Karthigai Pori/ Karthigai Nel Pori/ Sweetened Puffed Paddy

Karthigai pori is a traditional sweet dish made with ‘Nel Pori’ and jaggery. It is a practice to offer Pori to God on some special occasions, poojas, etc,  in Tamil Nadu and Kerala  But Karthigai Pori  is a special Neivedyam (நைவேத்யம்) usually made on Thiru Karthigai Deepam festival.  Nel pori is nothing but puffed paddy  and is specially prepared by the Pori vendors  during the month of  “Kiruthigai”. Almost all the shops will have a stock of it since people buy it to make a sweet to offer Lord Muruga.

Karthigai Pori Urundai, Nel pori Urundai, Karthigai Appam, etc, are also made on this Karthigai festival. The traditional recipe for “Karthigai Pori” calls for a simple recipe and does not involve the complicated procedure of preparing this sweet in the form of balls. In fact, it gets  a different name if made in the form of balls i.e. Karthigai Pori Urundai. It is very simple to make but delicious to eat  since the pori is  combined  with jaggery, coconut and  porikadalai with the flavour of cardamom and ginger powder.  This recipe is not only for Deepam festival  but  can also be prepared as a healthy snack for kids coming home from school. 

Ingredients:

• Nel pori – 2 cups
• Roasted gram (Porikadalai/Pottukkadalai) – ½ cup
• Coconut (cut into small pieces) – ½  cup
• Jaggery (Pagu vellam)-1/4  cup
• Water – 3 tbsp
• Cardamom powder – 1 tsp
• Dry ginger powder – 1 tsp
• Ghee – 1 tsp

Method:

1. Clean the  Pori by spreading it on a big plate (தாம்பாளத் தட்டு) and picking out paddy skin and stones. Keep the cleaned pori aside.
2. In a kadai, add ghee and fry the coconut pieces till you get aroma and keep it aside.
3. In a wide mouthed kadai, melt jaggery in water  until the jaggery syrup forms a soft ball consistency.
4. Now add fried coconut, roasted gram, cardamom and dry ginger powder and mix well.
5. Switch off the fire and add pori to this mixture and mix  everything  well.
6. Transfer this mixture to a bowl and offer to Lord Karthikeya along with other Bhakshanams!

Note:

• You can also try to make Pori Urundai following the same recipe  by dusting your hands with rice flour when the mixture is hot!
• Pori kadalai/Pottukadalai added in this mixture should be crispy.
• The quantity of coconut and Pori kadalai can be varied as per our choice/ availability.

Tags: Karthigai Deepam Recipe, Nel Pori Urundai recipe, Aval pori urundai recipe, Kathigai Pori recipe, Traditional recipe for Karthigai Deepam, Traditional Karthigai Pori recipe, Karthigai Pori sweet recipe, Thiru Karthigai Deepam recipes, How to make Karthigai Pori at home?, How to prepare Karthigai Pori?

Read more ...

Dry Fruits Appam/ Dry Fruits Kuzhi Appam/ Dry Fruits Kuzhi Paniyaram

This is my 50^th post and hence I want to commemorate the occasion with a sweet recipe. Since Karthigai Deepam is nearing, I got the opportunity to combine both, presenting you with a sweet that is prepared for the festival. For Karthigai Deepam festival, we usually prepare Karthigai Appam, Karthigai Pori and vada to offer Lord Muruga. In down south areas especially in Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, etc, they prepare varieties of Kolukattais also for Neivedyam.

Today, I tried  Appam with Dry Fruits for a change and it came out really well. It doesn’t need elaborate preparation like soaking and it is healthy too for kids since we add all nuts and dried fruits.

Here is the recipe for Dry Fruits Appam!

Ingredients:

• Wheat flour – ½ cup
• Rice flour – ½ cup
• Jaggery – ½ cup
• Coconut (grated) – 3 tbsp
• Cardamom powder – 1 tbsp
• Ghee for frying
• Cashew, Almond (badam), Pista, Dates (ground paste) – ½ cup
• Milk – ¼ cup

 Method:

1. Grind cashew, badam , pista and dates  to a fine paste adding milk now and then and transfer it to a mixing bowl.
2. Melt jaggery in ½ cup water, strain the impurities and keep it aside.
3. Add wheat flour, rice flour, coconut and cardamom powder to the ground paste and mix everything well by adding jaggery syrup. Bring the batter to idli batter consistency.
4. Heat a non-stick paniyarakkal and pour a tsp of ghee in each hole.
5. Take a ladleful of batter and pour into each hole.
6. Cook in simmer until the appam gets cooked on both sides by flipping it on to the other side too.

Your  soft, healthy appams are ready for Pooja to offer “Lord Muruga” as Neivedyam!

Note:

• You can replace rice flour with maida also.
• If you don’t prefer adding ghee, you can go for any cooking oil but the real taste of dry fruits can be enjoyed only when it is combined with ghee.
• You can reduce the jaggery amount if you feel so since we are adding dates also.

Tags: Karthigai Deepam Recipe, Karthigai Appam recipe, Dry Fruits Kuzhi Paniyaram, Traditional recipe for Karthigai, Karthigai sweet recipe, Thiru Karthigai Deepam recipes

Read more ...