DEVAKOTTAI SAMAYAL ARAI

Pillayar Nombu is celebrated in honour of God Pillayar  (Ganesha) by the Chettiars  on the 21st day after the Thirukkaarthigai Deepam, when Sashti Thithi and Sadayam (also called Shatabhisha) Nakshathra come on the same day. In US, it comes on Dec 26th, 2014. To make the ellai maavu , you will need Raw Rice - 1 cup Jaggery grated - 1/2 cup To prepare the rice flour, first soak the rice in water for 2 to 3 hours. Then drain the water and spread it on a paper towel or white cloth and let it dry for 20 minutes. Now, the when the rice is still wet, grind it in a mixie , into a powder. Sieve it and collect the coarse powder and grind it again and seive it. Repeat this until very less coarse powder is left.                                     In a pan, put the jaggery and add 2 tbsp of water and heat it until the jaggery dissolves completely. Now, sieve it in a tea strainer and collect the jaggery syrup. It should neither be too thick nor too thin.  

  On a very chilly night, my son wanted to eat something really delicious chicken dish. Instead of going to  a restaurant, why not make something at home ? Oh yes! He asked for Chilli Chicken. It is the junkiest of all, but I chose to make it a little healthier version. I used lemon juice instead of vinegar and I did not deep fry the chicken pieces as it is done in restaurants. So, here comes the recipe I created , hoping that you to will read, prepare at home , enjoy and post the photos here ! To Marinate the Chicken : Boneless Chicken - 1 lb cut into 1 inch pieces Chilli Sauce - 1 tbsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Corn Flour - 2 tbsp For the Sauce : Lemon juice - take juice of 1/2 lemon or 1 tbsp (substitute for vinegar) Tomato Ketchup - 2 tbsp Soy Sauce - 1/2 tsp For the Gravy : Onion - 1 large cut into thick slices Green Capsicum - thick slices Green Chillies - as per your taste cut in to long halves and deseeded (I have used 4 ) Ginger - 1 inch piece, peeled and crushed