karthikai deepam -- festival of lights and its recipes

KARTHIKAI DEEPAM---FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

Many festivals are celebrated at Arunachaleswarar temple in Tiruvannamalai throughout the year. Among them Karthigai Deepam is the most significant festival that is celebrated with pomp and gaiety atArunachaleswarar temple.In this year Karthikai Deepam falls on 2nd December,2017 .This Karthigai Deepam is celebrated as a ten day festival and it widely known as Karthigai Brahmotsavam.

The first day (23.11.2017) - Karthika Deepam festival begins with the hosting of the flag signifying the commencement of the festival also known as Dwajaroghanam. In the morning and night Lord Arunachaleswarar will be taken out on the silver vahana for procession. The Panchamurthis(Panchamurthigal) are also taken out in the procession. The Panchamurthigal are Lord Ganapathi, Lord Murugan, Lord Sandeswarar, Lord Arunachaleswarar and Goddess Parvathi.These processions are carried out on different vahanas after the Deeparadhana is done at the kalyana mandapam.

The second day (24.11.2017) - Karthigai Deepam festival commences with the Lord Panchamurthigal coming on Indira Vimanam the chariot of Lord Indira.

The third day (25.11.2017) - Karthigai Deepam festival the ceremony begins at night with the Lord Panchamurthigal coming in procession majestically on the Simha vahana, the chariot of lion.

On the fourth day (26.11.2017) of Karthikai Deepam the Lord Panchamurthigal comes in the procession that starts at night on the kamadhenu vahanam. The auspicious tree Karpaviruksha is also on the side of the lord. This tree is believed to grant all the wishes that the devotees seek without fail.

The fifth day (27.11.2017) - Karthikai Deepam festival begins at night. This procession on the silver rishaba vahanam is very appealing and splendid to witness. Lord Panchamurthigal goes on this vahana that is about 25 feet tall. A big umbrella with about 17 feet in diameter is carried along in the procession.

The sixth day (28.11.2017) - Karthigai Deepam festival commences with a night procession of Lord Panchamurthigal on the silver chariot that is beautifully crafted and simply imposing when it comes around the temple.

The seventh day (29.11.2017) of Karthikai Deepam festival Lord Panchamurthigal starts with the procession on the Maha ratham that is very huge and it almost occupies the full width of the road. This ratham is made of pure wood that is strong and rugged.

The eight day (30.11.2017) - Karthigai Deepam festival begins at night with the Lord Panchamurthigal going out on procession on the huge horse vahana. The speciality of this horse is that all the four legs of this horse are in the air and they do not touch the ground.

On the ninth day (1.12.2017) of Karthigai Deepam festival the devotees can witness Lord Panchamurthigal going out procession on the Kailasa Vahanam. This ceremony is mostly conducted on the ninth night.

The tenth day (2.12.2017) - Karthigai Deepam festival starts at around four o clock in the early hours and the Bharani Deepam is lit at the temple. In the evening the Mahadeepam is lit on the top of the hill at around six o clock. This is a very important ceremony during the Karthigai Deepam festival at Tiruvannamalai. Arunachaleswarar is said to be visually represented in the form of agni on the hill top. There is a very mammoth gathering on this day at the Arunachaleswarar temple to witness this glorious and sacred event. The night ceremony starts with Lord Periya nayagar going out procession on the Rishaba vahanam that is made of gold. This is another spectacular event at Arunachaleswar temple at Tiruvannamalai.

Theppal

Lord Chandrasekarar(3.12.2017),

Lord Parasakthi(4.12.2017),

Lord Subramaniar(5.12.2017)

goes in the boat and this is called Theppam, since it carried out in the tank.

Lord Arunachaleswarar goes procession round the hill, known as Girivalam or pradhiksahana. With this ceremony the Karthigai Deepam festival at Arunachaleswarar temple comes to a grand conclusion with the devotees taking back home some divine blessings and memories from this ancient holy city Tiruvannamalai.

Thanks to tiruvannamalai.in for the info

PEOPLE WILL START LAMPING IN THEIR HOUSE ONCE THE BHARANI DEEPAM IS LIGHTED AND do all the poojas at home.

Here are the few recipes for karthikai deepam

1. PAAL PAYASAM - please check in payasam section

2.MURUKKU

Ingredients:

rice flour-1 cup

urad dhal roasted dry powder-2 tbsp

hot oil -1 tbsp optional or butter

sesame seeds-1 to 2 tbsp

ajwain-1/2 to 1 tsp

salt as needed
oil for frying

Method:
Dry roast the urad dhal till the aroma comes and powder it.
Mix all the ingredients with enough water to make a dough. it should not be too hard or too watery like a chapathy dough.
Heat oil and same time grease the mold and fill the dough and squeese it in the oil for any shape muruku. Once it turns gold remove from fire. Once cooled you can store it in a airtight container.
note: quantity of urad dhal powder can be increased little bit but absorbs more oil in the murukku.

