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Gyarsi (Ekadashi) Khadho For AlifBe~38

Alka Keswani — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 06:55:45 +0000

Gyarsi Khadho or the Sindhi Ekadashi food is my pick for the AlifBe of Sindhi food~ 38. The 38th alphabet in Persio Arabic script is گ in Sindhi, ग in Devanagari and ‘G‘ as in Ganga, in Roman Sindhi. Gyars: Gyars (Giyaras/ Igyas) is observed on the eleventh day of Hindu Lunar month. In each lunar month two Gyars (Ekadashi) are observed. Like many other communities, even Sindhi people observe the Ekadashi fast. Upvas or fasting as we call it, is an essential part of any culture. There are various ways to observe a fast and there are various types of fasts. Be it Chaliha, Lent/Shrove Tuesday, Roza/Ramadan, Karva Chowth, Teej, Navratri, Paryushan or any other religious or spiritual fast, the beliefs may vary, the rituals may be poles apart but the crux remains more or less the same i.e to connect with the Supreme power and to connect with your own-self in a disciplined way. For many Hindus, Upvas is a synonym of fasting or to abstain from food. For religious folks, Upvas or Upa (near/close)+ Vas (to stay/ live) is the time to get closer to his or her deity while for many spiritual people, upvas means to connect with their own self, to introspect, to control their desires, to stay in solitude and to become a better version of his or her self. Of course not everyone understands the true essence of Upavas and for many it just means indulging in a different way. We tend to look for tempting recipes using pseudo grains when grains are not allowed, we feast on fancy ‘satvik’ food cooked with ingredients that our ancestors never knew about, restaurants and eateries offer ‘fasting’ meals to ‘satiate’ your taste buds, the markets are flooded with all sorts of feasts to break your fast. I feel so amused! Well, I am not the one who believe in the moral policing and I am as much guilty as many of us would be, when it comes to feasting on a fasting day. We surely need to mend our ways! Coming to Gyars or Ekadashi, the day is considered to be a sacred day to worship Lord Vishnu and the Sindhis abstain from consuming meat, grains, beans/pulses, cereals, table salt (sendha namak is used instead) and spices except black pepper and cumin (many even avoid cumin seeds). Leafy greens and vegetables are also avoided in the Gyarsi (Ekadashi) food, by majority of Sindhis observing the fast. For those who observe Ekadashi, the Gyarsi breakfast generally consists of fruits or Kirng (Kin~g) i.e samo porridge. The porridge made from samo seeds could be sweet or savory (cooked with salt and black pepper). It is generally paired with shallow fried potatoes flavored with sendha namak and freshly pounded black pepper. Lunch consists of Gyarsi Bhaji and Dhodho. Video Recipe of Gyarsi Bhaji and Dhodho: Gyarsi Bhaji: A soupy, tangy curry is cooked with roasted samo flour (Bagar/ Varai) known as Sauri (sauvri) to which potatoes and boiled lotus stem are added. The curry is flavored with salt, pepper and tamarind juice. It is paired with Gyarsi Dhodho i.e a patted roti made from Sauri flour to which mashed boiled potatoes are added for the binding. Scroll down for the recipe of Bhaji and Dhodho! If in the season, Lahori Gajar i.e boiled/roasted or syrup sweetened sweet potatoes are also had on Ekadashi. Coconut, sago wafers, dates, peanuts are consumed as snacks or many consume sabudana khichdi in the evening. The above picture is shared by Mrs Urvashi Dama. This is Gyarsi platter and a particular dish that intrigued me was Kuttu Je Daro (dar-ey) Ja Dhokla or the Dhokla made from broken Buckwheat (groats), a traditional dish popular in some Sindhi subcastes (Do Nasarpuri Sindhis make this commonly?Please share any information you have). In the above picture you can see steamed Kuttu Dhokla and also the fried Dhokla. Urvashi Ji was generous enough to share the recipe of this lesser