Varalakshmi Vratham Pooja prasad recipes

Varalakshmi Vratham or Varamahalakshmi Pooja will be celebrated on August 12 2016. This is one of the most important festivals and requires elaborate preparation and celebrations resulting in joy and mental satisfaction . This festival is called Varamahalakshmi Habba in Karnataka.

The information is based on what is followed in our family for decades. It can vary across families also.

For mangala aarthi in Kannada this is the link to my YouTube video Kannada aarthi

For aarthi in Telugu this is the link to my YouTube video Telugu aarthi

Varalakshmi Vratham Pooja preparation

The preparation starts the previous day i.e Thursday , when the pooja room is cleaned , all the images of Gods and Goddesses are cleaned and sandalwood, turmeric powder and kumkum are applied on the images.

Varalakshmi Vratham Pooja items requirements - a checklist

Fruits - five types of fruits including apple, guava , grapes , bananas , pomegranate
Flowers - Lotus and talampoo ( fragrant screw pine flower ) and five garlands including jasmine, marigold , roses
Mango leaf thoranam and coconut frond toran
Cotton garland or panju thiri malai , cotton wicks
Betelnut leaves , arecanut.
plantain leaves for placing the kalasam in the mantap and for lunch
Naivedyam - cooked rice , dhal, poori payasam and dhal poli
Dharam or thread for Varalakshmi Nonbu that is tied to the right hand
Oil and camphor for Pooja, dhoop sticks
turmeric powder, sandalwood powder and rose water
coconut
akshatha ( rice mixed with kumkum )

Varalakshmi Vratham kalasam preparation and decoration

In our family we fill the khalasam with samba wheat, some fill with rice , some fill with water and turmeric powder
The kalasam is also filled with picholai , karugamani, dry fruits , badam , kajur , some gold and silver.
The kalasam is decorated with different garlands, panju thiri malai and any gold ornaments
Two talampoo petals are kept on either side of the kalasam
On the top five mango leaves and five talampoo petals are kept alternately and on the top a coconut smeared with turmeric powder , with kumkum applied between two eyes of the coconut is kept.
The mantap in which the kalasam is placed is decorated with Hridaya kamalam kolam, a nuni elai is kept on it , rice is spread on the leaf and the khalasam is kept on the top.
Lakshmi padam in the form of kolam is drawn from the entrance to the kalasam symbolically representing that Goddess Lakshmi enters the house.
The kalasam is placed on a plank , that is placed on a simple padi kolam . Aarti is performed to the kalasam, a tall narrow vessel filled with rice with jaggery on the top is kept at the entrance .
The kalasam is used to gently tap the rice so that it falls down ( similar to the tradition in which the daughter in law taps with her right leg rice and jaggery when she first enters her in-laws house )

A song welcoming Goddess Lakshmi is sung

a) Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma - in Kannada or

b) Lakshmi song - in Telugu or

c) in Tamil

The Pooja is performed following our family established procedure or with a CD that is available in the market.

Then aarti is performed , fruits and naivedyam are offered.

Again in the evening aarti is performed and thamboolam is offered for five ladies

Punar Pooja is performed the next day. After some fruits naivedyam , aarti , the kalasam is moved slightly signifying completion of the Pooja. The kalasam is kept in rice facing the east.

The coconut placed in the kalasam is used to make payasam or coconut burfi.

More decoration and recipe ideas for naivedyam are given below

Varalakshmi Vratham recipes ideas for naivedyam

For any festival or function , payasam or kheer is a must . Varalakshmi Vratham is a special festival and so a different type of recipe through a payasam is an option. This is called poori payasam or kheer.

Take chiroti rava , if it is not available ordinary rava can be ground in a mixer.
Add water and cover with a wet cloth for three to four hours .
The rava becomes soft and can be kneaded like dough. Make poori shapes with the dough
Using a knife or cutter cut the poori dough horizontally and vertically to get small pieces
Fry them in oil and place them in a container or plate with tissue paper on top to drain oil.
It is preferable to use oil and ghee combination for frying. Of course this is based on one's health concers.
Meanwhile boil milk on the stove , adding sugar and cardamom as required . Saffron is optional
Add the fried poori pieces and allow the kheer to boil for five minutes
Fry cashew nuts in ghee and add them to the kheer.
Varamahalakshmi Pooja Naivedyam is ready.

