Sunday, October 18, 2015

Vermicelli Kesari

18 Oct 2015

For Navarathri we made Vermicelli Kesari and it came out well.

Ingredients:
MTR Vermicelli - 3 cups (loosely packed)
Sugar - 3 cups (2.75 should be enough)
Water - 5 cups
Ghee - few table spoons
Cardamom - 7-8 pods
Cashew nuts - 10-12 whole
Turmeric powder - 2 pinches
Saffron strands - few

Procedure:
In a pan roast the vermicelli with 2-3 table spoons of ghee - till brown
In parallel bring 5 cups of water to boil
When the vermicelli is roasted - slowly add the hot water
Keep stirring till vemicelli is fully cooked
Now add the sugar slowly - the quantity will suddenly increase and will look more liquid
Keep stirring till the water evaporates 90% - you can leave in some moisture as it will absorb by itself
Fry the cashews in 2-3 tea spoons of ghee and add it to the Kesari
Pound the cardamom pods to fin powder and add it as well

Stir once with the cardamom, cashew etc. Your kesari is now ready.

The saffron strands can be soaked in 2 tablespoons of warm milk and added along with the cardamom powder.

You can also add 4-5 tablespoons of chopped pineapple in the end and mix.

Friday, January 16, 2015

I have been looking at various sources to narrate the story of Lord Muruga or Subhramanya as he is called. Here are some resources which maybe useful.

Religious discourses:

Sri Kripanandavariyar in Tamil

Skanda Puranam in Tamil By Sri Sundar Kumar - 40 parts (approximately 30 hours)


Books:

1. SriSkandaPuranam - SankaraSamhita - Sanskrit to Tamil translation; Translator details unknown

Follow link for Part 1

Follow link for Part 2

2. Kandha Puranam in Tamil - Unknown author
http://www.scribd.com/doc/241692981/Kanda-Puranam

3. Kanda Puranam in English by Dr. Akila Sivaraman - Sample text at this link

4. Skand Puran in Hindi - Follow this link for download

5. Shanmukha Worship by Swami Sivananda

6. Scanda Puranam in Telugu

Temple websites

Katargama in southern Sri Lanka

Informational websites

http://www.murugan.org/