Mahanandi

On August 15th, 1947, our nation came in to our own hands. Finally we were free of uninvited people, at least physically. Since then August 15th became a day for feasts, festivities and for patriotic parades.

This year, I wanted to share the exhilarating feeling of joy and happiness through a fabulous food parade. Our food culture shows not only how diverse we are, but also shows how much patience, perseverance and perfection we have. With 40 or more food blogs (a budding new community in already well established blog medium), I thought we could all come together to celebrate this special day in a colorful way. Thanks for responding to my call with equal if not more enthusiasm and sending me these beautiful recipes from “The Land of Billion Recipes ~ Mother India”.

I’ve styled the food parade in a classic theme, with recipe photos for your viewing pleasure and complementing classical Indian music (you tube videos) for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

From Andhra Pradesh ~ The Rice Bowl of India

Endu Royalu Dosakaya Koora (Dried Shrimp and Dosakaya Curry)
From Kosta Region, From City of Victory ~ Vijayawada by Chandrika of Akshayapatra

Besan Chikki with Sorghum Roti
From Telengana Region by Pavani of Cook’s Hideout

Senaga-Pesara Payasam (Chana Dal~Moong Dal Dessert)
From Wanaparthy by Vidyanath Tirumala of Yadbhavishya

Hyderabadi Dum Biryani & Khubani Ka Meetha (With Apricots)
From Capital City Hyderabad by Radhika of Radhi’s Kitchen

Golden colored Majjiga Mirapa (Dahi Mirchi) with Rice and Dal
Traditional Andhra Meal From Me

From The Land of Nandis ~ From My Home in Nandyala
Peanut Pacchi Pulusu ~ A Refreshing No-Boil Peanut Rasam

From Gorgeous Goa

Eggless Banana Rava Cake ~ From Shilpa of Aayi’s Recipes

From Gujarat ~ The Birthplace of Gandhiji

Khichado with Wheat Berries and Toor dal
Makara Sankranti Special and A Good Breakfast Porridge ~ By Priya of Foodtravails

From Jammu and Kashmir ~ A Heaven on Earth

Modur Polav (Sweet Rice Pulao) with Saffron and Sugar ~ Part of Wazwaan
An Authentic Kashmir Recipe from a Kashmiri ~ From Anita of Mad Tea Party

Heaven on a plate ~ Kashmiri Pulao – From Archana Thomas of Spicyana
“May freedom continue to inspire the country, peace & happiness return to the valley!”

From Karnataka ~ The Land of Hampi

Badam Puri ~ Representing the Struggle for Independence
From Shankari of Stream of Consciousness

From Kerala ~ God’s Own County

Ela Ada ~ Rice Flour & Coconut Steam-Cooked Sweet
By Priya Baskaran of Priya’s Kitchen

Kaya Appam (Banana Fritters) ~ By Monisha of Coconut Chutney
Sweet fritters that are crisp to bite into and tender inside, bursting with the flavor of Bananas and Cardamom and sweetened with Jaggery.

Nenthra Pazham Haluva (Banana Halwa)
From Calicut/Kozhikode (land of Banana chips and Halwas) by Kerala Girl (KG)

Palappam (Lace, Milk Appam) From Gini of Salt and Pepper

Pal Payasam and Bonji (Rice Paysam and Lemon Juice)
Celebrating a Great Man’s Legacy, “My India and My Country” ~ From InjiPennu of Ginger and Mango

From Konkan ~ The Jewel of Western India

Gajbaje (Randayi or Mixed vegetable curry)
One of the Most Popular Dishes Among Konkanis ~ From Shilpa of Aayi’s Recipes:

From Maharashtra ~ The Land of Shivaji

Varan Phala ~ From Madhuli of My Food Court

From Vibrant Punjab

Paneer Tikka ~ From Krithika of Manpasand

From Tamilnadu ~ The Land of Temples

Appala Kozhambu (Papad Curry) ~ Celebrating the Charming City, Chennai
From Chandrika of Akshayapatra

