Fall Into Fall
We are in the month of October. There is a slight nip in the air as I take my dog on his morning walk. I’ve pulled my light sweaters and jackets out of the closet. As I plod on the sidewalks, I hear the wonderfully soothing crackle and crunch of dried leaves and acorns. I see Halloween pumpkins, ghosts, ghouls, spiders and eerie monsters decking homes and porches. The trees around me are turning colors. Although North Texas is not really famed for Fall colors, we do see several trees that start to wear crimson, gold and shades in between.
I love this time of the year!
Navarathri
This is also the season for Indian festivities. The 9-day celebration, called Navarathri translates to “9 nights” in Sanskrit, is currently underway. The 9 days are to celebrate Shakti, the feminine power. She is the dynamic feminine part of the primordial cosmic energy that surrounds us. Like the Taoist metaphysics Yin and Yang, Hinduism believes in the balance of the the masculine and feminine parts that make up this universe. The feminine part is the creation – of literal birth, of the awakening of the consciousness, and creativity.
In Karnataka, the state where my parents were born, a pair of wooden dolls called Marapachi or Pattada Gombe (translates to royal dolls) are handed down from mother to daughter over several generations. These crudely carved male and female dolls are decked up in either paper or fabric finery and displayed proudly as the centerpiece of a doll display called Golu during the Navarathri celebrations. My mother passed on her pattada gombes to me several years back. These belonged to my grandmother (and possibly to her mother). It is hard to trace back beyond grandmother’s time since no one remembers.
Every Dasara (which is the last day of the Navarathri celebrations), I display my gombes with the deeper understanding of the two big forces – the male and the female – that make this world go round. Ardhanarishvara, the image of Shiva and Shakti shown as an androgyne figure, illustrates the equality and indispensability of the two.
Happy Navarathri. Happy Dasara.
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- Ardhanariswara – the unity of Masculine and Feminine
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- A Family Heirloom – Pattada Bombe
Akki-Halu Payasa
I have fond recollections of my mom making this dessert for at least one of the 9 Navaratri nights. The last few days of the festivities get so hectic and tiring, that I suspect she made this payasa as an easy way out without letting it on! When I made this for the first time, I realized that it was a super-simple recipe to make. The rich aroma of Basmati rice with the delicious blend of ghee-infused plumped up raisins and golden roasted cashews with the lingering aroma of (very precious and coveted in those days due to unaffordability) saffron strands takes the kheer to a sublime level of happiness.
I have used raw milk from grass-fed, free to forage, cows to make this recipe. Raw milk from happy cows is rich in several enzymes that you would be hard pressed to find in homogenized, pasteurized factory cows. I won’t even delve into the ethical issue here, but ignorance is not bliss. To find raw milk in your area, look up this link. Organic milk is not the same as milk from cows that are pasture-raised.
Recipes from Karnataka
If you love to serve a regional cuisine, look no further than these recipes from my homeland state of Karnataka
- Bisi Bele Baath
- Zero Waste Butternut Squash Peel (Sippe) Chutney
- Delicious Carrot-Cucumber Kosumbari Salad
- Crunchy Baked Plantain Chips
- No Ferment Cabbage Onion Dosa
- Spicy Sweet Tangy Pineapple Gojju
- Beets (Root & Greens) Palya
- Zesty Carrot Garbanzo Usli
Healthy Desserts
Are you craving for healthy desserts? Here are some of our favs…
- Chia Seed Pudding
- Mango Rasayana
- Hesarubele (Split Mung) Payasa/Kheer
- Sweet Pongal (Huggi)
- Gasagase Payasa (Poppy Seed Kheer)
- Date Almond Boats
- Creamy Instant Pot Carrot (Gajar) Halwa
Traditional desserts made at home have minimal ingredients. There is no need to add artificial colors, even those that are FDA approved. You can use organic ingredients to avoid GMO and pesticides. Best of all, you can control the amount of sweetness you add into your homemade dessert!
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Akki-Haalu Payasa (Rice Kheer)
Ingredients
- 1/4 Cup Rice - Preferably Basmati rice
- 1.5 Cup Whole Milk - I use grass fed raw milk
- 1 Tablespoon Jaggery - Extra for sweet-tooth!
- 1/4 Teaspoon Cardamom - Freshly ground powder
- 30 Strands Saffron - Soak in 2 tablespoons milk
Garnishing
- 1 Teaspoon Ghee - Make your own Ghee!
- 1 Tablespoon Raisins
- 1 Tablespoon Cashew nuts - Split and broken
Instructions
- Wash rice well. Soak rice for about an hour, if possible. Drain the water.
- Add 1 cup milk to the rice. Cook until the rice is fully done. I have used a rice cooker to cook my rice. If you cook rice on the stove top, make sure to use medium heat and mix once in a while, so it doesn't stick to the bottom.
- Allow the milk to evaporate and make sure the rice is fully cooked.
- Mash the cooked rice with the back of a fork.
- Add grated jaggery, remaining milk (less or more per desired consistency) and mix well. Taste for sweetness (don't end up eating the entire payasam!) and adjust accordingly. Turn on the rice cooker again and mix the payasa well until the jaggery is dissolved.
- Add cardamon powder, saffron strands and the milk that it is soaking in.
- In a separate dish, heat ghee. Add raisins and broken pieces of cashew nuts. Roast until raisins fluff up and cashew nuts turn fragrant.
- Add roasted raisins and cashews to the payasa, mix well. Serve hot or cold.
Notes
Nutrition
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