Ganesh Chathurthi 2015 / Vinayaka Chathurthi 2015–Celebrations and Recipes

Happy Ganesh Chathurthi... Today (17.09.2015) is celebrated as Ganesh Chathurthi / Vinayaka Chathurthi and it is one of the most popular festivals in India.. Ganesh Chathurthi is celebrated as the birthday (rebirth) for Lord Ganesha.

A craft my daughter did in Nursery for Ganesh Chathurthi

Ellu Poorna Kozhukattai / Ellu Kozhukattai - Ganesh Chathurthi Recipes

There are so many varieties of kozhukkattai and today we are seeing another traditional and authentic made for Ganesh Chathurthi. The taste of this kozhukattai is awesome from the sesame and jaggery...

Oats Sweet Kozhukattai

Oats Kozhukkatai is a fusion variation I tried for Vinayaka Chathurthi.. I combined the very western oats into the very traditional and authentic kozhukkattai.. It was delicious... Kozhukkattai is a traditional sweet prepared during Vinayaka Chathurthi. Vinayaka Chathurthi is celebrated on the birthday of Lord Ganesha. You can click here to see the other forms of kozhukattai. This is my choice for O - International / Fusion

Ganesh Chathurthi Celebrations and Recipes

Today is Ganesh Chathurthi which is one of the most popular festivals in India.. It is celebrated in a lot of places and in many different ways.. Some other names of this great festivals are Vinayaka Chathurthi / Pillayar Chathurthi.. Ganesh Chathurthi is celebrated as the birthday (rebirth) for Lord Ganesha.

 

From wiki – “It is believed that Lord Ganesh bestows his presence on earth for all his devotees during this festival. It is the day Shiva declared his son Ganesha as superior to all the gods, barring Vishnu, Lakshmi, Shiva and Parvati. Ganesha is widely worshipped as the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune and traditionally invoked at the beginning of any new venture or at the start of travel. The festival, also known as Ganeshutsav ("festival of Ganesha") is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Bhaadrapada, starting on the shukla chaturthi (fourth day of the waxing moon period). The date usually falls between 19 August and 20 September. While celebrated all over India, it is most elaborate in Maharashtra, Gujarat, TamilNadu, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Outside India, it is celebrated widely in Nepal and by Hindus in the United States, Canada, Mauritius,^[1] Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Fiji, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana”
We celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi with pooja, arati and nivedhanam.. We try to incorporate all the favorite items of Lord Ganesha, much similar to what we do on our kid's birthday. Try to bring all the kid likes.. So we offer some delicious nivedhanam, offer arugam pul, offer erukam poo garland, coconut, banana.. etc

Our nivedhanam menu for this festival includes -
 

Vella Kozhukattai - http://nivedhanams.blogspot.in/2012/09/vella-kozhukattai.html

Uppu Kozhukattai - http://nivedhanams.blogspot.com/2013/09/uppu-kozhukattaiganesh-chathurthi.html,

Ellu poorna Kozhukattai – Recipe coming Soon,

 

 

Kozhukattai Sundal - http://nivedhanams.blogspot.in/2013/08/kozhukattai-sundal-ganesh-chathurthi.html

 

 

Paal kozhukattai - http://nivedhanams.blogspot.in/2013/08/paal-kozhukattai-ganesh-chathurthi.html

 

 

Kadalai parupu sundal - http://nivedhanams.blogspot.in/2013/07/kadalai-parupu-sundal.html

 

Ellu urundai - http://nivedhanams.blogspot.com/2013/09/ellu-urundai.html

 

 

Thayir pachadi - http://nivedhanams.blogspot.in/2013/04/cucumber-raitha-cucumber-pachadi.html

 

Medu Vadai - http://nivedhanams.blogspot.in/2012/11/medu-vadai.html

 

 

Parupu Payasam - http://nivedhanams.blogspot.in/2012/08/paruppu-payasam.html

 

 

Maha neivedhiyam, and recently I added

 

Oats kozhukattai 

 

Cornmeal kozhukattai - http://nivedhanams.blogspot.com/2013/09/cornmeal-kozhukattai.html ..

 

We buy a Lord Ganesha statue made with clay, decorate it, put erukam poo garland, do prayers with many flowers with the main one being arugam pul. After the festival, the statue is ready for Visarjan in 1,3,5,7 or 11 days.
Lord Ganesha is elephant headed and there is a very nice epic behind the same.. It is believed that Goddess Parvati created a statue with sandalwood and gave life to the statue and made it to a child. She made the child as a guard while she went to take bath. Lord Shiva (husband of Goddess Parvati) came at that time and the child did not know him and did not allow him to enter. Lord Shiva got angry and sent his boodhaganam (army men I guess!!) to defeat the child. But the child who was created by the goddess herself was very powerful enough to defeat the army with very little effort.. Then the devas and Lord Indra himself attacked the child but they too did not stand a chance. Then finally Lord Shiva beheaded the child. This enraged Parvati and she revealed her true self as Adi Shakti (supreme power) and she vowed to destroy the entire universe where her son was killed and will create another one.. The gods prostrated before her and Lord shiva promised to give life to the child. There was a hunt for the head and an elephant’s head was attached to the child and he got his life back. Lord Shiva named the child Ganesha (Gana Isha – lord of the Ganas). Lord Shiva also declared that all auspicious occasions and prayers will begin with the worship of Lord Ganesha..

This is for G – Miscellaneous
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 32

Uppu Kozhukattai–Ganesh Chathurthi Recipes (உப்பு கொழுக்கட்டை)

Uppu Kozhukattai is a traditional neivedhiyam prepared during Vinayaka Chathurthi. It is one of the difficult foods to prepare. Vinayaka Chathurthi is celebrated on the birthday of Lord Ganesha. There are many forms of kozhukattai and uppu kozhukattai is one of my favorites.

