Green Gram/ Paasipayaru Sundal

For the second day of Blogging Marathon #34, it is a simple yet delicious sundal under evening snacks. My mom used to make sundal often for evening snacks. And I used to love this sundal. It is quite easy to make and I don't add onions in sundal. But if you like you can add a finely chopped onion while tempering. The boiling of the gram is the most important point while making this sundal. I usually cook it in a pan so that I will be able to see how much it has cooked. I stay away from pressure cooking as this sundal goes mushy very easily. During my hostel days, they used to give us this sundal on Thursday evening and they would serve some sugar along with it. At first I used to hate this combination but after some days started loving it. And even today when I prepare this sundal, I add generous helping of sugar along with the sundal and PK gives me a weird look. But who cares???

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Navrathri Day 6 - Nilakadalai Paruppu/ Peanuts Sundal

Though it is Navrathri's 8th day, I am posting the 6th day recipes. Morning I made Malai Laddu and Ven pongal and for evening, I made sundal with peanuts. Malai laddu is one of the sweets which gets so much praise in my home. Whoever I have served it with have liked it. My daughter is a great fan of malai laddu. I had lots of paneer at home, and when I was thinking about a sweet to prepare on Navrathri, I remembered this. I have made it with out the food colour so they turned out white in colour. I also shared it with our neighbour. Ven Pongal is also our family favourite. It is quite easy to make and makes a delicious breakfast. Add lots of cashewnuts for a finger licking experience...

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Navrathri Day5 - Beetroot Halwa

The fifth day has arrived and only 4 more days to go. For the fifth day of Navrathri I made beetroot halwa, Lemon rice for morning neivedhyam and White channa sundal with sesame spice paste for the evening. Yesterday as I visited my sister, I came home very tired and couldn't make any sweet for the evening neivedhyam. So made only the sundal. Today fortunately there was no power shut down and I was happy as I could do pooja with the lights on. 

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Navrathri Day 4 - Sweet Idiyappam

Yesterday was the fourth day of Navrathri and from the 4th day till 6th day Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped. Fortunately I got a lotus yesterday and it made a nice decoration to the kolam I drew before the Kalasam. For the morning I made Rava Laddu and Mandakki Oggarane, leaving the onions in oggarane as it was for neivedhyam. Evening it rained heavily and there was a power shut down. So it was completely dark inside the house and I couldn't take the snaps of the evening neivedhyam. I used two lamps to take the shot but was not quite satisfied. And the kalasam looked beautiful in the glow of the lamps lit. As a photographer, I couldn't resist taking a snap in that settings. So Goddess came into the camera. See how divine this looks. And I also deleted my morning snaps by mistake. When the power returned, I took the snaps of the evening neivedhyam. Due to lack of natural light, it may not be up to the mark. But something is better than nothing, Right? For the morning dishes I used my old photos as I had already posted the recipes.

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Navrathri Day 3 - Semiya Payasam

It is the third day of Navrathri festival and Sakti is worshipped on this day. Tomorrow it will be Goddess Lakshmi. For the final day of Sakti worship I made 4 dishes, two in the morning and two in the evening. For the sweet I made Semiya Payasam and for the variety rice I made Carrot Saadam. During evening I made Nei puttu and Paasiparuppu sundal. When I started my blogging I started it with Navrathri racipes. Now when I revisit my posts of the earlier days, I have a feeling that my photos are looking very bad. So when ever I get an opportunity, I need to go back and change the snaps. Today I did it with one post, Paasiparuppu Sundal. Celebrating Navrathri and sharing my dishes with you readers has been an awesome experience so far. Hope I complete this series with out any hurdles.

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Navarathri- Day 1 - White Channa Sundal and Puttu

Happy Navarathri To All My Readers

Yesterday was the start of the famous Indian festival navrathri. Navrathri means 9 nights and the festival is completed on the 10th day with Vijayadashami. I am not very good at telling stories but my mom used to tell us nice stories about navrathri. Goddess Sakti fights the evil rakshash Mahishasura for 9 days and victory comes on the 10th day. Durga is worshipped for the first three days, Lakshmi the next three and Saraswathi the final three. There is a tradition of keeping golu during the 9 days and I love to visit golu and see all the arrangements but personally I have never attempted at keeping golu. Every year I think of making golu but looking at all the wonderful golus around the city, I feel like I will not do justice. So every time I skip it and you can call me lazy.

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