Malayalam New Year.....

Today is Vishu - Kerala new year. A new year hearalds for Malayaless......

Our VishuKani.....

 I have blogged about Vishu  here.

But what I will share with you today is the recipe for "Kaalan" - a regular item in a Kerala Sadya. This recipe is courtesy Pheno's grandmom

Ingredients
Yam
Curd (1-2 cups)
To Grind
1/2 Coconut
Green Chills
Jeera - 1-2 tbsp
Rice Flour(1 tbsp)

Tadka
Mustard
Jeera
Curry Leaf
Pepper
Grated Coconut 1-2 tbsp

1. Pressure cook Yam with salt and slightly Mash it
2. In the meantime Grind all ingredients under "To Graid" Together.
3. Add the ground paste to the mashed yam and cook it together for max of 5 mins
4. Once it cools down, Add curd to this. The purpose od adding curd is to adjust the sourness. So ad the amount of curd accordingly
5. Mix it well and add the "Tadka"to it

This version of Kaaln is called "Kurukku Kaalan" as its almost thickish Gravy.

Linking this to  AtoZ challenge - M is for Malayalam New Year.....
 

The First Glimpse of the season....

I realize, I hvnt shared the pic of 'Vishu Kani' this year! Heres a glimpse of it...

Now wondering how this links up to the prompt of the day "Season"? Cause "Vishu" is the spring festival of Kerala - This occasion signifies the sun's transit into the Meda Raasi (first zodiac sign) according to Indian astrological calculations, and represents the vernal equinox(ref Wiki). It marks the beginning of Malayalam calendar. N u start the year with a glimpse of "Vishu Kani"....

Linking this to May Photo a day contest - for the prompt "seasons"

Happy Vishu!

N heres a glimpse of our 'Vishu Kani'!If you want to know more about 'Vishu Kani' ~~ Jump over to this link ~~ it does describe in detail abt Vishu and what a 'Vishnu Kani' is typically adorned with!

Two interesting observations abt 'Vishu Kani'

>> 'Vishu' is also the 'Harvest Festival' of Kerala ~~ so obviously the 'Vishu Kani' will be brimming with the 'produces' from the fields. So in keeping with the tradition(Thou I live in a concrete Jungle far far away from the fields), the urli even today is filled upto the brim with all kinds of veggies n fruits(K I know oranges n grapes arent really found in kerala!) but jus that instead of picking them from the field one pays thru the nose (Anybody wanna guess how much that half dried up jack fruit costs in B'lore market!)

The Yellow flowers that you will see v. generously scattered around(look around the small mirror to the Right hand side of the pic) is locally called 'Konna'. Now I dono whats the significance of this flower in 'Vishu Kani' ~~ but many hardcore mallus will tell u that 'vishu Kani' is incomplete without a bunch of 'Konna'. I did try googling up to find the reason but dint find any except that its the 'State Flower of Kerala'(!) This again surprises me as I have hardly seen it growing in bunches anywhere in kerala and (beat this) if it werent for the hue-n-cry made on Vishu day, I wouldnt even know that this flower exists! Somebody help me iwth this story plz?

Linking this to abc Wednesday N is for New Year(n Vishu is New Year in Malayalam calendar)

Happy Vishu :-)

Happy Vishu to all dear n near ones... Heres a quick glance of my Vishkani.... This time thnx to the 'Ways of Nature' it was 100% hubbs effort.....

The Dusk And....



The Dawn......



Hey Here comes my 100th post........!!!

Wowo!!! Celebration Time!!!........

Ha atlast after what 3 + years I hv hit my 100th post....poof nota big deal u say!!! Huh Like I care.... I enjoyed every bit of it... It kinda capures ma life.... started it off when my daddy just passed away (hmmm a way to lash out my pent up sorrow??? I donno...) to the happily-married-Newly-Weds to Now(how do I define Now??)......... Ha lets hope this space continues to grow, to capture happier memories n possibly some time in remote future antics of a little one(No am not pregnnat if u thinking that.... But nothing stops me from wishful thinking :-D; A blog coming v soon on this) .......

N all the dedication that this space so rightly deserves is already been done a few days back here! So here is wishing this beautiful space a big Thank You and happier times!!


N what a better time than this to get my first blogging award.... Swarm U rock girl! Am so v gald to have met u in this space...... U made my day :)

N now onto other updates....


On the Vishu that was..... I did manage to wake up at an unearthly hour of 4 in morn.....Thnx to an issue that cropped up at office... they decided to wake me up and well that ensured that my VishuKani went off without a hitch ....c the silver lining behind the cloud :) But that meant that the first thing I saw wasnt lords face but the damn time on my mobile n then the walls as I half-blindly made my way into pooja room :)

My VishuKani.....Nothing impressive u say... Hv a heart! I atleast mad ethe effort :)

Ah Ok now in all fairness lemme thank my hubbs for getting the day thru without a hitch! Me being me woke up to the N no. of things that we gotta buy for Vishkanni at 8 the previous night when it was raining cats n dogs in Blore!! Panicky calls made to home, to hubbs..... But yeap he being the price charming knew more than to trust his wifey in all this n had picked it all up by afternoon (Of course the not-so-nice part of him decided to not to tell me this n give me a few maddening moments.... grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr)


Now on theq upmost on many peoples minds......what did cook :-Dt... I managed (ofcourse with hubbs help) to dish out a sambar, olan, Uperi(Veggie stir Fry) n a payasam.... How did they taste u say? Well I rest my case.... Either of us werent any worst post the lunch :)


So how is the weekend been treating U? I had a good ladies-only time with a dear friend after ages....... Ha at times stepping out minus men is a pleasure :). N then came back home to do a vent-out session of something that is been a bother for some time..... Thank You U donno what a relief it was:)

So here is to a gr8 sunday(Hubbs is not at home n am just gonna laze around.... no cooking, no bathing, no nothing......the best way to spend a holiday!) and a happy week ahead!! N B4 I say good bye a Q 4 u - whats the most imp event coming on this weeK :-D

Wishing You All A Very Happy Vishu!

N for those of you who donno what vishu is ... Hop on here.... Its the Malayalam New Year!

N ha this new year is special.... Special cause its our first one at our first home (Like there are many homes which is gonna follow) and more special cause its the first one in which I play(Yeah Yeah 'Play' is the keyword) the role of 'Stree' @ Home...... Well all these years I could afford to catch a few more winks of sleep while my mom would get the Vishu-Kanikanal ready.... But but this time being left to our own devices lets see how I fare! Well for now am excited... excited like a kid who is got a new game to play :-D

                                             A pic of one of the previous VishuKani

Here is wishing you all a very happy, prosperous New year and please pray that atleast this year seems my one fervent wish coming thru (No q's entertained :-D)

N ofcourse the song that best captures the spirit!