Vijaya Dashami – 28th September 2009

HAPPY DASARA

May joy and prosperity be on your way

……….forever

Vijaya Dashami is the last day of the dasara festival. “Vijaya” means victory, ‘Dashami‘ means 10th day, It is the day of celebration of victory. This is the day of victory of the Good over Evil. Vijaya Dashami is celebrated throughout India. It is also considered to be an auspicious day to begin new things in life.

In Southern India, the festival of Dasara which ends with Vijaya dashami commemorates the legend in which the Goddess Chamundeshwari or Mahishasura Mardini, vanquishes the demon Mahishasura, which took place in the city of Mysore in Karnataka.

In Northern India, the same 10-day festival commemorates the victory of Rama, prince of Ayodhya, over Ravana, the ruler of Lanka, who according to the Ramayana had abducted Sita Dev.

There isn’t any particular sweet dish which we make for Dasara. It is usually Gulab Jamun or Shavige Payasa. This year I decided to do something different. So I decided to try Badam Poori. I read many recipes on the internet, but didn’t have all the ingredients they had mentioned. So, I finally decided to try my own. Simple, easy and my 15 year old daughter who is a very picky eater, ate this for the first time, took the pictures for me and forced me to post the same. I have to mention, this is the first time I have ever tired something new and to my surprise was a super duper hit.

So, here comes the recipe for Badam Poori.

Ingredients for the dough:

1. 2 cups Maida (All purpose flour)
2. pinch of salt(adding salt brings the flavor)
3. 6 tsp oil( this is for mixing with the flour)
4. 1/2 tsp Badam food color

Ingredients for the Syrup:

1. 3 cups sugar
2. Water just so that the sugar dissolves
3. 1/2 tsp food color.
4. Cardamom powder

Method:

1. Heat the 6 tsp oil in a pan.
2. When its is hot, pour this on the flour.
3. Add salt, and the food color.
4. Mix the dough, just like chapathi dough
5. Make small round balls, roll this into a circle and fold into triangular shape.
6. In a pan, heat a large amount of oil and fry these.
7. In another vessel, bring the sugar to a boil, add food color to this as well. When the syrup becomes thick, turn off the gas, add cardamom.
8. Now, add the fried pooris in this syrup in batches, let them sit there for a minute or two until they absorb the syrup.
9. Put them in another tray, garnish with dessicated coconut, and any other chopped dried fruits you have.
10. I didn’t have Almonds, so used Cashews.

Serve when its hot or even cold.

Badnekayi(Eggplant) Instant Palya

When we were in Bijapur, one of our cooks used to make this vegetable along with Jolada rotti, of course when she was in a hurry. If not she used to make yennegayi. The eggplants we used to get in Bijapur are those small round ones. In my recipe here, I have used the purple huge eggplant which we get here.

Once all the chopping is done, the palya is ready in minutes. This is a good recipe to prepare when you’re in a hurry. Also, since this doesn’t have onion or garlic, its what I prepare on Thursday’s since we don’t eat onion or garlic on festival days as well as Thursday’s.

Ingredients:

1. 1 large eggplant
2. 2 green peppers
3. 2 potatoes
4. 2 tsp chilli powder
5. 2 tsp coriander powder
6. 2 tsp curry powder
7. 1 tsp Jeera
8. 1/2 tsp haldi
9. a pinch of hing

Method:

1. Chop all the 3 vegetables in equal sizes, so they cook evenly.
2. In a non stick vessel, add 4 tsp oil. When the oil is hot, add Jeera, haldi, and hing
3. Now add the Potatoes, fry them for a little while.
4. Next add the chilli powder, curry powder, and jeera powder.
5. Once they are mixed properly, add green pepper and eggplant.
6. Mix well, and cook for another few minutes until all the vegetables mix well.
7. Finally, I added 2 tsp of brown sugar. It has that spicy and a little sweet taste in the background. You can completely skip this.

Serve with either chapathi or poori.