Today happens to be Lord Rama's birthday, or rather the day when his birth star has risen. My maternal grandfather's family happens to be ardent Rama devotees. They usually celebrate this day with a lot of pomp and fervor. Almost all of my maternal uncles' and cousins' names end with "Rama" or have some portion of their name attributed to the characters from the Ramayana. Such used to be the fervor. Of course, the devotion has lost its passion since some of its ardent devotees are no more to carry on the tradition. But I have heard lovely stories of the grand manner in which the occasion used to be celebrated - beautiful flower arrangements, a zillion types of flowers handpicked to make garlands, a variety of delicacies to feast on, week-long prayers, bhajans, etc. Rama Navami is therefore seriously honored by my maternal family.
Since I have no means to celebrate the occasion in a grand manner, I just prepared two simple drinks (one sweet and one savory, of course) to honor the day. These two drinks are specifically prepared on this day and are considered to be good offerings to Rama and his loyal aide, Hanuman. They are also wonderful to have on a hot summer's day.
The sweet drink is called Paanagam. It is water sweetened with jaggery and spiced with some cardamom. That's it. But it's so delicious and soothing. Here's how I made it - I added 5-6 tablespoons of jaggery to 5-6 cups of water and let it dissolve at room temperature. It takes a few hours for the jaggery to completely dissolve and infuse the water with its flavor. Then, I stirred in 1 teaspoon of cardamom powder. If the jaggery has any grains/silt in it, filter the paanagam before drinking it. It's best when served chilled.
The savory drink is called Neer Mor (diluted buttermilk, literally). This is a great preparation to aid in digestion. Take 1 cup of buttermilk and add 1 cup of water (or 1/2 cup depending on how diluted the buttermilk is) and whisk well. Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon hing/asafoetida, a crushed or minced green chilly, 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger, 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds, some torn curry leaves and mix well. Serve chilled. A word of caution, remove the chilly if you are sensitive to heat.
They are simple to prepare, delicious to drink, and are great for the tummy. They are refreshing summer drinks that bring a lot of good memories.
Trust you to be so prompt with the recipes.. :) Happy rama navami. The paanagam that you described is exactly how I remember it from my mom. Ah. so soothing! An absolute aid to the burning summer heat. Here at my in-laws, there is a slight addition to the ingredients of the paanagam, and this one tastes awesome too.. the juice from crushed musk melon and a dash of lemon!
ReplyDeleteBelated Rama Navami to you all too! :)
ReplyDeletePaanagam with melon and lemon sounds sooo good! Will try it out soon... it's a good summer drink for sure :)