Somass ~ A Famous Sweet from Tamilnadu ~ From Sudha Vinodh of Samayal

From West Bengal ~ The Land of Exotic Charms

Rasmalai ~ From Mandira of Ahaar

Saluting the Flag with Tiranga Entries

Congress Curry ~ Three Cheers to Independent, Progressive, Democratic India
From Menu Today

Tiranga Rice ~ A Pan-Indian Recipe Inspired by the Tri-Coloured Indian Flag
From Lulu of Lulu Loves London

Psychedelic:) Tiranga Raita ~ From RP of My Work Shop

Tiranga Spiral Parathas ~ From Roopa of Crazy About Food, From Bangalore

Tiranga Puri ~ From Sudha of Food Newbie
Beetroot, Spinach and Wheat Flour ~ Representing the Tiranga of Indian Flag

Mysore Masala Dosa in Tiranga
By Madhu Raj of Ruchi, From City of Palaces, Mysore City

Tiranga Doodh Peda ~ From Vineela of Vineela’s Kitchen
Carrot, Coconut and Pistachios for Beautiful Flag Colors of India

Independence Day Fireworks

Sweet Candy For Your Ride/Cubicle Home

Sweet, Tangy and Fragrant Candy from India ~ For Your Ride Home From The Parade

Thank you all for coming and congratulations to all the participants for the gorgeous recipe floats. Hope you had a wonderful time at the food parade.

Swatantra Din Subhakamana!

For Independence Day Food Parade, following recipe is contributed by the regular comment poster at “Mahanandi”, always entertaining ‘Kerala Girl (KG)’:

Oil Painting of Bananas

I have chosen a dish from my hometown – Calicut/Kozhikode (land of Banana chips and Halwas) from Kerala for IDFP. Kerala – the God’s own country is also land of Kera (coconut). To a malayalee, banana or the plantains probably come next to coconut but still it’s importance is written all over the malayalee’s life. Banana is one plant whose every part is useful in one or the other form. In addition to the banana fruit we also eat it’s flowers and the softer inner trunk. The leaves of the banana plant are the less sophisticated version of today’s disposable plates. Traditional Kerala cuisine is incomplete without the pleasant taste of bananas.

Another reason why I have chosen banana as ingredient for this event is I hail from Calicut – the land famous for Calicut Halwa and one of the best halwa’s I have tasted there is banana halwa (a hard jelly like sweet). Calicut is very famous for its sweets and one the famous places in Calicut is Sweet Meat Street (SM Street). It is the busiest street in Calicut and derives its name from the times when the street was lined with sweetmeat stalls. So I thought of celebrating our independence with my favorite sweet – Banana Halwa (Nenthra Pazham Haluva). The recipe source is one of the old recipe books by the great cookbook author Mrs.K.M.Mathew. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

Ripe Bananas – 1 and 1/2 Bananas
Sugar – 2 and 1/2 cups
Water – 1/2 cup
Lemon juice – 1/4 cup
Ghee – 3/4 cup
Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
Cashews roasted or plain – handful for decoration
All purpose flour – 3 tsp

Method:

Pressure-cook the bananas until soft. Remove the outer skin and deseed (remove the black layer inside). Mash the bananas to a paste in a food processor or blender.

Make syrup of sugar by dissolving in 1/2 cup of water. It should be of string consistency. When this consistency is reached add the lemon juice and again allow it to reach the same thick consistency. To this add the mashed bananas.

To thicken the halwa, at this stage add flour dissolved in 1/4 cup water. Keep on stirring the mix to attain a thick mass. Add ghee little by little. When this becomes a thick mass add the cardamom powder. Mix well and pour into a pan greased with ghee. Decorate with cashews.
When cool cut and enjoy. This can be stored in refrigerator for a week minimum.

A Toast to our independence with this sweet dish!

Banana Halwa for IDFP

~ Guest Post by Kerala Girl (KG)

Our School Update ~ New Library

One thing we always wanted to do for our school is build a decent, dedicated library. We were able to get it materialized this year and the opening ceremony will be on August 15th. About 20,000 rupees worth of books are purchased for the library, most of them are from this list. All sorts of books that would interest children are purchased in Telugu, Hindi and English languages.

