Neeragaram / Pazhayadhu / நீராகாரம்/summer cooler & energy drink

Summer is down so as usual I started our 'Neeragaram' or Pazhayadhu for breaking the fast in the morning.


Our farmers from southern regions and many villagers have this diet in the morning which keep them healthy, fit and energized for the whole day. It is a lovely sight to seem them having a plate of pazhayadhu (leftover soaked rice) biting the onion & green chillies as side dish. 


The purest form is without butter milk. But to enhance the taste, we can add the buttermilk. 

This is an excellent source of hydration and electrolytes.

The rice that is cooked using draining method by draining the excess water after cooking, is the best one for making this dish rather than a rice cooked in a pressure cooker or rice cooker. If it is a rice with bran (brown rice) then it adds more nutritional value. The rice for this dish must be the one that was cooked either in the morning or in the afternoon. 

The left over rice of the rice at night is immersed in water overnight at room temperature. Fermentation takes place during this time thus it makes the rice rich in micro-nutrients.

As years went by, most of our traditional food and practises has gone out of practice. This food was one them and  looked at as a poor man's food and thus ignoring its nutritional value.

I have given some benefits below. You may google for knowing more benefits this drink.

Ingridients :

1. cooked Rice - 2 cups
2. Water - as required to cover the rice completely
3. Small Onion - 10 nos.
4. Salt to taste
5. Buttermilk - 1 cup

Curry leaves, Green chilli - Optional (use as a variation for a change in flavour)

Procedure :

• Previous night soak the rice and leave it stand till next day morning
• Next day, drain the water (this water never discard as we are going to mix it back with rice in the process), mash the rice
• finely chop small onions, curry leaves, green chilli and add it to the mashed rice
• Now add the water that is drained (in which rice is soaked) to it and also a cup of buttermilk.
• season it with salt, mix well
• now the Healthy breakfast is ready to keep you energetic on a hot summer day

Please go through the attached image (published in a magazine) for knowing its health benefits better. I am giving a translation of the same below this picture :-

 If you find the letters in the picture very small, press 'ctrl' button and simultaneously move the scroll button in your mouse upwards, this will enlarge the screen. To resize the scree again, press 'ctrl' and move the scroll button in mouse downwards.

HEALTH BENEFITS :

1. Grest source of vitamin B12 and B6, 
2. It has trillions of good bacteria which keeps your digestive system especially the small intestine clean and healthy
3. The small onions / shallots used increase immunity power
4. It prevents ulcer, cools down the body, Healthy & light diet
5. Keep you energized throughout the day
6. without buttermilk it can cure ulcer as both onion as well as the soaked rice & water acts as cooling agent
7. Even for chicken pox, a cloth is dipped in this water and kept over the eyes to cool them.

Dos and Donts suggestions for those who are fitted with pace makers

Sharing with you the info I have come across on pace maker. A heart specialist gave the following advise for those who are fitted with pace makers.

Pace maker is fitted to increase the pumping rate of the heart. Normally it should be within the range of 60 to 90 beats per minute and it varies depending upon one's activity and stress levels. When it reduces drastically, pace maker is fitted to increase the heart pumping function to normal level.

1. Pace maker will only help to increase the heart beat and cannot prevent heart attack. Hence have to careful with the eating & living habits.
2. Pace maker will not function inside a magnetic field, hence let you doctor know if you are prescribed for MRI scans and avoid going to places where magnetic field is there
3. Always carry the certificate or the card which says that pacemaker is planted in your body, this is to avoid the problem that may arise during a security check as the metal detector will raise an alarm. Especially while travelling by flights or going to temples or malls which has metal detector.
4. If the person who has got a pace maker fitted in his or her body dies, please remove the instrument with the help of a doctor before making cremations as it may explode during that process.

Olan - (using ashgourd/ilavan)

Olan is a very simple watery vegetable preparation which can be used as a side dish or can be mixed with rice for a main course if you want keep your cooking simple. Sharing with you the olan that is made using ashgourd (poosani / bhopla / ilavan). Can also be prepared using Pumpkin (parangikai / manjal poosani / kadhdhu)

Ashgourd helps in weight reduction.

Video Recipe is here :- https://youtu.be/kAR31hmJGGY

Ingridients :

1. Ashgourd - 1 Cup (sliced)
2. cow peas - 1 tbsp (black eyed beans / chawli)
3. Salt to taste
4. Coconut Oil - 1 tbsp
5. Coconu Milk - 2 tbsp
6. Sugar - 1/4 tsp
7. Green chilli - 2 nos
8. Water to cook the vegetable

Procedure :

• Thinly slice the ashgourd, Pour water to cover it.
• Add salt, vertically sliced green chilli, sugar to it and cook
• Pressure cook the cow peas till they become tender
• Add the cooked cow peas to the pumpkin preparation.
• When the pumpkin pieces turn transparent & tender, add coconut oil,  coconut milk and mix well. cook for 30 seconds and remove from fire

Variations :

1. Instead of coocnut milk, regular cow milk can also be used but to be added only after removing from fire.
2. Instead of adding oil directly, you can heat little oil, add curry leaves and then add it as a tempering to the prepared dish and add the milk.
3. you can drink it as soup by without adding or reducing oil & milk.
4. If you keep it little thick, use as a side dish, if made watery, use it as a main dish to be eaten with plain rice.
5. Adding cow peas is optional

Kaaradayaan Nombu / Saavitri Pooja

Kaaradayaan Nonmbu is a fasting observed by the Married ladies and unmarried girls. A married lady pray for the well being of her husband and an unmarried girl pray to get a good husband.

This auscpicious day falls on a time when the Tamizh month 'maasi 'ends and the new month 'Panguni' starts.

Women observe fasting, pray to the goddess by lighting a lamp, chanting slokas.

The pooja and tying the sacred thread (Charadu Kattal) should be over in Maasi month time and when we eat the adai prasadam and get up it should be the "panguni" month time. This is how timing is taken into account. But in some cases, the festival falls at midnight... elders advise that in such case the thread to be tied in an auspicious time of the massi month last day.

The story behind this fast is given here

On this day, after having headbath, light the lamp and pray to the god chanting slokas.

Sweet and Salt adais are prepared and offered to god along with butter on plaintain leaf / Banyan Leaf, tamboolam (beetel leaves, beetelnut, whole turmeric, the sacred yellow thread, flowers).

The sacred yellow thread (Nombu Charadu) should be made this way (photo below) by tying a flower in it.

After the prayers, the yellow thread is tied to the goddess and also in the neck of the lady who offers the prayers. As per traditional practice the wife seeks the blessings (after god) her husband and then the elders of the family on this day.

The offering is normally done in Banyan leaf or Banana leaf. If any of them, not available then we can offer it in Patra (photo below) or in a plate (as shown in photo above).

Then the fast is broken by eating the prashad (Adais) along with butter. [Adai (sweet as well as salt) Recipes]

Those who could not keep the vrath on time for some reasons may observe it on auspicious time of some other day in the month and seeks the blessings of the goddess.

During Mourning time :-   i.e. when someone dear to us passes away, then till the first death anniversary rituals are done (Aata Shradham), some people don't celebrate any festival as per their tradition. However for any festival days like Ganesh Chaturthi, Krishna Janmashtami, etc.. we can offer Fruits and Coconut to the God as we will not be making any Neivedhyams.  So for this nombu (nonbu) also, we need not make the adais, but we can offer betel leaves, betel nut, flower, banana during pooja. (photo shown below)

May the Saavitri maa and the goddess Kamakshi bless you all.

Jai mata di!!