Vinayaka Chavithi Shubhakankshalu

Dear foodies,

Happy Vinayaka Chavithi to all! 

These are the rava ladoo's my mother made when she was here, infact she made them more than a couple of times for my brother since it's his fav sweet. Yes, I enjoyed them too, but he owns the sweet tooth :D 

The recipe is similar to the one I posted here. Adjust the sugar according to your taste, start with a 1: 1/2 ratio of rava and sugar and then increase the amount of sugar from there. If you are familiar with the sweetness of the sugar you use, then this should be an easy guess without the need for tasting. Another variation of this recipe would be to replace a portion of the rava with roasted urad dal flour or roasted moong dal flour. Just as I have been telling in all my Indian sweet recipes, don't skimp on the ghee! 

Traditionally, Kozhakattai or modak are made on this day along with savory rice dumplings called undrallu. Its basically a upma made from rice rava, which is moulded into oval/round balls and steam cooked like idlies. Its served with puli-inji, a tamarind-ginger based gojju. I thought I had posted a recipe for it and dug out my archives only to realize they weren't there, so it'll be coming soon.Enjoy the festival in whatever measure you plan to celebrate and spread that smile on your face to everyone around you :)

I found this photo in my archives today, could be from a couple of years back. This is at my home in Hyd.

and here is one from this year's Varalakshmi Vratam