Thiruvathirai, a star, also a festival celebrated in the marghazi
masam [Dec-Jan] is a day when we celeberate the
thandavam (cosmic dance) performed my Lord Shiva. Another side to this day is that it is Lord Shiva’s star birthday today, the star being arudhra. The one thing i remember about Thiruvathirai is lunch menu, unfortunately it consists of items i dont like, well, these days i have a nibble and dont grunt as much. What is on the menu? Kali and Thalagam.. Sounds greek and latin, well, not really, but it is a wierd combination and mix of flavours.
masam [Dec-Jan] is a day when we celeberate the
thandavam (cosmic dance) performed my Lord Shiva. Another side to this day is that it is Lord Shiva’s star birthday today, the star being arudhra. The one thing i remember about Thiruvathirai is lunch menu, unfortunately it consists of items i dont like, well, these days i have a nibble and dont grunt as much. What is on the menu? Kali and Thalagam.. Sounds greek and latin, well, not really, but it is a wierd combination and mix of flavours.
We were in Delhi recently, and mom made Kali cos my uncle loves it and well, that was probably the 1st time i ate some on my own [with no one breathing down my neck] and actually liked it.. Hmm… so, today at lunch, i made myself some rotis and had a spoonful of kali as well 🙂 [Good girl i am]
Kali is a sweet dish, while Thalagam is a graavy made using 7/9/11/13/15 vegetables [something like a heavy duty sambar]
How are these made? For the 1st time, i paid attention to mom and gramma when they explained the dishes. So, here goes..
Kali
What you need-
Raw Rice – 1 cup
Mung dal – 1 tbsp
Jaggery- 3/4 th cup
Butter-2 tbsp
Water – 2 to 3 cups
Coconut- 1 tbsp grated
Cashewnuts- fried in ghee
How to make Kali-
1. Wash and dry the rice
2. Dry roast the rice and daal till the rice turns light golden.
3. Grind to a coarse powder or finely [depending on your preference]
4. In a kadai, add 2 cups of water to the jaggery and let it come to a boil. When it does, run it through a sieve to make sure there were no dust or foreign particles in the jaggery
5. To this liquid, add the rice – daal and coconut. Keep stirring and add water if you feel the mixture is too thick. Like Sooji upma, the rice will absorb the water, so dont worry if it looks runny.
6. Stir for a good 15- 20mins till the rice cooks and starts releasing ghee around the corner.
7. Sprinkle the fried cashewnuts and serve.
Thalagam
What you need-
Vegetables of your choice- Today gramma used 15 veggies- Carrots, yellow pumpkin, beans, potato, sweet potato, arbi, butter beans, snake gourd, flat beans, string beans, brinjal, chow chow, raw banana and so many more…. [typically Indian veggies are used] – Chop them up into bite sized pieces.
Dry red chillies- 5 to 6 [depending on how spicy you like the dish]
Toor dal – 1tbsp
Rice- 1/2tbsp
Coconut – 1/2 cup grated
Black Sesame seeds- 2tsp
Tamarind- the Size of a small lemon
Gingely oil- 2tsp
Mustard seeds- 1tsp
Salt- to taste
How to make the Thalagam-
1. Just like you make sambar, soak the tamarind in a cup of warm water for 5 – 10 minutes , squeeze and set aside the tamarind juice.
2. In a pan, heat some oil, add the mustard seeds, allow to splutter and set aside.
3. In the pan, add some more oil and add the toor daal, red chillies, rice, coconut and sesame seeds. Saute them till they all turn light brown colour and then grind to a fine powder.
4. In the pressure cooker put all the chopped vegetables, tamarind juice, some salt and cook till they are tender.
5. Now add the ground powder, and water if required. Mix and allow to cook well.
Note: The mix should not be too runny or light, it will be like a gravy/koottu.
