Akkaravadisal for Aadi Pooram and a New event Announcement - HLI (Carrot)

This is a rather long post covering two agendas : A festive celebration dish as well announcement of my new event for August - Healthy Lunchbox Ideas . Let's get on with the dish first:

Today is Aadi Pooram (or in correct Iyengar lingo : Thiru Aadi Pooram) - a festival to celebrate the power of Shakti in most South Indian, esp Iyer / Iyengar households in the holy month of Aadi (or Aashaad) in the Hindu Calendar .. Its also called Andal Thirunaal (or the birthday of Andal - she is a semi-god amongst pantheon of South Indian Gods ) - you can check out more details here. Although, I am a God fearing person, I generally don't attibute to too much religious fervour (esp those of the favour-asking-type poojas), but this time around, I was in the mood to re-visit my childhood days. Perhaps I am growing old - too fast, too soon ;-) ??!!

Paati (my maternal grandmom) used to dish out and pack in yummy and slurpy Akkaravadisal (a sweet rice based pudding) on this day for my lunchbox, and friends used to borrow (and finish) my lunch box even before I could look at this dish. She used to make this in a unique Vengala Paathram (vessel made of bell metal, perhaps) and that lifted the dish's taste several notches higher- my tribute to my loving paati through this dish, albeit with my non stick cutlery:-)

This goes to Priya's Bookmarked recipes and also to my own event : Indian Mithai Mela

Friends: Do check out a new event announcement at the end of this post !!

Prep time : 20 mins. Cooking time : 15 mins. Serves : 4

Ingredients to go:

• Raw rice - 1 cup
• Split Moong Dal - 1/4 cup
• Milk - 1 cup (I reqd slightly more)
• Jaggery - about the size of two lemons
• Ghee - 4 TBSP (split use)
• Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - 1/4 pinch (opt)
• Garnish : Cashew, Saffron, Raisins

Method:
1) Wash and soak rice and dal separately for 10 mins.
2) Drain and fry them in 2 TBSP of ghee for 3 - 4 mins till a nice aroma wafts out.
3) Cook rice, dal, milk and water in a pressure cooker for 4 whistles on slow heat.
4) Powder the jaggery. Dissolve in 1 cup of water and stir in continuously on low flame till 1 string syrup is obtained. Filter throught a cheese cloth/ fine mesh to remove any impurities from the jaggery. Cool the syrup to room temperature (very imp)
5) Mash up the mixture from the pressure cooker finely. Add this jaggery syrup into the mixture and mix lightly till it incorporates.
6) Now add the powdered cardamom, saffron.
7) Fry cashew and raisins in remainign ghee and pour over the simmered payasam. And voila ! there you have yummy and slurpy Akkaravadisal !
8) Serve hot or cold.

Please note : The consistency of this dish should be semi solid. If the end preparation is too solid (tightly packed), stir in few TBSP of warmed milk. This dish can be eaten for upto 4 - 5 days under refrigeration !

More like this:

• Moong Dal Kheer / Payathum Paruppu Payasam
• Quick Rice pudding
• Paal Payasam - Version 1 (Milk Kheer)
• Moong Dal Halwa

Now, to the event announcement :

My event - Healthy Lunchbox Ideas (HLI) is in its third edition now, and this month's theme is Carrots. Carrots are a super source of beta carotene and great for eyesight, along with providing nutrition and vitamins. So, put on your thinking hats to dish out super healthy recipes using Carrots as the main Ingredient.

For more information, do check out the link on HLI here and send in your healthy entries  to me  till August 31st. Non bloggers also may send in their recipes along with the pictures

My email ID - momchef77@gmail.com with the mail subject as HLI - Carrots

Just a quick recap of how you could send in your delicious and healthy entries :

1) Vegetarian entries allowed, although eggs may be used for baking (my personal choice would be if you can suggest egg substitutes too !)
2) Archived entries (max of 3) allowed as long as re-posted and linked to this event. Fresh entries most welcome. Both need to have the logo mandatory (Please attach the updated event Logo in this announcement)
3) Entries can be for Kids' snacks or lunchbox items or even after school bites / dinner options in steamed / grilled / tossed / stir fry methods for main course / side dishes / snacks. Deep fried entries not accepted, as the theme itself is "Healthy Lunchbox Ideas".

Looking forward to lip smacking healthy dishes from all my dear friends out there !

cheers
Kalyani