Last Friday was Karadayar Nombu. Thanks to Bollywood, its North-Indian cousin, Karwa Chauth is much more popular. Karadayar Nombu typically falls at the cusp of tamil month of Maasi and Panguni and can fall at any time during the day - be it the dead of the night or right during the middle of the day. Thankfully, this year the Gods were smiling and it was right in the morning.
For me, the best part of the Nombu is the prasadam. Sweet (vella) adai is made as the offering for this nombu, and I wonder, why we don’t make this on other days! To compliment the sweet adai, a savory (Kaara) adai is also usually prepared, and as I had family over for dinner I made pidi kozhukattai with Rosematta rice as well.
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Chakkarai Pongal (Sweet Pongal) is a rice-dal based sweet dish, that is more of a snack than a dessert. It is made of rice similar to the payasam, but has the consistency of khichdi and is made using jaggery. Venn Pongal (White Pongal) has the same basic ingredient as the sweet pongal, but is its savory partner. Venn Pongal is a very popular tiffin/snack in South India. Of all the dishes that I know (or rather I can think of as I am typing this), Venn & Chakkari Pongal are two dishes that go well as a pair - a sweet one to balance the savory one.
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Like most desis, I love chaat - the quintessential street food in India. Street food (or fast food, for that matter) is seldom healthy, although always mouth-watering. When I chanced upon Raaga’s Kala chana chaat, the recipe was definitely healthy and sounded yummy, too.
I adapted the recipe based on the vegetables and spices that was available at hand, like
- adding peas and corn (I love it for the crunch)
- adding boiled potatoes and a pinch of chaat masala a la aloo-channa chaat
- omitting the onions (I can’t handle raw-onions)
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When I got married, and moved to the US as a new bride, my mom insisted that no matter where I am, there a few pandikai (festivals in tamil) that I should never miss. She staunchly believed that by celebrating these festivals, we carry forward our tradition and culture. Living in a faraway land, I guess that is the best way to preserve your identity and also teach / pass it on to the next generation. Even though, I don’t go the whole nine yards, I try to stick to the tradition as much as possible. To think that a few years ago, if someone said that I would be following all these traditions, I would have scoffed at them. But now, I never fail to celebrate Pongal, Karadaiyar Nombu, Gokulastami, Vinayagar Chathurthi etc. I guess age & experience can really change one 
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As much as I love eating junkies like the bondas & bajjis, I hate deep-frying. The stench of burnt oil in the house, the oily slick that forms on the cooking range (and on the microwave that sits right on top of the range) - cleaning is a nightmare after a deep-frying session. Well, this labor day weekend, my husband and I made lofty plans of visiting the Lassen Volcanic National Park, then Napa Valley, then Mendocino - but everything fell through and we ended up doing nothing. On Saturday when we got totally bored lazing around in the house, we decided to bring out our camp stove, set it up in the backyard and make bajji & toast corn on the cob. This way, there is no oil stench and clean up is also not very difficult. Once we had a plan in place, we set about executing it to perfection. To make it a little more interesting, I threw in Semiya Kesari (Kesari is also known as Sojji).
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The first thing that comes to mind when I hear “Thengai Mangai Pattani Sundal” (Coconut Raw-mango Green-peas sundal), as a Madras-born (yes I still refuse to call it Chennai :)), is Marina Beach. The sine quo non of any Madras visit, Marina Beach never fails to bring up a smile on my face. Early morning joggers, kids playing cricket, friends hanging out, couples trying to catch some private moments and of course, small-time vendors trying to sell an assorted range of items from milagai bajji to toy watches - Marina is always buzzling with activity or should I say, drama? If you visit Marina in the evening, you will see hoards of vendors selling this sundal, masala kadalai (spiced groundnuts), oil-dripping milagai(chilli) bajji in paper packs (pottalam, for those who know tamil).
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One of my favorite cooks on the Food Network channel is Giada De Laurentiis. Most of her recipes are easy to make at home with little prep work. Also she prepares a lot of vegetarian dishes on her show “Everyday Italian”. I have learnt quite a lot of tricks and Italian recipes, thanks to her. The dish that I made today has got nothing to do with Italian, but I saw Giada cooking this and decided to make this with the ingredients that I had at home.
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