The largest room in the school building is dedicated for library and what you see in this photo is a part of the library with bookshelves and seating arrangement. Other side of the library (not in the photo) is for smaller kids styled in small scale. The room and the furniture are designed keeping children’s needs in mind, with comfortable seating and good lighting.

Everyone in our family worked whole heartedly to complete this project. We have to say major thanks to our dear friends Lakshmi and Prasad Anandaraman for their interest and generous contributions for this cause.

This Independence Day on August 15th is going to be very special in our school because of this new addition and the school children voted for jangri to celebrate this sweet occasion after flag hoisting.

One of the places we visit whenever life overwhelms us here in US is the New Vrindaban Holy Dham. Located in beautiful and peaceful Appalachian mountain range in the rural West Virginia panhandle, in almost 500 acres, the place is serene and ideal for meditation and contemplation.

The main attraction for us is Radha Krishna temple, and then there is Palace of Gold – Sri Prabupada’s place. There are also small lakes, ponds, swans, peacocks and cows on the ground. To volunteer there is a cow-protection program, community organic vegetable garden and a fragrant rose garden. The temple also has decent cottages and rooms to rent, and they book up fast during summer times. Families with children and with old parents from India often come to this place to escape the everyday hustle and bustle. Though the drive to the place is like a thrill ride with sharp curves and 25 mph speed limit, the place is spectacular and spiritual. Even with all the difficulties of money shortage etc. for the temple, I am glad to see such a beautiful place existing in America for us to visit and to rejuvenate.

Here are some photos that I have taken during our recent trip to this temple as part of my bhakti~bhukti (divine and dine) series. Photos include temple and temple grounds along with Krishna prasadam (temple tradition – After the afternoon puja everyday, a full satvik meal is served in generous portions to the visitors, free of charge.)

New Vrindaban – Wheeling, West Virginia

Temple Entrance

Simha – Guarding the entrance

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Temple Grounds

Appalachian Mountain Range

Permanent Residents of the Temple – Swan Couple with a Baby

Dancing Peacock

Temple Gift Shop

Serving Krishna Prasadam after the afternoon puja

Krishna Prasadam
Bajji, Spinach-Potato Curry, Chole, Lemon Rice, Coconut Chutney (Not shown in this photograph but they also served sambar, grape juice and payasam in small cups)

New Vrindaban – Homepage
Bhakti ~ Bhukti (Divine and Dine) – Sri Venkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh

The Hindu, one of the premier newspapers from India has mentioned about ‘Mahanandi’ in one of its weekend articles.

Article Link – Here

The article is well written and interesting and is about how food blogs are filling an appetite for nostalgia and are catering to the cravings on the web with regional variety.

I greatly appreciate Vijaysree Venkataraman, the author of this article for saying good words about ‘Mahanandi’. It is truly an honor to be published in such an esteemed newspaper.

Congratulations also to The Green Jackfruit, Chai Pani, Gluttony is no sin and Aspiring Annapoorna, who are also equally featured in the article.

Vijaysree blogs at “Apropos of Nothing”.
Comment forum is closed at this moment. Thank you!

Tiranga

August is the month in 1947 when leeches left our country in search of fresh blood. If you ever suffer from blood loss, you would know how difficult and slow process it is to recover from anemia. Constant fatigue, weakness, listlessness are the norm. Our country has been going through this recovery process, still remained strong and united without going into a chaotic, oppressive dictatorship. By keeping a peaceful, nourishing atmosphere, mother India has provided us a safe shelter to grow and thrive without placing restrictions on us. Needless to say food has an important role in recovery process. In this month of India’s Independence, let’s whip up our culinary skills to salute mother India. Join and let’s do a food parade from all states. I want classic recipes, colorful photos and charging words that would look like rose petals sprinkled on a parade route. In this time of war and destruction unleashed by mutant evil leeches, we need hope and a reason to celebrate. Lets make this Independence Day food parade fun and grand.

