real Avare Kai fan and she would buy sacks full of them during her marketing stints. The old Kariappa after tending to the cows, would sit down with a mountain of Avare Kais in front of him, to remove the beans from the pods. We used the cooked beans in dosas, idlies, uppittus, rottis, sambars and usilis. Hituku Bele, literally meaning squeezed beans, is used to make a special dal. Avare Kaalu are soaked for about 6 to 10 hours, and then , each bean is squeezed out of its thin membraneous skin, one by one! Although it was a time consuming task, it was worth the wait for the delicacy prepared by my mother-in-law with great expertise.

Now a days we get Hituku bele or already squeezed beans in the horticultural societies. The fun of running behind and picking up the naughty lentils that leaped far, when squeezed out of their jackets is totally lost!

The Kurma below does not need Hituku bele, and can be made with just the Avare Kaalu. I will be sharing the recipe of Hituku bele dal as we make it in the next post!

AVARE KAALU KURMA
INGREDIENTS:
Avarekaalu – 2 cups
Curd – ½ cup
Salt – 2 tsps
Fresh Corriander leaves - 2 tbsp
Finely chopped tomatoes – optional for garnishing.
For Seasoning
Cooking oil – 2 tbsp
Finely chopped onion – ¼ cup
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Bengal gram dal – 1 tsp
Cashew nuts – 10
Curry leaves – a few
For Kurma Masala Paste
Grind the following ingredients to a fine paste:
Fresh grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Coriander seeds – 2 tbsps
Garlic – 4 pods
Fresh ginger – 1’’
Cloves – 6
Sambar powder – 1 tsp (or green chillies – 2)
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
Cashew nuts – 10
Soaked Poppy seeds – 1 tbsp (optional)

METHOD:
1. Boil avarekai until tender and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds.
3. When it splutters add Bengal gram dal and fry till golden in colour.
4. Add cashew nuts and roast till golden in colour.
5. Add the chopped onion and curry leaves and cook till the onion is glassy. .
6. Now add the ground kurma masala paste and fry it, until the oil separates out.
7. Add the cooked beans, a cup of water and salt and cook.
8. Blend in the curd and cook for a few more minutes.
9. Garnish with fresh coriander and finely chopped tomatoes.

Enjoy the hot kurma with poories, chapaties or ghee rice!

My children loved to carry ghee rice and avarekai kurma to the Drive-in theatre, and relished it as they watched the Hindi masala movies on the large screen. If it was Friday evening, then Drive-in was the favorite outing, as the movies changed every Friday! If it was Drive in it, then we had to carry Avarekaalu kurma and ghee rice. This habit had become a family "ritual" for almost a decade, until Drive-in was shut down to make way for a large Shopping Mall!

This post goes to Srivalli's My Legume Love Affair-7th helping. My Legume Love Affair was started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook.