Update: Four Varieties of Kozhukattai (steamed stuffed rice flour wraps) have been given below. We prepare this for Ganesha Chaturthi. Scroll down for recipes.
I humbly Offer this to the lotus feet of the Supreme Mother Goddess Raja Rajeshwari.
VaralakshmiViratham is Observed by most families in south India. Varam is boon. Varalakshmi is the goddess who bestows upon her bhakthas, health, wealth, prosperity, joy, peace, etc.(Ashta Aishwaryam).
Though as Iyengars my family does’nt observe this festival, being a devotee of the goddess Raja Rajeshwari I always perform a simple Varalakshmi puja on this day. I have collected details of puja procedures from my neighbour, an Iyer aunty, Mrs.Rajam Sunderajan. Thankyou mami!
On thursday, the kalasam is made and decorated as Amman. For the kalasam you can use a jar or sombhu made of silver, bronze or brass. Even mud pots were used for kalasam in olden days. Fill the pot with a little rice, toor dal, 4 betal leaves, 2 betal nuts, 2 turmeric pods, a 1 rupee coin, 1 lemon. place 5 different kinds of leaves or 5 mango leaves on the mouth of the pot and cover with a coconut that is smeared all over with turmeric powder(manja thengai).
I also read in Devi Bhagavatham another method to make the kalasam. You can fill the pot partially with holy water from any river and place some gold jewellary. cover the mouth of the pot with 5 mango leaves and a coconut smeared with turmeric.
If you have a ambhals Mugam(Face) you can attach it to the kalasam. you can also draw the face of Goddess on the kalasam.If you have a statue of the goddess You can decorate that for the puja. kalasam is further decorated with jewels and silk saree. All this is done in the puja room or a place at home where you want to do the puja. Manja pongal is prepared as prasadam on thursday. At the beginning of the puja Devi is invoked in the Kalasam (Aavahanam). From now we will refer to kalasam as Devi. The devi can be placed on a special platform(mandapam) decorated with Vaazhai kannu or young plaintain trees and maavilai thooranam.
The method of making the kalasam varies, you can stick to the method passed on by your family. Devotion and faith are most important for the puja.
On friday, the day of varalakshmi puja, the front yard is cleaned and decorated with kolam(As we do everyday). Devi is carried from the front door to the puja room and placed in the Mandapam.
Now the Kalasa pujai, archanai, ashtothra pujai and charadu pujai are performed by a sasthrigal(purohit). If you live in a place where you cannot invite a purohit you can do the puja yourself. puja CDs are easily available. Neivedyam is performed.(offering).
The charadu(yellow thread) is worn in the wrist and the purohit is honoured with sambavanai (Vaayanam).*Thambhulam is distributed to ladies.
On saturday punar pujai is done for the Devi and the neivedyam offered is sundal. Thambulam is distributed to ladies. This culminates the puja.
On saturday night after Deeparaadanai the kalasam is kept in the rice pot for a day.
May the world be blessed by the Goddess Vara Maha Lakshmi!
I humbly request The Devi and all my visitors to forgive any mistake in the procedure.
The neivedyam prepared on the day of the puja are
- Kozhukattai (kadubu, moodak) prepared with 4 variety poornams (fillings)- which has been posted below.
- Appam
- Vadai
- Idli made from raw rice.(Paccharisi idli)
All recipes will be posted in a day or two.
Sweet Kozhukattais/ Modhaks steamed in the Microwave. Green container is perforated and the yellow is filled with 1/2 cup water
Kozhukatai(Modhak)
Ingredients
For the outer cover
- Rice flour -3 cups
- salt to taste
- Water 3 cups
- Oil – 1 table spoon
For the Coconut filling
- Grated coconut – 1cup loosely packed
- Jaggery – 1/2 cup
- Cardamom – 1 no
For the sesame filling
- Sesame seeds (Til) – 1/2 cup
- jaggery – 1/2 cup
- cardamom – 1 no
For the urad dal filling
- Urad dal – 1/2 cup
- green chillies – 1 no (finely chopped)
- curry leaves – 1 twig(finely chopped)
- Oil – 1 table spoon
- Hing – 1/4 teaspoon
- salt to taste
- mustard seeds – 1 teaspoon
For the channa dal filling
- Channa dal (kadalai paruppu) – 1/2 cup
- jaggery – 1/2 cup
- cardamom – 1 no
- Grated coconut – 1 table spoon
Method
For the outer cover
- Bring the water to boil in a heavy bottomed pan.
