Navrathri Specials Filed under ( Amchikele Randap/Konkani food, Cook it with Rice, Festivals, Lunch and Dinner, Side dish, Sweets and Desserts )

Navratri is a combination of two words. 'Nav' means nine while 'ratri' means night. Therefore, this celebration is literally translated as 'nine nights'.During Navaratri, we invoke the energy aspect of God in the form of the universal mother.

The worship of Three Goddess, Durga (the god of power and strength), Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth) and Saraswati (the Goddess of knowledge and learning). The festival leads to spiritual growth of a person. It gives the person inner strength to fight against all odds of life. The courage to fight for the weaker section of the society and against all evils of the society. So the first three days is dedicated to the worship of Goddess Shakti. The next most important requirement in life is wealth and prosperity and for that the next three days of the festival is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi (the Goddess of wealth and prosperity). Knowledge and learning is another important aspect of life. And for that the last three days of the festival is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati. She is worshipped so that she blesses us with power of knowledge and helps us to attain spiritual enlightenment.

The worship of Three Goddess, Durga (the god of power and strength), Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth) and Saraswati (the Goddess of knowledge and learning). The festival leads to spiritual growth of a person. It gives the person inner strength to fight against all odds of life. The courage to fight for the weaker section of the society and against all evils of the society. So the first three days is dedicated to the worship of Goddess Shakti. The next most important requirement in life is wealth and prosperity and for that the next three days of the festival is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi (the Goddess of wealth and prosperity). Knowledge and learning is another important aspect of life. And for that the last three days of the festival is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati(which is also called Sharda in Mangalore). She is worshipped so that she blesses us with power of knowledge and helps us to attain spiritual enlightenment. the worship of Three Goddess, Durga (the god of power and strength), Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth) and Saraswati (the Goddess of knowledge and learning). The festival leads to spiritual growth of a person. It gives the person inner strength to fight against all odds of life. The courage to fight for the weaker section of the society and against all evils of the society. So the first three days is dedicated to the worship of Goddess Shakti. The next most important requirement in life is wealth and prosperity and for that the next three days of the festival is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi (the Goddess of wealth and prosperity). Knowledge and learning is another important aspect of life. And for that the last three days of the festival is dedicated to Goddess Saraswati. She is worshipped so that she blesses us with power of knowledge and helps us to attain spiritual enlightenment.

In Mangalore it is celebrated in a different way where the Sharada Idol (which is mad of Clay) is brought to the temples on the night of shrashti nd the Prathistapan of the Idol is done the next day during Moola nakshatra.

And as the Vahan of durga is tiger or can be even lion there is Tiger Dance in mangalore… These troups go to houses to dance and people give them money. U can watch the tiger dance of mangalore HERE.

Nd a peacock is kept besides sharadha matha(saraswathi) as it is the vahan of the Godess.

The Visarjan (immerse) of all the Idols r done on Vijaya dashami. The procession moves on with lozza Tableaux in which many of them are of Tiger Dance.

The men coloured as tigers nd garlanded with money.





This one is as soon as Godess is ready with decoration.



When all the Idols are immersed in water 2 idol visarjan is done the next day.

That is of Venkatarama temple and of Jodu mutt.

The procession goes on almost the whole night… and the Visarjan is done early morning.

Here I upload the picture of The Sharada Idol. This is last years snap before visarjan.

U can watch the pictures of Sharada visrjan of SVT Temple here.

And Glimpses of Mangalore Dassera Here.

I must say I enjoyed the Navratri til the last year. This year I am missing it.

This Snap is of SVT temple Sharada Mahotsav just before the procession starts



I hope u Guys saw all the vedios...nd felt good after seeing that.

Now after all this I come to the special food. During Navratri we have a day celebrated as Nave Javan (new food). Where people get the first harvest of rice either directly from farm or temples and keep them in their safe, and use a some in cooking and new harvest of vegetable is also eaten on tht day( this significances tht our house will never be short in food). A pooja is held at home and then the family has its lunch all together.

The specials done on this day is Ghashi or any other side dish, rasam/daali toy , phodi, any item of cucmber, cheppi kheeri, godshe (sweet/kheer).

When i speak about sweets more than any other sweet i remember about Kaju Katli. Vch i wanted to prepare nd even had bookmarked...but now m not gonna try it for months and that is bcoz Chirag(Guru's fren) got me a Kilo of Kaju Katli from India.... Thank U Chirag.

I prepared Val Val(vegetables in coconut milk), Cheppi Kheeri, Taushe Kosambari, Rulava kheeri.

Now in this post I will just post the recipe of Cheppi kheeri…Val val I will post some other day.

U can find the Kosambari recipe here.







Cheepi(in Konkani) means without salt and sugar. This is a dish done with rice, coconut water and Haldi leaf. As I dint have haldi leaf I did not add ther (u can skip if u don’t have it but it tastes awesome with haldi leaf).



We need

Rice (white rice) – 1 cup

Coconut Milk – 2 cups

Haldi leaf -2 nos



Method:

Boil rice with 1 cup coconut milk in cooker and wait until 4 whistles.

Once the cooker is cooled down. Remove the rice in a vessel and add the other cup of milk and boil for atleast 5 -10 minutes (make sure u keep stirring if u r using a steel or a aluminum vessel orelse it will get stuck to the vessel).

At last ass the Haldi leaves and boil for 5 more minutes.

Now remove from flame. And serve hot.

While eating u can add salt to this kheer and eat.



I will post the rest of the recipes soon.

Tastes Yum Yum when u add lozza love in it.







I will upload this year snaps as soon as the Visarjan is done.



I have a added happiness on this day and that is Sushma has showered on 4 lovely awards…. Thank U sushma this means a lot to me.

Signing of

I know this post was too long but Thank u for taking ur wonderful time and reading the whole post :)