known dish. If you wish to get her recipe, just leave a comment in the comment section! Though Rajgira and Kuttu (Amaranth) puri and pakode are also had by some but many avoid the greasy puri pakoda. These are more popular with those who observe only one Ekadashi in whole year i.e Vadhi Gyars (Prabhodhini Ekadashi) and for many of us it is an occasion to relish Rajgiri and Kuttu (Buckwheat) puri/ pakora, the tempting Gyarsi patties and the tangy, off white colored Beeh alu curry sold in the shops and eateries in Sindhi populated areas on Vadhi Gyars. Print Gyarsi (Ekadashi) Khadho For AlifBe~38 Ingredients For Curry (Sindhi Gyarsi Bhaji/ Gyarsi Beeh patata) 3 medium sized Potatoes 100-150 gm Lotus stem ¼ cup Sauri flour 1 small tamarind ball Salt (preferably sea salt or rock salt ) 1 tbsp Black pepper powder 1 Green chilli (optional) 2 tbsp Oil 2 cups Water For Dhodho (Flat bread) Makes 3 200 gms ( 2 and half cup) Sauri (Bagar.varai/Samo) Flour Salt as per taste 1 tbsp Black pepper (crushed or powdered) 2 tbsp Oil (optional) 2 Mashed boiled potatoes Water as much needed Oil and ghee to cook roti. Method Soak tamarind in 1 cup of water for about 15 min, mash it properly, and discard the fibre and seeds. We will use the tamarind water only. Scrap off the peel of lotus stem and cut in slants (1-2 cm thick). If the stem is very thin in diameter, you can cut it in 2 inch long pieces (not slanted). Clean the stem thoroughly if their is any mud inside the pores. Use running water and tooth picks to clean pores. If you buy the stem that is closed at both the ends, there wont be any mud inside. Boil lotus stem along with water and few drops of oil, in a pressure cooker. You can use some raw papad instead of oil to hasten the cooking process. A good quality Beeh (Lotus stem) will soften in 2-3 whistles of pressure cooker. When pressure subsides, open the lid of cooker and drain lotus stem. Keep aside. Heat a pressure cooker and add 2 tbsp oil. Add add sauri flour. Roast it till slight change in colour is observed. Add water, salt, black pepper powder and potato cubes along with boiled lotus stem, tamarind water, green chilli (if using) and mix properly. Close the lid of cooker and wait for 2 whistles. Later, check the consistency of gravy and adjust accordingly. This curry is supposed to be soupy. It tends to thicken with time. This Sindhi Gyarsi (Ekadashi) Beeh patata are relished with gyarsi dhodha To Make Dhodho Take 200 gm of sauri flour , and mix salt, pepper, mashed potatoes and 2 tbsp oil (optional) Please Note: Adding oil will make Dhodho crisp while skipping oil will make Dhodho softer. Potatoes are added for the binding. So do not skip potatoes. Instead of using boiled potatoes you can use few chunks of potatoes from the Gyarsi Subzi. Mix everything well. Adding little water at a time, knead a soft dough. Grease your palms with little oil, take a portion of the dough and pat it between your palms (refer the recipe) video to flatten the dough ball as much as possible. Now grease a hot griddle (tawa) and gently pat the flattened dough rolling in circular motion with palm of your hand, till a thickness of paratha is achieved (since this is bit tricky, an easy way out is to take a clean polythene bag or butter paper and lay on kitchen platform. Now sprinkle some flour on this polythene sheet and place the dough, and then gently pat it in circular motion till a thick roti is formed and carefully pick it up and place on greased and hot griddle) Pour a little of oil and let the Dhodho cook on medium flame till small brown patches appear. Toss and cook on other side too. Repeat for the remaining dough. Enjoy it hot with gyarsi bhaji or with dahi The dough tends to get loose and difficult to handle with time. Hence make sure to cook the flatbread as soon as you knead the dough. 3.5.3251 And if you wish to learn how to read and write Arabic Sindhi, then you can watch these short videos that I make for letter formation!

