Navratri also called as Dasara, meaning ‘ten days’, becomes dasara in popular parlance. The Navaratri festival or ‘nine day festival’ becomes ‘ten day festival’ with the addition of the last day, Vijayadashami which is its culmination. On all these ten days, the various forms of Mother Mahisasura-mardini (Durga) are worshipped with fervour and devotion
In Southern states of Tamil Nadu and to a lesser extent in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, the festival of Navrathri is called Kolu or Navratri Golu, where women set up decorated planks in a corner of the house and decorating it with dolls which are collected over the years.As per belief the concept of arranging these Navrathri dolls on the plank is to depict that Goddess Mahishasuramardini is sitting in her Kolu, prior to the slaying of the demon Mahishasura. Arranging Navrathri Kolu is also an event in itself it means inviting neighbors, friends and other relatives to visit your home and view the Kolu decorated. Pleasantries and small gifts are exchanged amongst women generally women exchange coconuts, cloths and sweets amongst themselves. Sumangali (married) women also exchange bags containing a small mirror, turmeric, comb, beetle leaves with supari.
Sundals are very popular among Navratri recipes/Golu Recipes as various varities of sundals are made everyday for Neyveidhyam and the same are distriubuted to the friends, relatives and neighbours who are invited to see the Golu. This special post is dedicated to Navaratri Recipes especially sundals. The recipes for various sundals are given below.
 | Chickpeas Sundal This is one of the common sundal that will be prepared by all the devotees on the auspicious occasion of Navarathri. Its a great snack which is loved by all and its good for health too. |
 | Peas Mango Sundal Peas Mango sundal is very famous in chennai beaches. This is also a famous sundal during Navarathri. |
 | Gramdhal Sundal Its a quick sundal recipe as its preparation time is less compared to other sundal recipes. We don't need to soak this dhal for preparation. |
 | Black eyed beans (Karamani) Sundal It's yet another variety of sundal, which is very good for health. The method of preparation of this sundal is very easy, as we just need to pressure cook it and add the required spices. |
 | Peanut Sundal Peanut sundal is something which i started making recently and it turn out to be very good. Now my kids take this sundal atleast once a week as a snack to the office. Why should we eat junk during the tea time when we have tastier yet healthier dishes are available ? |
 | Moong Dhal (Payatham Paruppu) Sundal Some people call this as 'Kosumalli". A handfull of moong dhal is added to the vegetables curries like carrot, cabbage,etc. Here, it has a direct focus for sundal. It's also one of the very easy sundal recipe, as we don't need to soak this dhal and hence the preparation time is very less. |
 | Green Gram Sweet Sundal Enough of salt & spice sundal. Let's make the sweet sundal for today. This is the sweeter version of Green Gram dhal sundal. |
 | Green Gramdhal Sundal It's yet another variety of sundal made using Green gramdhal. |
 | Sweet Puttu It's one of the sweet recipe made using Navarathri. I make this on Fridays during Navarathri. It requires relatively more time, cumbersome process and more patience, but it's taste is awesome. This is a traditional dish made using Rice Flour. |
 | Rawa Appam As its name suggest, its made using Rawa. Its relatively easier to make compared to the appam made using Rice flour. The taste is also equally good. We are adding the sugar in the Rawa appam instead of Jaggery as we add in the Rice flour appam. |
 | Appam Sweet appam or Vella appam is a popular dish in tamil nadu which is made not only for Navarathri, but for many festivals for Neyvedhyam. |
 | Aval Puttu Its a sweet neyvedhyam, we prepare for Krishna Jayanthi. But you can also make the same for Navarathri. Its very easy compared to Rice Flour Puttu |
 | Vadai Vadai is a wonderful snack, which can also be used for neyvedhyam for almost all the festivals. Its crispy and yummy. |
 | Mixed Dhal Sweet Sundal Its a sweet sundal made using mixed dhal. |
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Vendhaya Keerai is a healthy greens and we can make many different dishes using this keerai. I have tried Thuvaran with vendhaya keerai. Try this and let me know your comments!
Ingredients:
| Vendhaya Keerai(Fenugeek Leaves) | 1 bunch |
| Red Chilli | 1 |
| Moong Dal | 3 tablespoon |
| Turmeric | 1 teaspoon |
| Salt | To Taste |
| Sugar | 1/2 teaspoon |
| Mustard Seeds | 1 teaspoon |
| Urdal | 1 teaspoon |
| Oil | 1 teaspoon |
Method:
- Remove the leaves from vendhaya keerai and finely chop the keerai and clean the leaves and keep it aside
- Take the moong dal in a pan and add water and cook it. The dal should be cooked and at the same time it should not be smashed. The cooked dal should not stick with each other
- Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add urdhal and fry till it turns golden brown color and add broken red chillies and fry for a while
- To this add the cleaned keerai and allow the keerai to cook. Dont add any water.