Varalakshmi Puja recipes - Puran Poli

Varalakshmi vratam recipes / Varalakshmi Pooja prasadam

The prasadam list usually includes

A kheer or payasam

Puran poli

Fruits at least five types

cooked rice and dhal

Idli ( if the batter is prepared fresh , using old batter is to be avoided )

So considering the importance attached to this festival instead of idli some include rava idli as naivdeyam and prasadam

Naivedyam for Pooja includes Puran Poli in our house. Puran poli is prepared for Varalaxmi Vratam and Ugadi among the many festivals we celebrate

It is quite a popular sweet recipe , traditional recipe of Maharashtra. Like many recipes that "invade" other states in India , this recipe is quite popular in many southern states. Such invasions are always welcome !

It is called Boli in Tamil , obbattu or holige in Kannada , bobbatlu in Telugu.

Another important sweet recipe for Varalakshmi Puja is Puran Poli . The method of preparation is as follows

Take required quantity of maida , add very little ( a pinch ) of salt and one tea spoon turmeric powder
Add water and mix well to get the dough.
Add generous quantity of oil above the dough so that it is immersed in oil and keep it aside for three hours
Cook gram dhal in a cooker and mash well , we can also use a mixer to mash thoroughly
For one measure of dhal take one measure of jaggery.
Heat the jaggery in a vessel by adding little water and stir well till it melts completely
Add nutmeg powder which gives a fine flavour for poli, the other option is cardamom powder
Add a little ghee and stir well till the puran solidifies.
For coconut poli the procedure is the same - only thing is we have to add coconut instead of gram dhal
Allow the puran to cool and meanwhile the dough also is ready
Take a small plantain leaf , spread a little oil and place a ball of dough
Spread the dough with your fingers , this is the traditional method of making poli
Place a ball of puran , fold the dough and close it , removing excess dough if any
Again spread the poli with fingers starting from the centre.
Heat a tava , place the poli dough on the tava by inverting the leaf and remove the leaf
Apply ghee to cook the poli on both sides
This is the traditional poli recipe as compared with prepared using a rolling pin.

Varalakshmi Vratham 2016 - recipes - Easy ambode or aama vadai and mor kulambu

Soak gram dhal and red chillies as required in water for one hour .
Drain the water , add salt according to your taste
Grind red chillies in a mixer , then add gram dhal and grind
The paste should not be fine and it is all right if the occasional dhal is present without grinding
Add asafoetida and curry leaves and mix well
We can add grated coconut also but it is optional
Heat oil in a kadai or vaanali , make flat pieces using the paste and drop in oil
Fry them well till they turn golden brown in colour , drain oil and naivedyam is ready.
We can use three types of dhal also to make ambode.

Using the same paste , fry bonda like shapes in the oil
Take thick curd without adding water.
Saute mustard, cumin seeds, asafoetida , curry leaves , turmeric powder , red chillies
Add the bondas to the curd and add the "saute" to the curd and mix well
A quick and easy morkulambu is ready
There is a tradition of making morkulambu for festivals in some families.
This easy recipe will be useful to them because already there are lot of items on the menu for festivals.
So this morkuzambu can be made easily and in small quantity as well

Payasam using coconut kept in khalasam

What to do with the coconut that is kept in the khalasam , Punar Pooja is performed the next day after completing the Puja and Vrat. In our family there is a tradition of using the coconut used for Varalakshmi Pooja to make a sweet it can be a payasam or coconut burfi;

This is a coconut paysam recipe for Varalakshmi Vratham coconut

Take 200 g of raw rice for one whole coconut and soak in water for half an hour
Grate the coconut and after half an hour add it to the soaked rice
Add cardamom powder and wet grind in a mixer into a fine paste
Boil milk and add this paste to milk
Add jaggery as required to the payasam

Kolam plays an important part in the celebration of Varamahalakshmi Puja . It is Rangolisansdots and hence flagship theme is rangoli or kolam . Of course occasionally I digress from the main theme to share some home made recipes and naivedyam for festivals and some traditional crafts of India like the rose garland

Some images of Varalakshmi Vratham 2016 decoration and preparation

Varalakshmi Pooja - flowers and fruits

Varamahalakshmi Pooja - Drawing Goddess Feet

Varamahalakshmi Vratham - Aarthi at entrance to welcome Goddess