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Gogo/Gogro~ Naagpanchmi Food and Rituals

Alka Keswani — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 06:36:31 +0000

Gogo or Gogro is a Sindhi festival celebrated in honor of the God of snakes, named Gogal Devta. It is celebrated as Nag panchmi by many Indian communities. Gogo is now observed only by a small percentage of Sindhi families and many are not aware of the rituals as well. But for those who wish to know why and how this festival was celebrated, here I am, with some details about the Gogo festival. The Legend: Gogo (Gogal), as per a legend, was the grandson of King Gopichand who ruled a place in Thatta (Now in Sindh, Pakistan). Gogo’s mother inhaled the aroma of a flower carrying the ‘soul’ of a saint and got pregnant. No one in her family and around, believed her and to save his family from embarrassment, the King abandoned her. She gave birth to a son named Gogo, in the forest. Gogo grew up in the forest and the legend says that he was immune to snake poison as he was probably bitten by many snakes (many believe that snakes would feed him poison) and when he grew up he started treating snake bites just by his powerful gaze. He also started extracting more venom from snakes to feed his seven disciples. The snakes were offended as no one was afraid of snakes any more and hence one of the snakes decided to kill Gogo. It borrowed venom from a Python and bit Gogo on his jaw where his own gaze won’t reach and hence Gogo couldn’t treat himself and succumbed to the snake bite. When King Cobra came to know about the death of Gogo, it got furious and immediately killed the snake . King Cobra also cursed the Python that it won’t be able to produce venom any more. The legend says that from that moment onwards Pythons turned non poisonous. A logical reason behind celebrating Nag panchmi: Most of our ancestors were either farmers or lived in villages around jungles. In the monsoon when it rains, the burrows where snakes live are often filled with water and hence snakes tend to move out and find shelters around causing fear and anxiety in people living in the vicinity. Also during rains many frogs are found around the ponds and in the fields and snakes like to feast on the amphibians. More the snakes venture out in the field, more scared people would feel. In the mode of panic, even the non-poisonous snakes were/are killed. But our ancestors were aware of the fact that snakes are farmer’s best friends as snakes kill rodents and pests that often destroy the crops. When snake population declines, rodents increase in number causing harm to the crops and the ecosystem is affected too. In olden days many people would collect snakes and keep them covered in huge earthen pots, during monsoons, particularly during Shravan month, feeding the snakes from time to time so that neither villagers are harmed by freely moving snakes nor the snakes get killed. So to sensitise the people about the reptiles and to remove the fear of snakes from their minds, Naag Panchami was celebrated where people would bow down to the otherwise scary reptiles, offering milk to the snakes to seek blessings! In most of the temples or around, on this day, you will find snake charmers carrying non poisonous snakes in baskets. People offer milk to the snakes and money/food/fruits to the snake charmer. Sadly, eventually, this became a business for some people. Ideally snakes do not drink milk but are actually forced to drink it by the charmers to appease people for the sake of money. Urban population is clueless about how to tackle snakes or snake bites so it is not advisable for them to visit snake mounds to offer milk or grains, without a local guide. Considering this situation many Sindhi families no longer observe Gogo. The Food: Sindhis cook food on the eve of Gogo and eat only ‘stale’ or Thadho (cold) food on Naag panchmi. The food made on Gogo is same as that made for Thadri (Satain) but the Pooja rituals are bit different. The stove (Kerosene stove or gas burner) on which Lola are made on the eve of Gogo is not lit for the whole day on Gogo. The food cooked is as follows: (Please click on the name of the dish for its recipe) 1) Lolo : Jaggery sweetened whole wheat flat bread. 