Nutritional Info:
Has high amount of energy and protein with traces of calcium.

3. NEIAPPAM

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup
Jaggery - 3/4 - 1 cup

Grated Coconut  - 4 tblsp

cardomam - 1
Cooking soda - 3 pinches
Salt - a pinch or two
ghee - As needed

Method:

soak rice for 3 to 4 hours and grind it to a paste. Make sure it is not watery. melt the jaggery in water and filter it to remove any impurities. Then mix it with rice batter and keep aside. when you are ready for frying or cooking the appam, add elachi powder, salt, cooking soda and grated coconut and mix it.

Heat paniaram pan and apply little ghee in it and then add the batter. Let it cook like paniaram, once done cooking turn it and cook other side also. cook it in a low flame by covering or uncovering.

once done you can store it in airtight container. 

PANIARAM TIPS:

• The rice batter can be grinded into rava like batter also which gives lite crunchy layer on the out and soft cooked layer inside.
• If you add more water while making jaggery syrup, then the batter may get watery, so be careful while melting the jaggery. In emergencies if your batter gets too watery, then add wheat flour to balance it.
• You can also add the jaggery as such to the batter without melting, but make sure it has no impurities.
• If you don't have paniyaram pan, heat about one or two inch of oil/ ghee in a kadai and use one laddle to spoon the batter. You can make only one at a time. 
• Grated coconut also is an important ingredient to get a soft paniyaram.You can grind along the rice too.
• You can add a mashed banana in this to get pillow soft paniyarams.
• Cooking soda helps in cooking the inside of the paniyarams and also helps in  softness.
• Be generous in adding ghee otherwise it may not get even browned. If you are guilty in adding a lot of ghee, then you can mix sesame oil and use generously.
• Stays as such even after cooled down.
• Use indolium or iron paniyaram pans for even and perfect browning.
• This needs no fermentation, still making the batter an hour or more prior is better and gives soft perfect paniarams.
• you can also add banana paste for that extra flavour.

Nutritional Info:

contains fat, carbohydrate,iron and miner elemnets and minerals.

4. PEANUT LADDOOS(kadalai urundai)

Ingredients:

ground nut-peeled and dry roasted- 1 1/2 cups

jaggery-1/2 cup

sukku podi a pinch or 1/2 tsp

rice flour or ghee for greasing

Method:

Dry roast the peanuts and remove the skins and split them half and keep aside. 

Add half cup water to jaggery in a pan and dissolve it and filter it to remove impurities. Add sukku powder and cook the jaggery for medium heat until they are in the correct consistency.

Take a little water in a small bowl. This is to check the consistency of the jaggery. Just add a few drops of nicely boiling jaggery into the water. If you could able to make it a hard ball,then switch off the flame. Otherwise allow it to boil till u reach the consistency. once done add the peanuts and mix it nicely. then romove it from heat and allow it to cool little. Then start making balls using ghee or rice flour as a grease in hand for avoiding the sticky jaggery in hand and for perfect balls. 

Even if get cools down in the last, don’t worry just keep the plate on the flame for few seconds and the jaggery will melt and u can make the balls.

store it in air tight container in a room temperature. otherwise sometimes it will absorb water in the environment and become sticky and that crunchiness will go off.

Nutritional Info:

It has proteins, fat (calories), iron and traces of calcium.

5. POHA(PUFFED RICE, AVAL) LADDOOS check for AVAL URUNDAI in sweets n puddings section

6. RAVA LADDOO check sweets rava laddu in recipe section

7. ULUNDU VADAI

Ingredients:

Whole urad dal 1 cup
Green chili 2-3 diced or cut thinly
Ginger a small piece (optional) chop into fine size
Salt as needed
Asafoetida 2 pinches
Curry leaves and coriander leaves- few
onion- chopped 1 medium size (optional)
Oil for deep frying

Method:

Soak the urad dal for an hour .
Drain the water completely.
Grind the urad dal. While grinding the vadais do not add too much of water as we normally add while grinding idli dosa batter. Just sprinkle water. Else the vadas will drink too much of oil. Use ice cold water, it gives fluffiness to the vada batter and also lessens the heat generated by the mixie or grinder.
Once the batter is done, take it out immediately from the grinder or mixie. Else the heat will make it harder.
Just before making add salt. Add curry leaves chopped onions, chopped green chillies, chopped ginger and asafoetida. If the batter is perfect you can use your hands too.
While making vadais keep a cup of water in a wide vessel .
Just wet your hands (before making each vadais) and take a medium ball sized batter in your hand and place it on the wet hands. Just pat the batter slightly and make a hole in the center.

