1. SHIVARATRI RECIPES
Ven Pongal
Ingredients
Rice : 2cups
Moong Dal : 1 cups
Salt
Asafetida : a generous pinch
Ginger : 1.5 inch block – sliced into tiny bits
Curry leaves : 2-3 sprigs
Whole Peppercorns : 2 Tbsp
Cumin Seeds : 2 Tbsp
Cashewnuts : ½ cup Broken
Ghee : 3 Tbsp
Oil : 2 Tbsp
1. Pressure cook dal and rice with around 8 cups of water with salt for 4-5 whistles. They
should be partly mashed for good results
2. Coarsely pound the cumin and pepper. They should be in halves and quarters of their
whole size. Do not make into a fine powder
3. Heat oil and Ghee in a pan, and fry the cashews in it until they turn golden brown.
Remove, drain and place on a paper towel
4. In the same oil-ghee mixture add the asafetida, curry leaves and ginger. Once the curry
leaves start crackling, add the cumin-pepper coarse powder and fry them for 15 – 20
seconds.
5. Immediately add it to the cooked rice-dal and mix them well. You may add more water
and ghee to get it to the required consistency. A semi-liquid consistency is the best
Sweet Pongal
Ingredients
Rice : 2 cups
Moong Dal : 1 cups
Milk : 2 cups
Cardamom : 4 powdered with some sugar
Jaggery : 500 gms
Ghee : 4 Tbsp
Cashews and Raisins : A handful each
1. Pressure cook dal and rice with around 5 cups of water and the milk for 4-5 whistles.
They should be partly mashed for good results

2. 2. Melt the Jaggery with some water to form a thin syrup. Best if the jaggery is cut into
small pieces
3. Heat the ghee in a kadai and fry the cashews and Raisins until golden brown
4. Gradually add the Syrup to the Rice-Dal Mixture, mixing well. Also add the Jaggery.
5. Het the pongal on a low flame until bubbles start appearing at the top. Take off the heat,
add the fried Cashew and raisins along with the excess ghee and mix in well.
6. If edible camphor is available, add a tiny pinch of it for an enhanced taste
Kesari
Ingredients
Coarse Rava : 1.5 cups
Sugar : 1.5 cups
Cashews : A generous handful
Raisins : Another generous handful
Ghee : 4-5 Tbsp
Cardamom : I make a powder of around 3-4 cardamoms with a tablespoon of sugar in the
blender
Orange/Yellow food colouring : A pinch dissolved in some water
Milk : ½ cup
1. Place the water in a deep pan, with a handle, and heat it on a low-medium flame in the back-
burner. Forget about it for now. It will be ready when it is needed.
2. Take another frying pan and drop in a tablespoon of ghee. Once it has melted and heated up,
tip in the Rava and roast it on a medium flame until the raw-smell is replaced with a rich ghee-
laden aroma. The Rava should have browned ever so lightly by now. Quickly remove the Rava
onto a plate and allow it to cool. A delay of even a few seconds may burn the Rava, so keep the
plate ready-at-hand.
3. In the same frying pan, add the rest of the ghee (the more the better), and when it heats up, fry
the nuts, raisins in it until they are golden brown.
4. Once again, empty the Rava into the frying pan and mix it well with the ghee and the nuts.
Gradually blend in the sugar and keep stirring until the mixture starts sticking to the sides.
5. If your timing is perfect, and it is really important that it is indeed so, the water that we safely
left on the back-burner would be boiling away. Take the pan by its handle (Ah, now you get it!)
and carefully pour the hot water into the Rava. Keep stirring, else you may end up with nasty
lumps of uncooked Rava.

3. 6. The Rava will expand on cooking, and the mixture will begin to thicken. Continue pouring the
water until the Rava is completely cooked*.
7. When the mixture is still in a semi-solid state**, stir in the cardamom powder and an
additional tablespoon of ghee if desired. Continue heating until all the water has been absorbed
and the Kesari takes on a shine from all the ghee that has been generously added. Ambrosia is
served!
* One way to check if the Rava is cooked or not is to look for white specks in the Kesari. When a
Rava is not cooked through, it's inside is more opaque than the cooked outer shell. The presence
of white specks indicates that the Rava is still partially cooked and is a cue for you to keep
adding water.
** A word of warning here. When the Kesari is in its thick viscous state, it tends to boil and
splatter around. Take utmost care when reaching out to stir the mixture lest you may end up with
a scalding hot splat on your hand!
Lemon Rice
Ingredients
Rice : 4 cups
Lemon Juice : 6-8 Tbsp
Green Chillies : 10 long ones cut into rings
Ginger : 1.5 inch, chopped into tiny bits
Chana Dal : 3 Tbsp
Mustard : 1 Tbsp
Oil : to season
Asafetida : a generous pinch
Curry Leaves : 2-3 sprigs
Roasted Peanuts : ¾ cup
Turmeric : 1 tbsp
1. Cook rice in a rice-cooker with 7.5 cups of water, 1 tbsp of oil and some salt. Cool it.
They should be grainy. I sometimes freeze it for 15 minutes to achieve the result.
2. In a pan, add oil. Once heated, add asafetida, mustard seeds and chana dal. Once they
start crackling, add the curry leaves, ginger and green chilies. Fry them until the green
chilies start to turn white at the edges.
3. Add the turmeric powder and fry for sometime. Cool immediately
4. In a large plate, spread the rice and sprinkle salt evenly. Add the fried lemon rice mix to
the rice and mix well, taking care not to break the rice grains.

4. 5. Finally, add the lemon juice and peanuts. Mix gently and store in a container for atleast 4
hours to allow the flavors to soak in.
6. You may add potato pieces fried with a little salt, chili powder and turmeric powder to
the lemon rice for a extra kick.
Sundal
Ingredients
Black/White Chnana : 2 cups soaked in water overnight or for 8 hours
Salt
Asafetida : a pinch
Urad Dal : 2 Tbsp
Mustard : 1 Tbsp
Broken Red Chilies : 5-6
Curry Leaves : 2 sprigs
Grated Coconut : 3/4 cup
Oil : for seasoning
1. Pressure cook the soaked Channa with 4-5 cups of water for 3 whistles with sufficient
salt. Cool and drain. Preserve a little of the water.
2. In a pan, add oil. Once it is heated, add the asafetida, Urad Dal, Red Chilies and Mustard
seeds. Throw in the curry leaves after it starts crackling.
3. Add the drained channa and around ½ a cup of the water it was boiled in. Stir and wait
for the water to evaporate completely.
4. Finally add the grated coconut and stir it well to mix into the sundal
5. Other legumes maybe used, but the soaking time and the pressure cooking have to be
regulated depending on the legume.