2) Koki. : Savory whole wheat roti spiced with onions, chillies, coriander leaves, dried pomegranate seeds etc. 3) Besani : Same as Koki, but here, gram flour is used instead of whole wheat flour 4) Dal paata: Mung dal stuffed paratha. To make dal paata phulka, rinse well and soak moong dal for an hour. Drain and roast slightly with some oil in a pan, add salt, turmeric powder and green chillies (optional) and boil in little water till al dente. Drain if there is any excess water. You can add a tempering of cumin seeds, coriander powder and red chili powder and add some amchoor too. Cool properly and use this to make stuffed parathas, the way aloo parathas (or any other stuffed paratha ) are made, using whole wheat flour dough. Around 1 cup of dal is needed to make 4-5 parathas. Apart from the flatbreads, fried vegetables like Okra, potatoes etc are also made. Urad dal vada are made and are added to beaten curds to make dahi vada on Gogo. Many prefer boondi raita over dahi vada. Some make fritters ( mostly Mirchai pakora i.e Chilli fritters are preferred) while other cook subzis with better shelf life. Stir fried methi, spinach etc are often made for the occasion, along with stuffed bitter gourds. Green chutney, boiled potatoes, beetroot, bread etc are kept handy for those who cannot consume the heavy food for all the three meals and vegetarian sandwich is a nice option for them as it involves no cooking. Pickles and home set curds are mostly had on this day to add to the probiotic quotient of the food. Khatto bhat~u or Kanbo bhat~u is also made in some homes, for this festival. It is basically boiled rice, cooled and mixed with some milk and curd starter (jaaman) along with a little of mustard powder. The mix is allowed to set overnight and is had in the morning, with some fresh curds and a garnish of mustard and pepper powder. Rituals: After making all the food, seven ( the number varies from family to family) Akhryun/Akhdyun are made. A portion of Lola dough is kept aside (or some people make the dough for Akhryun/Akhdyun, separately) and at the end of the cooking process, a small earthen plate called daangi is kept on the stove. The reserved dough is divided in to seven portions. In some families the Akhryun/Akhdyun are cooked on the earthen plate, while in other families, it is left uncooked for the Puja. In some homes these are deep fried. Basically Akhryun are flattened dough balls and are an integral part of Puja rituals. The puja rituals vary considerably from family to family. As mentioned earlier, most of the families follow the same rituals as that of Thadri and you can read all the details about it in this blog post! Now, mostly, on this day, Sindhis offer a mix of milk and water to the snake idols in the temple instead of going around looking for the real snakes.

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Cheti Chand Ji Sesa ~ AlifBe~15

Alka Keswani — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 04:48:13 +0000

Today (13th April 2021) is Cheti Chand and we, the Sindhis, celebrate it as our New year, with great enthusiasm. Why do Sindhis Celebrate Cheti Chand? The legend says that people in Sindh (Now in Pakistan) were tortured by an arrogant ruler named Mirikshah who tried to force Hindu Sindhis to accept Islam. Sindhis being followers of Varun Devta, Lord of Waters, gathered on the banks of holy Sindhu (Indus) River and prayed for some miracle to save them. After fasting and praying for many days there was an akashvani that the Lord Vishnu will soon take birth in an avatar of a child to a couple; Rai Ratan and Devaki, at Nasarpur. So the Sindhis went to Mirikshah and requested him to grant them few months to accept his order. The over confident ruler obliged. And as predicted, in the Chet (Chaitra) month a child was born to Devaki Ma and was named Uderolal. To offer their gratitude, Sindhi folks marched towards the river carrying sweetened rice, boiled chole (kabuli chana) and milk to feed the fishes/sea creatures. And as we all know, the child grew up to save Sindhis from tyrant rulers and was later known as Jhulelal! And the birth of Lord Jhulelal is celebrated as Cheti chand. Since then, every year Sindhis gather on Cheti chand and processions are held by carrying Behrana Saheb to any local river or lake, just like the people did in olden days, as per the legend To make Behrana, a bronze Thali ( or a steel thal) is taken and some raw rice, sugar or misri, ghee and little kumkum is spread. A huge mound is made from atta ( kneaded dough) and is placed on the thal. The mound represents Lord Jhulelal. The mound is then smeared with sindhoor/Kumkum (please donot use chemical loaded Sindhoor) that represents