- To this add salt, sugar and turmeric powder and allow the spinach to cook completely
- Finally add the cooked dal and mix well
- The yummy Vendhaya keerai thuvaran is ready to serve.
A pickle made using Vadu Mangai or Mavadu (tiny baby tender mango) is very popular in tamil nadu. Unlike other pickle Mavadu pickle is little watery. The mavadu water is the mixture of salt, spice and the tender mango extract (over a period of time) gives an awesome taste and flavour. I can eat only curd rice for a day if i have Mavadu
This is a seasonal product. You will get Mavadu only in March-April. The preparation of this pickle is very simple and quick.
Ingredients:
Vadumangaai 1 pakka (8 cups - Refer the picture
for exact measurement for a cupSalt 1/2 cup (powdered salt) Chilli Powder 50 grams Turmeric powder 1 teaspoon Gingelly Oil 2 tablespoon Mustard seeds 1/2 handfull
- Method:
- Clean the vadumangaai and keep it aside in a vessel. I would recommend to clean the vadumangaai with a cloth. If you clean it using the water, then make sure that it is completely dry before you start the further processing. If its wet then it well get rotten soon.
- To this add turmeric powder, oil and salt and shake the mangoes well for the mixture to mix with the vadumangaai and keep it for a day
- Grind mustard seeds to powder and mix it with the red chilli powder and add these to the vadumangaai.
- Shake the mangoes (or using the laddle) well for the mixture to mix with the vadumangaai
- Keep the mixture for 5-6 days and pickle itself produce water. We should not add any water. Twice a day (morning & evening) stir the vadumangai for the uniform spread of the mixture. Once you see the water (usually after 4-5 days) you can stop the stirring.
- Now the delicious vadumangaai is ready to serve
Gokulashtami (Sri Krishna Jayanthi) celebrates with great pomp and show, the birth of Lord Krishna who was born more than 5000 years ago in the 28th year of Dwapur Yug. It is one of the most celebrated festivals for Hindus not only in India but also, all over the world. Janmashtami is about the joy, people all over the world feel for their beloved Lord Krishna. Gokulashtami (Sri Krishna Jayanthi) falls on 8th day after Avani Avittam function. Normally on this auspicious occassion people will fast from the morning and during the sunset, they will do pooja for Lord Krishna by offering lots of sweets and neivedhyams. Butter is favourite for Lord krishna and hence people will offer milk, curd, buter, Aval, fruits and some more sweets to God on this special day. During Krishna's childhood, he is fond of butter and he will steal the butter from pots which will spill out in the floor and when he walks, it forms a nice palm prints. So keeping this in mind, the devotees will draw small footprints from the entrance of house to the pooja room. 
On the evening during the sunset, devotees will do pooja for Lord Krishna and offer the Lord with butter,fruits,vella seedai, Cocunut Seedai , Uppu Seedai, Appam, Thattai,Aval and some more delicious foods.
Gokulashtami (Sri Krishna Jayanthi) Recipes:
Gokulashtami (Sri Krishna Jayanthi) Recipes:
There are many north indian recipes available using Methi. I found Methi in the vegetable shop today. The tender & greenish Methi attracted me and I brought a bunch of it. Then i started thinking what to make using this leaves and finally decided to make a Sambar. It came out very well. I used the conventional way of making the sambar. I preferred this way as i feel the aroma and the taste are very good instead of using the sambar powder.
Ingredients:
| Tamarind | 1 lemon size |
| Methi Leaves | 1 Cup |
| Baby Onions | 1 Cup |
| Salt | To Taste |
| Turmeric | a pinch |
| Coriander Leaves | few |
| Hing | a Pinch |
| Thur dal | 1/2 Cup |
For Grinding:
For Seasoning:
Method:
| Red chillies | 8 |
| Coriander Seeds | 3 teaspoon |
| Channa dal | 3 teaspoon |
| Oil | 2 teaspoon |
For Seasoning:
| Mustard Seeds | 1 teaspoon |
| Curry Leaves | few |
| Oil | 1 teaspoon |
Method:
- Pressure cook Thur dal and smash it once cooked and keep it aside.
- Soak tamarind in water for 5 minutes and extract the juice.
- Heat oil in the pan, add red chillies, coriander seeds and channa dal and fry till the dal turns golden brown clolor.
- Grind the above fried ingredients in a mixer to a fine paste
- Heat the oil in the pan, and when the oil is hot add the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds starts to sputter, add curry leaves and fry for a second.
- Add the baby onions and fry for 2 minutes.
- When the onions are fried, add methi leaves and mix well. Add some water and allow the methi and onion to cook completely. (Approximately 10 minutes in low to medium flame)
- Once its cooked, add the tamarind extract and salt and let the mixture boils till the raw smell of the tamarind goes off.
- Add the ground paste and stir well and allow the mixture to boil.
- Now add smashed dal and stir well.
- Garnish with coriander leaves. Add a table spoon of Ghee (optional).
- Now the Methi sambar is ready to serve with white rice.
