Vinayakar Chaturthi | Ganesh Chaturthi

Hey all,

Hope everyone is looking forward to the long weekend. People back home are enjoying the festive season with Ganesh/Vinayakar Chaturthi around the corner. Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the festivals which is close to my heart.

Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated as birth anniversary of Lord Ganesh. Lord Ganesh/Vinayakar/Pillayar is worshipped as the god of wisdom,prosperity and good fortune. The festivity of Ganesh ends after 10 days on Ganesh Visarjan day. On the tenth day, devotees immerse the idol of Lord Ganesh in water body after a gala street procession. But some used to immerse idol on 3 or 5^th day too.

I always look forward to the festival as amma used to prepare yummy delicious kozhukattai. Appa used to buy eco-friendly Ganesh made up of clay from stores. I and my brothers are used to decorating the Ganesh with umbrella and jewels. Decorated Ganesh was kept for Pooja on the auspicious day of vinayakar Chaturthi. I and Amma used to search for arukampul (a type of grass) to make a garland for Ganesh. The newly bought Ganesh is decorated with grass garland and flowers. Sweets like channa dhal sundal and kozhukattais are served for the lord and Pooja is performed on the day of Chaturthi. Later we used to worship the Ganesh at home for three days. On the fourth day, we used to immerse the Ganesh in a nearby stream.

Though i am miles apart from family, i wanted to prepare Ganesha. As a result, bought clay from Walmart and here is my Handmade Ganesha

Though amma prepares vada and sundal, kozhukatti has been always my favorite. Kozhukattai is made up of rice flour filled with a variety of filling and steamed in idli molds. The type of filling may vary and you can play with imagination. Most people commonly used to fill with coconut, jaggery, sesame seeds, chana dal or moong dal. Kozhukatti can be either sweet or spicy and sweetness/spiciness depends on according to the person. As Vinayakar Chaturthi falls on a holiday this year, I thought of preparing a variety of kozhukattai. Watch out for the kozhukattais popping in your feed for next couple of days.

Mothagam | Modak | Thengai Poorna Kozhukattai