clothes of Jhulelal saeen. Laung (cloves) and Nanda phota (green cardamom, ideally 101, but the count varies) are stuck in the mound .These spices represent ornaments of Lord Jhulelal . A block of Misri i.e crystallised lumps of sugar are placed at the top of the mound. A lamp of dough is made (mostly panchmukhi i.e having five edges to place five cotton wicks or Chaumukhi i.e 4 edges) and filled with ghee. Fresh flowers, fruits (5 types of fruits) and some red cloth is also placed in the thal. This Thal is placed in front of an idol or picture of Lord Jhulelal and hymns are sang to praise the Lord. A Prasad of sweetened rice (Tayri) and boiled chole is distributed. Many Sindhi people and Sindhi Associations organize langar/ buffet meals for the devotees gathered for the occasion. The Behrana (always carried on head), along with a Pooja Thali (coconut, dough lamp, agarbatti, flowers, kalash filled with water) is then taken to a river body and people dance and sing and pray on the way. Sindhis call it ‘ Chej’. Many Prasad counters on the way distribute Tayri, chola, raanh (black eyed beans), pulav, sherbet, milkrose, chanadal bread, bread pakora etc. Finally the Behrana is immersed in a river or a lake and a small Pooja is done. Bhajans are sang and the ritual ends with an Aarti and Palav (a small prayer recited while holding out an open end of duppata or a shirt or a hem of kurta/garment to make a jholi). And for 15th letter of Sindhi AlifBe i.e چ , ‘Ch’ in Roman Sindhi and च in Devanagari I have picked (but obviously) ‘Cheti Chand Ji Sesa’ i.e Prasad offered and distributed on Cheti chand. Tayri/Tahiri/Tairi (sweetened rice) and boiled kabuli chana, both are mandatory to offer to Lord Jhulelal and the devotees love this Prasad! Chola or Kabuli chana are simply boiled with water and salt till very soft. Generally it is not garnished with any spices. Also Kohar i.e black vatana, boiled till tender, are also distributed. Wishing everyone a blessed year ahead. Cheti Chand kyun lakh lakh wadhayun (millions of good wishes for Cheti Chand)! Jai Jhulelal!! Print Cheti Chand Ji Sesa ~ AlifBe~15 Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 25 mins Tairi or Tayri is a Sindhi Sweet rice preparation made on special occasions and Sindhi Festivals like Chalia and Chetichand Ingredients Rice (Basmati or regular) 1 and half cup Sugar ideally 1 and half cups but I used 1 cup of it. You can use jaggery instead Water 3 cups ( varies with variety of rice used) Saunf (Fennel seeds) 2 tsp Dhoongi ( Dried coconut kernel/kopra/copra) few thin slices Draakh/Daakh (Black Raisins) 2 tbsp Oil/Ghee 1 tbsp Green cardamoms 2 (optional) Roasted/fried dry fruits/nuts like almonds, unsalted pistachio/cashew (Optional..I didn't used any !) Saffron - few strands Orange red/ orange yellow/Jalebi colour few drops (I didn't use any !). Method Rinse well and soak rice for half hour. In a tsp of water or milk soak saffron strands, if using. There are two methods of cooking rice. One, you can simply boil rice with water and other is that you first heat a tbsp of oil in a pan , add soaked and drained rice and gently roast it for few minutes. Then add water to cook rice. I have skipped the bhunoing part! Boil rice with water (you can add a pinch of salt) on high flame till the grains swell.You can add green cardamoms too. Cook covered till almost 75 % done. Drain excess water if any, to avoid overcooking. In the meantime, roast/ fry, nuts/almonds (if using). Heat a tbsp of oil in a small pan and add thin slices of Copra (kopra) and black raisins.Put off the gas and immediately add fennel seeds. Add sugar (or jaggery), soaked saffron and the kopra+raisins+ fennel mixture upon the rice and cook on lowest flame.If using food colour, add it at this stage. The liquid colour could be used as it is, while if using food colour in powder form then dissolve it first in a tsp of water and then add in rice. You can use a griddle and place the rice container over the griddle and cook on lowest flame.The rice must be covered with a lid at this stage. Mix very gently (just once) and cook till the sugar melts and is absorbed by rice. Tairi cooked with using colour is generally orange in colour. If cooked with organic jaggery, it is brownish in colour, if cooked using normal jaggery and sugar or just sugar, it is pale white in colour while if saffron is used it gets yellowish hues. 3.5.3251 And here is a short video to help you understand how چ is written in Sindhi!