- Reduce the flame to medium and add the oil and rice flour and stir well to get a smooth dough.
- Take off the flame and mix further to remove lumps thouroughly.
- Cover and allow to cool.
For the Coconut filling
- Melt jaggery with a little water, in a kadai on a medium flame.
- Add coconut and cardamom powder and cook for 2 minutes.
- The filling will become thicker when it cools.Transfer to a container.
For the sesame filling
- Dry roast the sesame seeds till they crackle.
- Allow to cool and grind in a mixer.
- Mix with powdered jaggery and cardamom.
For the urad dal filling
- Wash and soak urad dal for 1/2 hour.
- Drain well and grind coarsely adding salt and hing adding 2 table spoons water.
- Heat oil in a kadai and add mustard seeds.
- when it crackles add the curry leaves, green chillies and the ground urad dal.
- Cook on a low flame stirring well for 3 minutes. Urad dal will be cooked by now.
For the channa dal filling
- Wash and cook channa dal with 3/4 cup water on a medium flame till all the water is absorbed and channa dal looks translucent.
- Allow to cool and grind to a powder.
- Add the coconut, jaggery and cardamom powder and grind to form a dough.
- Keep in a microwave safe glass bowl and micro for 2 minutes stirring in between.
How to proceed
- Make 1 and 1/2 inch diameter balls out of the rice dough. Shape it into a cup with your fingers.
- Place 1 teaspoon of the prepared filling and cover to form a modhak shape – i.e bring all the end of the cup together. You will get a round ball with a cone on top.
- Make these modhaks or Kozhukkatais with all the fillings.
- Steam in a pressure cooker without weight for 3 minutes. You can place the kozhukatais on an idli stand to steam.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the cooker.
- Your kozhukatais are ready for neivedyam (offering to Lord Ganesha).
Update: To see the microwave version of steaming head over here.
Useful info.
Waiting to see the recipes.
Hmm my mamiyar is delighted to see me getting with a relious minded friend.Now a days after seeing all the tamil festivals well ahead in your blog,I keep updated well.She is blessing me telling..Happada bharathykku ippo than BUDDHI vandirukku.:)
She is the one reminding me getting ready for each function..Backing up..:)
For varalakshmi vratham we make Pacharisi upma with parangikkai sambhar and chuney..make our way to Thiruvanaikkaval andal mandapam,tie the sacred strings and finish off the pooja with ashtothram 🙂
Loking forward to ur recipes too..:)
Nice info Latha. We too must be having something similar in maharshtrians but I am not aware of it 🙂
Thanks archana!
wow nice info! We too have a similar vratha but i shd say pooja for me not vratha. WE offer different prasad i will post mine after the 31st. Thanks for visitng my blog and leaving inspiring comments!
Thanks roopa! This post only covers viratham procedure of Iyers. latha.
A divine post. Though I don’t have this function used to visit my friends place back in India. Some used to decorate the amman like anything with jewels and dress. It is interesting to watch. Look forward to see your recipes latha. Thanks for writing a detailed post. Don’t worry about the mistakes. It is your interest – that has to be appreciated. Correct? Viji
Thanks for your appreciation and encouragement viji!
[…] Posts Vara lakshmi Viratham 24th augustMysoor PakRecipes IndexAuthentic Iyengar RecipesLalbagh Flower Show for 60th Independence Day August […]
[…] For details of pooja click here […]
Yes,Latha, I did view the mysore pak,yesterday itself and appreciated the same…Nice to see the photos too..Even I have not ventured making mysorepak thinkig its all the job of “elders@ home” :)…
Bharathy, try this mysoor pak and soon you will be called an expert! latha.
