Day 2 of navarathri.. Dedicated to goddess brahmacharini…. Symbol of love, loyalty, and wisdom. It is believed that she spent over 1000 years on a diet of flowers and fruits and another 100 years on green leafy vegetables. A diet that is being advocated today for health and fitness, has been documented in our religious texts ages ago. Pumpkin flower kootu, agathi flower karemedhu, murunga flower rasam or coconut saute, hibiscus chutney, /thogayal, jute flower pakoda, banana flower Parrupu usili, banana flower fritters, Neem flower rasam, neem flower pachadi, “Paneer ” Rose lemon rasam… .. Oh the list of our flowery traditional foods is endless but have sadly exited the kitchens of today. There is an effort to its revival but not to the extent of these ingredients playing an important part in our daily plates.Urbanisation, Commercialisation, and globalization could be some of the factors for this disappearance.
Today my offering to the goddess was loaded with vegetables and fruits. Mixed vegetable arachivitta sambar, tomato rasam, pumpkin kootu, cabbage – coconut saute, beans Parrupu usili along with rice, ghee, curds, and banana. Wondering where is the fruit in the neivedyam??? Tomatoes are technically fruits and cabbage classified under GLV. Simple but heartening food not just to appease the goddess but also all at home. Flowers were used for the pooja.
Added to this hearty meal was the butter beans sundal. Using dry butter beans…the seeds which are the precursor to all fruits, vegetable, and flowers.
Happy Navarathri to all 🙂
