Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday. 

Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday. 

Ingredients

• 2-4 papad (I used lijjat papad)
• 1 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup tomato, finely chopped
• 2 green chillies, chopped
• 2 tsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp chat masala powder
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Salt to taste
• Oil to fry papad

Instructions

• Fry papad in oil or also can microwave as per your wish and drain on a paper napkin.
• In a deep bowl mix in green chillies, coriander leaves, onion, tomato, lemon juice and salt.
• Place papad on a plate and before serving spread onion mixture and sprinkle chat masala and serve immediately or else the papads will turn moist.
• You can have them as a starter or with tea as per your choice.

 Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday. 

On the festive occasion of Dussehra, I send my greetings and best wishes to all my fellow bloggers “Happy Dusshera“ people………..

Yesterday my mom shared a lovely story of Kautsa, a young bramhin boy who insisted that his guru “Rishi Varatantu” accept Guru Dakshina, a fee for all the things he taught him.

While the teacher refused to accept any fees, the disciple was persistent. Finally Varatantu asked him to give him 140 million gold coins in return for the 14 sciences that he taught the young boy.

So Kautsa went to King Raghu, who was known for his generosity.

As luck would have it, the king had just spent his money donating to bramhins. So he asked for three days from Kautsa and left to ask for the coins from Lord Indra.

Indra in turn asked Kuber, the lord of wealth and asked him to rain gold coins on the Shanu and Aapati trees round King Raghu's city.

Sure enough it began raining gold coins, which King Raghu handed over to Kautsa who in turn offered to his teacher. Since the sage Varatantu had only asked for 140 million, he returned the rest to his disciple.

Kautsa returned the wealth to the people of Ayodhya on the day of, you guessed it, Dussehra. So the practice of distributing leaves of the Aapati trees has its roots in this legend. Wowwww just imagine 140 million gold coins and such an obedient student in this kalyug!!! Anyways “Happy Dusshera“once again J

 Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday. 

 Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday. 

‘Navratri’ is celebrated by Hindus, where the nine different forms of Goddess Durga are worshipped on nine days. Word ‘Navratri’ is a Sanskrit word, where ‘nav’ means nine and ‘ratri’ means night.

The festival is celebrated to worship the ‘Shakti’ (power) of Goddess Durga. The devotees during the festival observe a nine day fast and I feel so proud to share with you all that my mom and dad religiously follow this festival and they are one amongst who fast for nine days. Some people like my lovable maternal uncle (mama) don’t even have food for all the nine days and survive on just liquid still wondering how he manages.

Mom and Dad

Adarniya Mamaji

Navratri is mainly celebrated in the state of Gujarat. The traditional dance of ‘Garba’ is performed by the devotees in front of the Goddess. This year the festival begins on Wednesday and during the nine days of Navratri there is a custom of wearing different color dress Sari or churidhar followed mainly in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

The nine Navratri colors for 2011 are:

Pratipada - September 28, 2011 (Wednesday) - Blue 

Dwitiya/Tritiya - September 29 (Thursday) - Yellow

Chaturthi - September 30 (Friday) - Green

Panchami - October 1 (Saturday) - Grey

Sashti - October 2 (Sunday)  - Orange

Saptami - October 3 (Monday) - White

Ashtami - October 4 (Tuesday) - Red

Navami - October 5 (Wednesday) - Purple

Vijayadasami - October 6 (Thursday) -  Pink

During navratri our daily schedule starts Early in the morning after waking up, resolute for the way you want to pray for nine days. After bathing, daily worshiping is a must.

According to our family's custom, if you are doing Kalash Sthapana on the first day of the Navratri, then it would be done in the ABHIJINH MUHURAT. This year for Mumbai it was around 6.30 to 7.30am and we did around 7.00am.

On navami we do Kumari Pooja. However, in this matter Family's custom is more important. The days are fixed for Kumari Poojan and it depends upon the custom of family or clan, it can be done from sixth day till ninth day of Navratri.In Maa Durga's worshiping recitation of Durga Shaptshati is done in Navratri. It has 13 chapters. By reciting the Durga Saptashati, deep wishes can be fulfilled.

Devotees of lord Ram recite Ramayana also in Navaratri but we don’t do. And in end they do Aarti of Shri Ram and Seeta ji.

Devotees of Hanuman worship Shri Hanuman in Navratri by either reciting Sundarkand or Hanuman Chalisa.

And to conclude I would like to wish my fellow bloggers a very Happy Navratri.

May this navratri maa durga fulfill all your dreams and brings happiness in your life. This Navratri, may you be blessed with good fortune as long as Ganeshji’s trunk, wealth and prosperity as big as his stomach, happiness as sweet as his ladoos and may your trouble be as small as his mouse. May your life be filled with happiness on this pious festival of Navratri, Jai Mata Di...

Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday. 

Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday. 

Shankarpali is a renowned Maharashtrian sweet made during Diwali. Since my childhood I have been eating Shankarpali. I had/have many Maharashtrians friends and fortunately I know what kind of sweets they make on different occasions. Since diwali is near and am sure everybody is busy preparing diwali dishes. Shankarpali is one of my favorite among the diwali sweets. These came out so crispy that I got loads of compliment from my sister and my colleagues. The use of semolina (rava) gave a nice crunch to the shankarpali.

Ingredients

• 2 cups maida
• 1/2 cup semolina (rava/sooji)
• 1/2 cup ghee
• 1/2 cup sugar (powered)
• Salt a pinch
• Water as required
• Oil to deep fry

Instructions

• Make thin syrup of sugar and water in bowl.
• Add semolina, salt, ghee and water to maida and make dough the way we make for rotis, knead dough lightly using sugar syrup.  





• Keep this dough aside, covered, for about half an hour.
• Now take a small round of this dough and roll it like roti.
• Cut this rolled out roti into diamond shape with a knife.

• Deep fry in oil on medium heat till shankarpali turns light brown in color.


• Your crispy shankarpali are ready to eat J

After the shankarpali cools completely we can store them in a dry container with a tight lid. Enjoy them with a cup of tea, during office tea breaks, when you feel like munching or with the rest of the Diwali goodies J

Sending this to Diwali event.

And to Diwali Special – Sweets & Savories event.

And to Khusi's "My Diwali My Way" event.

And to Serve It - Festival Potluck event and to Denny's page