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Thadri festival~ Food And Rituals

Alka Keswani — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 12:26:35 +0000

Thadri, a festival celebrated by Sindhis, 7 days after Rakhsabandhan, to please Goddess Jog Maya, is a day to consume cold (cooked a day ahead) and pro biotics like curds and pickle. It is similar to the Shitla Ashtami and Basoda festivals and generally the lady of the house cooks food like Lola, koki, paratha etc and the next day the whole family is supposed to consume the cold food. While many people write off this tradition as regressive, there is some science involved here, to support the rituals, to some extent. Without engaging into a debate of right or wrong, I am sharing the recipes and rituals for Thadri festival, since I am finding it hard to reply individually to everyone inquiring about it. Please note that traditionally everything was cooked on a sigri/chulha, later on a kerosene stove and that chulha /stove was not used on Thadri to cook anything (i.e it was kept cool). Since it is a time consuming process hence nowadays food for thadri is cooked on a gas stove and you can use kerosene stove just to cook lola. Some people cover the burner of gas stove that was used to cook lola and on Thadri nothing is cooked on that particular burner. You can use other burner to cook tea, milk etc, or satvik food for those who cannot eat cold food for the whole day) Do whatever works for you! Generally the food that is consumed on Thadri consists of: Lola (mandatory) For recipe of Lola, click here Koki For recipe of Koki, click here Besreen/besani Dal paata phulka: To make dal paata phulka, rinse well and soak moong dal for an hour. Drain and roast slightly in some oil in a pan, add salt, turmeric powder and green chillies (optional) and boil in some water till al dente. Drain if there is any excess water. You can add a tempering of cumin seeds, coriander powder and red chili powder and add some amchoor too. Cool properly and use this to make stuffed parathas, the way aloo parathas are made. Around 1 cup of cooked dal is needed to make 4-5 parathas. Dahi vada For the recipe of dahi vada, click here Methi subzi For the recipe of Methi subzi, click here Karela daas For the recipe of karela daas, click here Mirchi pakora For the recipe of mirchi pakora, click here Along with the above mentioned food, Sindhis like to relish: Bhindi aloo (fried okra and potato chunks, spiced with salt, coriander powder, red chilly powder and turmeric) Veg sandwich (without toasting bread and made using ingredients that are boiled or made a day ahead) Sai (green) chutney Basar ji khatairn (Onion Pickle) Singar (Nylon sev) Also some people make fried lola (rottah), ghach or chautha, literally meaning the quarters (sweetened maida or atta dough, rolled and cut into quarters, fried and sprinkled with powdered sugar on which some hot ghee/oil is poured) and satpura (layered, fried, crispy puris made from maida) too. Here is how you can plan to cook the whole meal with ease. The day before Thadri, in the afternoon, mix sugar/ jaggery in water and mix it well. Keep it aside. Soak Mung dal, chop onions, green chilies etc for koki and besani. Peel garlic for subzis. Gather all the ingredients to make green chutney (Coriander leaves, chilies, mint, tamarind, garlic, ginger, cumin) in a bowl covered with cling film and refrigerate. If you wish to make dahi vada, then soak urad dal too. Mostly dry subzis like methi, karela dhaas, bhindi aloo etc are also cooked along with mirchi pakora. So if you plan to make all these, simply clean a bunch of fenugreek leaves and peel bitter gourds, make a slit (lengthwise) and add salt. Similarly, slit the bhavnagri mirchi (or the chilies that are thick and are used for pickles or fritters) lengthwise and stuff a mixture of salt and amchoor (or lemon juice) and keep aside. Then go ahead and take a nap, if possible. To begin the marathon cooking, start with boiling mung dal (to be stuffed to make parathas) till it’s just cooked but not mushy (al dente). Add spices to it and let it cool. Prepare stuffing for karela. Knead