[…] For details of pooja and Kozhukattai recipes click here. […]
Hi Latha,
Thanks for the lovely words in my blog. I too have been performing the pooja only after I got married. As you mentioned, the CD and ‘instruction manual’ are of greatest help! Usual neivedhyam items are sundal, chakkara pongal (akkaravadisal), idli, modakam, panchamrutham, urad dhal vadai and cooked rice. Feel free to use the Ambal photo from my blog. Hope to see your Ambal next year!
Thanks smitha! I am planning to buy a ambal before dasara this year. latha.
Hi Latha Aunty,
Sorry..ippo dhaan unga ‘about us’ page padichen…realized it would be rude to address you by name…hence this comment! Love how you give prior notice of every pandigai…now that the festive season has started, it will be of great help! Thank you!!
Oh! paravaella smitha. Aavani avittam konjam late than! I’ll try posting a week prior to the festival. latha.
[…] (in Tamil) – steamed rice flour warps stuffed with jaggery and coconut or a savoury filling. For one recipe of Kozhukattai click here. I will be posting some other variations […]
[…] If you have come here looking for kozhukattai recipes click here. […]
[…] Four different kinds of Poornam (fillings) can be made. For all the kozhukattai recipes click here. […]
something went wrong… not sure what.
Dear Latha,
Thank you so much for posting all the different varieties of kuzhakattai. I was going to ask my mom in India but you’ve already helped me by posting it in your blog. Happy Ganesh Chaturthi!
hi there
i am living in dubai with my husband for the past few years & i almost lost touch with our tamil receipes thanks so much for the wonderful & informative site i will make my first batch of kozhukattais today for ganapati
i am soo thrilled to make them for my husband thanks a lot for all ur lovely receipes
hi there
i am living in dubai with my husband for the past few years & i almost lost touch with our tamil receipes thanks so much for the wonderful & informative site i will make my first batch of kozhukattais today for ganapati
i am soo thrilled to make them for my husband thanks a lot for all ur lovely receipes it reminds me of my moms home back in pallakad
Dear Mam,
Thank u for ur informations, but only one obligation,
please sent the procedure of pooja in tamil
Thank u
[…] August 13, 2008 by lathanarasimhan This year Varamahalakshmi puja is on 15th August. I’ve received many requests to detail the exact puja procedures. I am just a beginner when it comes to performing the pujas on my own. I have already published some details in my last years post along with the recipes for the viratham. […]
Let me know the kolam that we need to put on nombu
[…] Varalakshmi Viratham-31st August […]
hi all..
nice to see posts on poojas!
my personal favourite is varalakshmi vratham..
would like to share my “amman”” pic with all of you..(last year’s..
let me know where to mail !!
Download instructions for Varalakshmi Pooja Tamil
here
http://www.mininova.org/get/2806254
What happens to the coconut from the kalasam after the laksmi puja is performed
Hi!
am new to this site and am loving it. Am I (Tamil Iyer) one among million, who doesn’t know what to be done on which festival.. not to blame us, back home with our parents, all we use to do was ( I guess) ” EAT ”
Anyways, am just enjoying all the postings,.. i dont have to break my head to think of the menu or the recipes. Its like icing on the cake 😉
Biggest thing to me is (Being a complete Daddy’s Girl) i could impress my Dad , who never thought i can be doing any of these!!
Again thank u, and please keep it coming!
Sandhya
Lovely post. Those who don’t celebrate this they get more information about this puja
hi
My name is Varalakshmi. I wanted the receipe for Kozhukattai & i landed on ur blog. Very nice & informative about Varalakshmi Vritha a favourite pandigai for me. In the kalasam, besides all what u said we used to put, one gold coin, silver coin, lemon, karjoor, elachi, pcs of badam , cashew& resins. Nombu saradu also, nine knots for sumangali & five for kanniponnu. Evening or after the pooja I used to call atleast 1….5 sumangalis for thamboolam. All things offered.. flower, fruits, bakshanas etc are in five fold.
Tku v much. Keep blogging.
how to tie the saree to the pot
very nice and simple to understand recipies
[…] Varalakshmi Viratham-27th July […]
I do not have the face. And is it compulsory that we draw the face on the coconut or use a face