Pongalo'13!

For the past 20+ years, it had been the same festival, the same native village similar celebration style, the same relatives & cousins gang........but it never got a little less joy nor a trace of boredom.... Yes being Tamilian its our practice to celebrate Thai Thirunaal, the Harvest festival or Pongal in a bigger way with the whole lot of the family :)!

Just an hour back, I am back to the city with a simple 7 hour travel, yet reliving and longing for the trip once more!!
Let me start the story with the sweet I made accidentally on the occasion! Its Corn Halwa :)....

Will update this same post with the preparation steps for the Halwa along with the sweeter memories :) ...aww!! I am hurrying to my office now!!

Pineapple Halwa!

Presenting you here, the prevalent sweet of our country - Halwa/Kesari!!

Here its bundled with an extra essence for the taste buds..yes! fresh pineapple slices that blend with hot ghee to brace the flavour.

Ingredients :

Rava/ Sooji  - 1 cup
Pineapple Pieces  - 1 cup
Milk/Water - 2 cups
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Ghee - 2 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Nuts - Cashews/Almonds - your choice :) unlimited!

Preparatory method:

• In a non stick pan dry roast the rava until it turns golden brown and aromatic. Allow it to cool down in a plate.
•  Heat milk or water in the pan, add pineapple and sugar.
• Add 1tbsp  ghee to it along with Cardamom powder. Let it boil until the pineapple bits are cooked. It would take up to 10 minutes.
• Its time to add the roasted rava in the pineapple mix, pour it slowly and stir well so that no lumps are formed.
• Let it all get cooked together for a couple of minutes with continuous mixing and at last add the remaining ghee ..close your eyes! feel the aroma..yes that is the super sensor to check if our Kesari is ready to devour ;)

Lets now check the reason I had brought in a Buddha here (in the decoration & the context too!)

Pineapple had been a bizarre fruit for me right from childhood. The thorny skin & the toughness to peal it was really challenging every time as I start with a knife! Later the taste put me in crazy shoes that I never found the process irritating. It is for the yellow color & the juicy fruit that drove me.
Buddha says "Look within, thou art the Buddha - Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without."
The surprising factor is that only the crown/ top leaf of the fruit is enough for planting...So my buddies! Invest your weaknesses and cultivate your strength out of it!! - Oh at this point I feel like being Buddha !!
This is the lesson I got from this little fruit which is a fortune puller and  has served as a symbol of hospitality and warm welcome!! The pineapple is placed in homes to bring wealth luck, excellent fortune and gambling luck for the Chinese.

Thanks to my Samsung Galaxy smart phone which helped me photograph on the fly, as my family was happily awaiting to empty the bowl (with 20% patience ;)). I agree to the point - Food photography is really tricky for a foodie like me! Too much self control is needed you know ;)!!

Kaju Katli !!

 

Landing right here with my lent camera.. thank you brother :) I am getting inspired by you & I guess you gonna rate my photographs, making it an easy learning curve!!

Made the kaju kathlis with tips and tricks that google gave me....Mom and me in the kitchen packed with lots of weapons arranged in front of us... Boof!! it started... Still cherishing the day!!

Started loving food photography!! Visually I am eating again & My stomach feels so good too!!

 

 Will post the Preparation procedure here very soon!!

The Cylindrical  and Diya shaped Katlis are around the corner.... Help yourselves ;)

Corn Spinach Au-Gratin!!

 Here comes the Foodie in me :)

My first trial being the cheesy Italian dish - Au gratin ...awww!!

And my dear-photographer-brother, who takes snaps for me & at times lending me his camera to make a naive kid shoot her petty stuff ..Oh man im starting to learn u know ;)!!

Special thanks to Nithi akka for her 4thsense cooking blog!! She is so sweet & so is her blog... One would not need food, while surfing her blog..Truly tongue tickling as her caption says :)

Travel with me as I have so much to post, pardon me for the "lazy me" part ;)