the dough for parathas and let the dough rest for a while. Knead the dough for koki and besani and start cooking. Please be patient and cook these on medium flame. Do not cringe on oil/ghee. Make sure you boil enough of milk if you wish to set the yogurt at home. Boil some potatoes and beetroot too and buy some fresh sliced bread so that you can make veg sandwiches (without toasting bread) on Thadri. While Koki/besani is being cooked, you can start cooking subzis like methi aloo, stuffed karela, bhindi aloo etc. Using cooked moongdal, make ‘dal paata phulka’ or the stuffed dal parathas. Grind urad dal for vadas (bhalla). Fry in batches and keep aside to cool. Make the batter for coating mirchi pakodas and fry pakore till golden brown. Make green chutney. Now using the sugar syrup, knead the dough for lola. Reserve some dough to make 3 lolris and 7 akhris (explained below). Cook lola on medium to low flame using generous amount of oil/ghee. Once you are done with cooking lola, place a mud/clay plate; daangi and cook akhryun and lolryun using the extra dough that you have reserved after making lola. You need to divide that portion of reserved dough into 7 lemon sized balls and 3 slightly bigger ones. The 7 akhryun are rolled between palms and slightly pressed while the 3 lolryun are rolled into small discs. Cook all these on the hot mud plate and keep aside in a bowl and cover it well. In absence of a mud plate you can use a tawa but make sure that you do not use it on Thadri for cooking anything. When you are done with cooking, carefully sprinkle some water on daangi to cool it. Some people switch off the flame after sprinkling water, while some do so prior to sprinkling. If there is any water remaining on the daangi, drain it. Place some raw rice and sugar (akho) and keep it covered. Let everything that you have cooked, cool down properly and then place everything in suitable containers. As a common rule, Lolas are kept in a separate container, while koki, besani and dal paata can be kept together in one container. Pack subzis, vadas, mirchi pakoras in airtight boxes. You can refrigerate vadas, boiled potatoes and beetroot, green chutney but everything else need be kept outside at room temperature. Set the yogurt before sleeping. Soak a handful of chanadal (or kabuli chana, depending on your family rituals) and rice, in water either at night or do so early morning on Thadri. Next day i.e on Thadri, the lady who has cooked Lolas needs to follow the rituals. After taking a bath (preferably with cold water), wearing the same clothes that she had worn while cooking, needs to carry a lota (made of steel, brass or copper) and place this lota on the stove/burner that was used to cooked the lola and apply some kumkum. Placing the akhryun and lolris on a plate, a dot of dahi and kumkum is applied on each. To perform puja, take a bowl and mix the soaked chanadal, rice, akhryun ( keep the lolryun aside), some dahi and kumkum. Take a portion of this mix into your left hand and while patting it with your right hand, recite the following: ” Hik seeyar, bha seeyar, tey siyar chaar, laakhro saakhro , nandhi maayi, wadi maayi, langhaye paar, mai maata je aadhar”(this is a prayer, for requesting Goddess of fire to save the family from the wrath of diseases like chickenpox, measles and mumps). You have to do this thrice with your left hand and thrice with your right hand. Also a portion of this enclosed in your fist, is made to touch the closed eyes of each family member. This mixture is then immersed in any water body/ river, along with daangi, on the day following the Thadri. One lolri is given to any girl child, the other, to a cow and the remaining one is distributed as prasad among family members. Once the rituals are over, the family can have the cold food. Soak vadas in water and then add to the beaten curd. Try to consume parathas in the morning and the other stuff later on, since parathas tend to spoil fast. You can also make veg sandwiches and chaat in the evening . Don’t forget to share some food with your friends or neighbors :-).

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