FESTIVE THALI...

This is the meal that was cooked on  Ganesha Janma i.e Birthdate of Lord Ganesha. We are ardent followers of Siddhivinayak and with my parents being here for a couple of days I though of making or cooking a complete vegeterian meal which is  normally made during the first day of Ganesh Chaturti.

Let me share with you what is the normal festive day menu at our home.

This meal comprises of ...

In the center : Mungachyo gathi or whole moong bean curry 

Moong beans which are sprouted for 24 hours and there covering removed..( I dont like to remove the cover as its unnecessary loss of fiber but thats how it is traditionally done and I do so for special occasions but when I do it on normal days I just retain the cover and hence have to soak for about 8 hours and keep for another couple of hours , after being washed and rinsed thoroughly. you can see tiny sprouts come up which is what we are looking for.)

cauliflower vegetable with potato sticks :

This is a simple vegetable made by tempering both cauliflower and potatoes with Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, hing, green chillies and curry leaves add salt, pinch of sugar and coriander leaves to garnish. In Goa it is garnished with finely grated coconut too.
Another option to this vegetable is french beans made in a similar fashion.

Grated carrot salad:

Grated carrot with tempering and garnished with coriander and freshly grated coconut.

Patolio :

Special sweet made with a covering of rice flour and stuffed with a mixture of freshly grated coconut, jaggery and cardamom.

Shrikhand :

Sweet made with hung curd to which sugar, saffron and cardamom powder is added.

Aloo wadi

rolls made with colocasia leaves and stuffed with spicy mixture of chickpea flour (this was store bought)

Puri

Deep fried wheat flour rotis..

Rice and yellow lentil dal are not in the picture .. The salad is sometimes made with curds .too.