Aadi Velli Mini Festival Thali

The tamil month of Aadi (or Aashaad in the Lunar Calendar) is generally considered inauspicious to conduct marriages or other social ceremonies, and is rather dedicated to worship Goddess Lakshmi on all 4-5 Fridays of this month.  It is believed that the Goddess Shakthi doubles her power and worshipping her will help one to achieve what one needs. The Goddess will protect her devotees from all negative effects. Aadi Pooram is also celebrated during this month on the Pooram star (celestial star)

1st Aadi Friday dedicated for the Goddess of Wealth. 2nd Aadi Friday dedicated for the Goddess of AngalaAmman (a form of Kaali the Goddess), 3rd Aadi Friday for the Goddess of Courage and Health, 4th Aadi Friday for the Goddess of Relationship, 5th Aadi Friday for the Goddess of Overall Prosperity (which is the Varamahalakshmi festival).

An elaborate meal is planned on the last Friday of this month when the Varamahalakshmi festival is celebrated. But every Friday is also celebrated with mini festival Thaalis. Onion and garlic are not used, and so are some other vegetables like Okra, Brinjal (aubergine) and in some households even potato / beans / cauliflowers are not used.

Today, as part of the Combo Meal for BM Buffet is presented a small thali comprising the following dishes. Click on the link for recipe to each dish and enjoy the virtual feast J

• Plain Steamed Rice
• Paruppu (boiled Toor dal – tempered) – not in the pic
• Kosambari (cucumber raw salad)
• Kovakkai Curry (ivygourd dry curry)
• Arisi Kesari Pal Payasam (Rice in saffron flavoured milk pudding)
• Morkozhambu (Ashgourd in tempered yoghurt gravy) (replace the cucumber with Ivygourd)
• Paruppu Vadai (lentil deep fried fritters)
• Nellikai Ooruga (Amla pickle) – recipe soon :-)

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 56

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