The holiday season is my favorite time of the year and our holiday or rather festival season starts with Vinayaka Chavati in August ends with Sankranthi, in January. First Vinayaka Chavati, then Dasera, Deepavali and Halloween, followed by Thanksgiving and Christmas, rolling right on through the New years eve to Sankranthi. In between all these festivities, both of our birthdays and our marriage day falls. So every year, I look forward to August, for good times. And the Hindu festivals I listed above, are major ones, if one follows a true Hindu calendar, it’s going to be a festival, every other week.:)
To celebrate Sankranthi on 14th, we invited few of our Pittsburgh friends for festival lunch and we are planning to prepare a traditional meal. The menu we finalized is this:
Papads – sabudana, rice and urad dal varieties
Bajjis – Onion and potato
~~~
Pulihora (Tamarind Rice)
Plain rice
Tomato Dal
Okra Sambhar
Potato Curry- festival day type
Drumstick (Munaga) kurma
Peanut chutney – Rayala seema style
Yogurt
Ghee
~~~
For Naivedyam – Sweet Pongal, the traditional sweet of Sankranthi
Cashew – Walnut Laddu
Fruit Platter
I’ve shopping to do, house to clean, puja mandir to decorate and some prep work to do in the kitchen before Saturday. So, see you all after Sankranthi and have a great Sankranthi celebration or a neat weekend.
Happy Sankranti!
Comment by Shammi — January 13, 2006 @ 6:32 am
Shammi… thank you and Happy Pongal.
I got go, lot of work to do… 🙂
Comment by Indira — January 13, 2006 @ 6:37 am
My heart warms just looing at your menu, Indira.
Happy Sankranti.
I’m also preparing sweet pongal and pulihora tomorrow for festival.
Comment by Swathi — January 13, 2006 @ 9:16 am
Happy Sankranti to you and your family.
Have a lot to do myself as i have family coming over. I am making poli, “pongals”, some laddu and other dishes…hope to get there in time
Comment by S — January 13, 2006 @ 9:23 am
Happy Sankranti Indira!
I can’t wait fr your tamarind rice recipe. That’s my favourite after lemon and tomato rice. Please do put it up next!! Pretty please… :o)
Comment by Meena — January 13, 2006 @ 9:42 am
Happy Sankranti Indira, and i bet ur guests r gonna enjoy every bit of the celebration, especially the sakra pongal. MMM . Can u post the recipe of sakara pongal if possible.
Comment by priya,ar — January 13, 2006 @ 10:32 am
“Sankranti Subbhakaankshalu!!Have a wonderful Bhogi & Pongal.”
Mee Vindu Bhojanam baaga jaragaali anni korukuntunnanu…:)
Have a great festive weekend!
Comment by Sailaja — January 13, 2006 @ 11:58 am
Indira, Happy Sankranti. We celebrate Makar Sankrant in Maharashtra and make sesame sweets (on my blog). Everyone comments on the diversity of Indian cuisine and culture but our one uniting factor is how whole-heartedly we celebrate our festivals!!!
Comment by Winie — January 13, 2006 @ 12:43 pm
And Matt and I are wishing that we were coming, too!
Have a wonderful time with your friends.
Comment by Stephanie — January 13, 2006 @ 12:43 pm
Happy POngal and Shankranti..
We would drop by too :))) am from Ohio too 🙂
Have a great time with ur friends!
Comment by IBH — January 13, 2006 @ 3:52 pm
Happy Sankranthi, Indira! Looking forward to see some of your party photos of food and people.
Comment by mika — January 13, 2006 @ 5:20 pm
Happy Sankaranti! Enjoy entertaining your guests.
I love your holiday season round up! But… doesn’t Holi fall in March?
Comment by garammasala — January 13, 2006 @ 5:36 pm
Awesome menu ! Happy Bihu !
Comment by ritu — January 13, 2006 @ 5:51 pm
Thank you all for taking time and sending Sankranthi wishes, our way!
GM, I was thinking of Krishnastami but wrote Holi. Thanks for pointing it out, I removed it from my post.:)
IBH…Where in Ohio? I’d like to meet you for a weekend get together. 🙂
Meena and Priya.. I’ll definitely post recipes you asked for, after Sankranthi. Thanks!
Stephanie… Thank you and I’d love that!
Have a great weekend, you know Steelers game is on Sunday! Fingers crossed! Go Steelers.:)
Comment by Indira — January 13, 2006 @ 9:43 pm
WOW! what a feast it is going to be Indira! Happy Sankranti to you and to your dear and near ones.
Comment by VK Narayanan — January 13, 2006 @ 10:50 pm
Wishing a very happy Sankranthi to you, your family, and all your near and dear ones. Here’s hoping you have a great weekend 🙂
Comment by Sury — January 13, 2006 @ 11:26 pm
SANKRANTHI SUBHAKANKSHALU to you and your family 🙂
Comment by Supriya — January 14, 2006 @ 9:53 am
Happy Sankranti Indira. Your menu sounds great! Hope you have a nice time with your friends and family.
Pavani.
Comment by Pavani — January 14, 2006 @ 11:15 am
Happy Sankranti!!
Comment by Anthony — January 14, 2006 @ 12:30 pm
Indira,
Happy Sankranti!
Would love to see the photos and the recipes. i know. i know. i am quite greedy. but recipes are quite handy. 🙂
Comment by Mathy Kandasamy — January 14, 2006 @ 2:28 pm
oops..
correction!
should be ‘your recipes are quite handy.’
Comment by Mathy Kandasamy — January 14, 2006 @ 2:29 pm
????? ????
????????? ???????????? !
Happy Sankranthi!
Comment by Kiran — January 14, 2006 @ 11:13 pm
Hey Indira:
Hope you had a wonderful Sankranti and weekend. How do you manage to make so many dishes when you entertain? Do you make some the day before? PLMK. i have 2 kids ages 2 and 7 and would love to entertain more, and cook a variety of dishes, but am not able to do so. Please give me some tips if possible.
Thanks
Anu.
Indira replies…
Hello Anu, I’m still in recovery mode, I’ll definitely post a reply to your comment, asap, hope you don’t mind. Thanks!
Comment by anu — January 15, 2006 @ 5:15 pm
Indira,
I would like to know if the Peanut chutney- Rayalseema style follows the recipe of Peanut chutney that you have in your blog.
Thanks,
jasper
Indira replies…
Yes, exactly like the recipe I posted before, but with less water, making it more tight and not watery, because we are having this chutney with rice and dal/sambhar.
Hope this helps.
Comment by jasper — January 17, 2006 @ 4:42 pm
Indira,
Thanks for the info on the peanut chutney.
🙂
jasper.
Comment by jasper — January 18, 2006 @ 2:45 pm
hi
site is very helpful for andhra and indians
Comment by hello — January 21, 2006 @ 8:02 pm
Happy Pongal and sankranti…Have a gR8 weekend
Comment by Raghu — January 15, 2007 @ 1:39 am
Hey, Can I put bogi pallu on my kid on Friday 16 Jan 2010? Its a saturday and planning to invite friends for it. Please let me know, Thanks
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