Ellu Urundai (எள்ளு உருண்டை)

Ellu urundai (ellu is sesame and urundai means balls or round) is a sweet made with sesame seeds and jaggery. It is a quick and tasty recipe. It is one of the foods prepared for Vinayaka Chathurthi for neivedhiyam. If it is difficult to shape the balls, use the help of little rice flour. So this for E and Regional Food..

Cornmeal Kozhukattai

A, B and now is C for which I chose to do this very interesting and very flavorful kozhukkattai.. Generally kozhukattai is made with rice flour and for a change I tried this different variety from here and it was so yummy!!! Loved this color and taste was perfect. I made the balls little smaller than the marble size. This one can be done very quickly except for the "making the balls" part. This one can be served warm or on room temperature..  This makes perfect for travel or lunchbox.. This is C for International / Fusion Cooking...

Paal Kozhukattai –Ganesh Chathurthi Recipes

Paal Kozhukattai is a popular and festive Tamil food. It is prepared during Vinayaka Chathurthi. It tastes delicious and one of the most time consuming dish and requires a lot of time and patience to do.

Kozhukattai Sundal –Ganesh Chathurthi Recipes

Kozhukattai sundal is a festive Tamil dish prepared during Vinayaka Chathurthi. It takes a lot of time to prepare the balls, but after the rice balls are done, it is a quick process. This is my dish for Vegan Thursdays!!

Kadalai Parupu Sundal

Festivals are fun.. especially when it involves meeting a lot of people. Navarathri – a festival for 9 days (Nav means 9 and rathiri means night) is one such festivals. Every evening we visit our friends and relatives house to see the golu (arrangement of dolls), sing songs (if we have to) and collect this lovely prasadam of Sundal. Each house might have a different sundal and it will be a lovely occasion to see all the cute dolls arranges and different decorations..Sundal can be served as light tiffin or snack. It is a very healthy dish and made mainly with lentils and beans. Great thing about sundal is that it can be served at room temperature, makes a great evening tiffin and is so healthy and delicious.. I loved this as a kid and my daughter loves this too!!!!

Cucumber Raitha / Cucumber Pachadi

A very tasty and refreshing dish which is best when served chill. This is very simple and quick to make and can be done in less than 10 minutes. This is a accompaniment for Biriyani, Pulao, Sambar rice or any spicy dish. Make sure that the curd is not sour and is fresh. This is the first dish, somebody asked me a recipe for.

Medu Vadai (மெது வடை)

Medu Vadai is a snack made with dals which tastes best when served hot with coconut chutney. It is also a festival food and We do it as a part of prasadam for Vinayaka Chathurthi and for many festivals. Medu Vadai is also a very famous breakfast and tiffin item in many South Indian hotels. You get many variations from this base batter like sambar vadai, rasam vadai, thayir vadai, masala vadai etc... All are yumm and great recipes by themselves..

Vella Kozhukattai (வெல்ல கொழுக்கட்டை)

Happy Vinayaka Chathurthi to all!! This is the first festival I am celebrating on my blog and what a better start than to start with Lord Ganesha's festival!!! Vella Kozhukattai is a traditional sweet prepared during Vinayaka Chathurthi. It is one of the difficult sweets to prepare. Vinayaka Chathurthi is celebrated on the birthday of Lord Ganesha. Main Ingredients for the Vella Kozhukattai are rice flour, Coconut and Jaggery. There are many forms of kozhukattai and vella kozhukattai is the main form. I love this preparation my mom makes and I am trying my best to recreate her magic!! Still trying!!

Ingredients for the maavu / dough:Rice Flour – 1 cup (No need to roast)
Water 1 ¼ cup
Salt – ½ tea spoon
Sesame Oil – 2 tea spoon
Ingredients for the pooranam / stuffing:
Coconut grated – 1 cup
Cardamom – 4
Jaggery – 1 ½ cups
Water – 3 table spoons
Method
For Maavu / dough:
Heat water in a pan
Add oil and salt to it
Once the water comes to a boil, add the rice flour and blend it well
Stir it continuously till it becomes into a soft dough
Remove from heat and close with a lid and keep aside
For Pooranam / stuffing:Heat the jaggery with water and stir occasionally
Stir well till all the jaggery is dissolved and starts to froth
Stir it well again for couple of more minutes. Ensure that the mixture has very little water.
Add the cardamom to it
Now add the grated coconut to this and mix well
Remove from heat and allow it to cool
For the Kozhukattai:
Coat the palms with little sesame oil to avoid the sticking
Make small balls of the maavu
Press the balls and make a small choppu
Keep the pooranam inside and seal the top making it look like a kozhukattai
Do the above for all the maavu and pooranam
Grease the Idli plates with little sesame oil
Keep these kozhukattai on it and steam cook it (without weight) for about 10-15 minutes
After 10 minutes, check status.
Kozhukattai is done when it looks like it has sweat.
Generally it takes about 10-15 minutes to be done in steaming
Remove the Kozhukattai from the idli plate and is ready!!

Sending this to Taste of the Tropics - Coconut hosted by me, Mireille's page, Pari's Show me your Dessert, Jagruti's I'm well stuffed, Srivalli's giveaway, FFNF in Archana's page, Priya's page, Sumi's Rice Event, Festival Food - Ganesh Chathurthi, South Indian Cooking#2, Anu's page, Steamed Foods, Priya's page, Gayathri's WTML, hosted by Smitha,  Celebrate - Indian Sweets

 

 

Paruppu Payasam

Payasam is a very authentic, simple and delicious desert. It is very tasty and authentic. It graces many traditional weddings and festivals. Payasam is milk, sweetener like sugar or jaggery, a protein or a starch base. This payasam is made with lentils and dals.