Foodbuzz 24*24-Virundhu-Traditional South Indian Lunch

There was an announcement to all Food Buzz Featured Publishers, inviting for proposals for their monthly event Foodbuzz 24*24. The blogger must give a meal plan for some guests and if selected the post will be up in that particular section. To try my luck, I added my proposal for an authentic South Indian Lunch in their form and kept my fingers crossed. After a week, I got a mail saying that my proposal has been accepted. I was very happy and I wanted to use this great opportunity. As I don't have relatives here, I asked my DH if he could invite his boys for lunch. He readily agreed and I started preparing for the Virundhu (South Indian Party) I planned on serving them on banana leaves. 

The party was scheduled yesterday and they all reached at time for lunch. I woke up early in the morning and started the preparations. As a blogger, I needed to take the snaps of all the dishes before the guests arrived. Hubby helped me a lot yesterday. Even my daughter didn't disturb me. After successful completion of the dishes, hubby went to office to invite the guests. The table was set and I was so busy serving them, I completely forgot to take a snap. Midway, I remembered and took a snap of the virundhu. After Virundhu, every one sat for a chat and I served them with fresh sweet lime juice to finish off the party. Every one enjoyed their meal and I am so happy for that.

I laid out the Banana Leaves and placed a glass of water on the left side corner of each leaf.
The meal started with a sweet- Semiya Kesari (sweet made with vermicelli)
Then I served them Cauliflower roasts. I deep fried them the last moment, to provide the guests with hot crunchy roasts.
Then I served all the side dishes. While I was serving the poriyals, my daughter served them the appalam.
Then came the rice and sambar. 
Once finished with sambar, they went on to rice and coconut milk rasam.
Then came rice and curd along with ginger pickle.
The dessert was vermicelli and moong dhal payasam. 
With the payasam meal came to an end.
While guest are having their meal, the host has to serve them with the side dishes they prefer most. When ever a side dish goes empty on the leaf, it has to be filled. This is the way of serving in traditional way.

 Enjoying their lunch

I will give the recipe for Coconut Milk Rasam and link to all other recipes served during this meal.

Thengai Paal / Coconut Milk Rasam:

Rasam is South Indian Soup. This is always relished with hot rice. This rasam is quite rich in taste because of the addition of coconut milk.

Ingredients:

Coconut Milk-1cup

Tamarind-Lemon Sized Ball

Tomato-2

Toor Dhal-2tbs

Red Chilly-2

Pepper Powder-1/2tsp

Cumin Powder-1/2tsp

Garlic-3pods

Coriander Leaves-3tbs(finely chopped)

Salt-to tasye

For Tempering:

Oil-2tbs

Cumin seeds-1tsp

Mustard Seeds-1/2tsp

Urad dhal-1/2tsp

Methi Seeds-1/4tsp

Asafoetida-1/4tsp
Turmeric Powder-1/4tsp
Curry Leaves-1sprig

Procedure:

1. Pressure cook toor dhal with 1 cup of water. Mash and add it to the coconut milk along with water.

2. Soak tamarind and tomatoes in 1/4cup of water.

3. Crush it with your hand to extract all the juices.

4. Discard the pulp and add the extract to the coconut milk.

5. Crush the garlic pods in a mortar and add it to the milk.

6. Add broken red chillies, pepper powder and cumin powder.

7. Heat oil for tempering and add the tempering ingredients in order.

8. When they crackle add the coconut milk mixture.

9. Do not allow this mixture to boil.

10. The rasam will start frothing. 

11. In a bowl, add salt and coriander leaves. 

12. When the rasam comes to boiling stage, pour it into the bowl and cover with a lid immediately.

13. Serve after 5 minutes.

The other dishes served during Virundhu:

Semiya Kesari(with Milk)

Sambar

Carrot Beans Poriyal

Cauliflower Roast

Urulaikilangu Varuval

Muttaikos Poriyal

Ginger Pickle/ Inji Oorugai

Semiya Paasi Pruppu Payasam

Sweet Lime Juice

I would like to thank Foodbuzz for this great opportunity and I thoroughly enjoyed the day.