Parade Submission Guidelines:

1 Write about traditional(proper) meal of your region or an entry(recipe)/essay/poem/drawing related to food from India, between now and August 14th. Publish it on your blog.

2 Email me (mailmahanandi@gmail.com) your entry by August 14th, with these details.

Entry name – both in English and in Regional Indian language and URL
Recipe Origin – Region, State and the title of that state
(Ex: from Nandyala, the land of Nandis or/and from Andhra Pradesh, the Rice Bowl of India)
Your name and your blog’s name and URL
Colorful, beautiful photo of your recipe in 455:280 pixel size.

Parade procession of all the entries in gorgeous food colors of India will be on Independence Day ~ August 15th.

56 Dal Entries – JFI:Dal (Lentil) Roundup

Dosa – A Love Story

Monsoons and Coconut Trees – Breathtaking Oil Paintings

Migrating Back to India – Ten Points

Who is responsible for bombings in India?

Exercise in Writing – Once in a Lifetime (Short Story)

Sit and Roll Over, Find Your Own Keys

Terrorist attacks in India and loss of innocent life.

If you are looking for any information or assistance to locate your loved ones in Mumbai, the following website by bloggers of Mumbai might be helpful to you. If you are a blogger, I request you to provide a link to this website from your blog. Thanks!
Mumbai Help

Thanks Payal.

Hello, let me in people!

There are some bushes and grass behind our home. Kittaya goes there everyday for sometime, to meet his chipmunk and squirrel friends. After his play time, he comes back running to the porch glass door and acts so impatient to let him back in to the house. This is one of his impatient standing poses to get our attention and to have us open the glass door for him.

July 4th Weekend Shopping:

We have been looking for these things for a while and this weekend got lucky. Vijay got his camera from an online store and I got my cute baking pans at local flea market, both at great prices. Here they are – baking pans and a Mamiya.

Sri Venkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh and Swarna Ratham

Temple food is the best way to enjoy traditional Indian food and no restaurant can match the taste and the quality. In Pittsburgh, the SV Temple canteen is open during temple hours and has a small kitchen and big dining hall to the side. The food is freshly prepared daily by the temple chef. The standard items you would find are – pulihora, yogurt rice, sambar rice, upma, pongal, mixture: sweet&hot varieties and also pickles. There is also a machine, where you can make your own tea and coffee.

The canteen has a separate entrance and open to all. Everything is priced very reasonable ($1.50, a box). My favorites are pongal, upma and mixture and I always buy them whenever I visit temple. Because of recent increase in number of people visiting this temple, temple management is fund-raising to build a more modern and big kitchen and also planning to include more items to serve.

Summer is the travel season here in US and temples are the most common tourist destinations to lot of folks like us. Our visits to temple are not only for divine darshan and also for homely dining. So thought I would share about SV Temple food. Bhakthi and bukthi fulfilled at the same time.

Temple Canteen

Yogurt Rice, Pulihora, Upma, Mixture, Pickle, Pongal and Sambar Rice

Bhakthi & Bhukthi – For Summer Travel:
Do you have a temple in your town/city? Join and share “Bhakthi and Bukthi” (divine and dine), experience, if you are interested, at your blogs. Thanks!
Temple Food: Ganesha Temple, Flushing, NY

Embroidery and Cross Stitch:

Few days ago, Shammi of Food in the Main has posted her completed piece of embroidery design. I felt happy to see her beautiful piece and I thought it would be wonderful to share some of my finished works.

The pieces in the first photo are my first finished projects that I had done here in the US. Includes two small size needlework flower pieces, and one big embroidery flower bouquet piece. The photo below shows the embroidery design in close up.

The above cross-stitch work is really my all time favorite design. It is called Peacock Tapestry and designed by talented Teresa Wentzler. Some of her elaborate cross-stitch designs are work of art and she pays incredible amount of attention to details and colors as you can see. I have worked for about 4 months, non-stop on this piece. To this day, I still think all that effort was worth my time.