Heat the oil in a pan.The oil should be hot, keep the flame in medium while cooking.
Just carefully slide the vadais in the batter and cook the vadas. Flip it over after 2 minutes and fry till golden brown.If the oil is not hot the vadais will drink more oil and if it is very hot the inside portion will not get cooked.  Drain it in a kitchen towel.
Repeat the same process for rest of the batter.
Enjoy hot, crispy vadais with coconut chutney and Sambar.

note:
If using mixie for grinding the urad dal use the pulse option .
For more quantity always use grinder else the heat generated while grinding in the mixie will not make the vadis fluffy.
Always grind the batter smoothly into a fine paste, else the vadais will become hard and rubbery.
Do not soak urad dal for more than 2 hours , else the vadais will drink too much of water.
If by any chance the batter turns watery just add a tblsp of rice flour.
Adding rice will give crispy vadais.
Just skip the onions in ulundu vada if you are making for poojas

Nutritional Info:
High in protein, carbohydrates and calories from fat.

8. PORI VURUNDAI

same as kadalai urundai recipe

Nutritional Info: 

high in carbohydrates and iron and calories

9. ADIRASAM check for adirasam recipe

10. POLI

Ingredients
For the dough
1 cup Maida
⅓ cup water (plus one or two tablespoon more)
2 tablespoon sesame oil
2 tablespoon vegetable oil

For Pooranam / stuffing
1 cup chana dal
1½ cup water
½ teaspoon cardamom powder
1 cup jaggery
¼ cup Vegetable oil or ghee for frying 

Method:
Mix the sesame oil, water and flour to make a sticky dough. Cover the dough with oil and allow it to rest for an hour. keep aside.
Soak the chana dal in water for an hour. Cook the soaked chana dal with 1 and ½ cup of water in a pressure cooker. Cook for 5 whistles on a medium flame. Remove from heat.
Drain and grind it along with jaggery and cardamom powder.
Transfer the ground mixture to a pan and fry for 5 minutes to take out the excess moisture. Set aside to cool.
Make small lime sized balls out of the mixture and set aside on a plate.
Apply oil generously to your hands and take a small dough and place it on a wax paper. Start patting the dough to form a circle. Place the pooranam / stuffing ball in the middle of the dough and start covering the dough by pinching in the top. Apply oil to your hands and start pressing the ball gently to spread. Gently keep pressing the dough to evenly spread and form a circle.
Set a griddle on heat on medium flame and place the poli and sprinkle some oil or ghee. Cook for a minute on each side.
Set aside on a plate to cool.

Nutritional Info:

High in calories, protein, fiber, sodium and miner minerals and elements.

11. MAAVILAKKU

Ingredients:

Raw Rice(Pacharisi) – 1 cup
Jaggery – 3/4 cup
Cardamom – 2
Ghee – 2 tsp
Gingelly Oil – 2 tsp

Method:

rinse the raw rice twice, and soak it in water for 1 hour. Drain water completely and then spread the raw rice in a soft towel and allow it to dry say for 30-45mins.It will be slightly moist only.Then transfer this to a mixer.

Grind it to a fine powder in a mixie in batches.Then sieve it. If you find small balls break and sieve it.
Sieve until you get rava like mixture.Add it to the next flour batch and grind it again. Now take sieved rice flour,jaggery and cardamom in a mixer and pulse it once or twice not more than that….this is to ensure even mixing.Transfer to mixng bowl and leave it aside for 10mins for the jaggery to slightly leave water.

When you press with your hands it will hold its shape….Start kneading…the moisture in your hands and the melted jaggery will give a soft smooth dough. Add gingelly oil at this stage and mix well. Roll it like a ball and transfer it to banana leaf.Using a tumbler slightly press to get a dent in the middle.Add ghee in the dent and lit the lamp as shown and offer to god as neiveidhyam.

Soft mavillaku ready to be served! Serve it along with coconut pieces, tastes yum!!

Nutritional Info
High in carbohydrates, energy and iron and fat.

12. SUNDAL check for sundal recipe section

13. MIXED RICE CHECK FOR rice section soon i will update it

HAPPY KARTHIKAI DEEPAM....
LET THE LIGHT BRING YOU ALL THE LIGHT AND BRIGHTNESS TO YOUR LIFE......