Shri Satyanarayana Puja

Shri Satyanarayana

Naivedya - (from top right) potato stir-fry, mung usal, varan-bhaat, poli, cabbage vadis, koshimbir. Center - Masale bhaat, tomato saar. On the side - fruit salad.

Teertha - prasad

For the past few years, we have been performing Satyanarayana puja at home every April. This year, I took some pictures, hoping to post them and write about them. Now that I have finally started this blog, here they are.

The teertha - prasad, as all who have attended/performed this pooja may know, is pretty standard. The teertha is a mix of milk, yogurt, sugar, ghee & honey (panchamrut). The prasad is sooji sheera made using equal proportions of sooji (rava), sugar, ghee & milk. It is a very rich sheera folks, best enjoyed in small cupcake moulds. I can safely vouch that this special Satyanarayana prasad sheera tastes the best every time it is prepared.

The rest of the naivedya items prepared that day are also pretty standard Maharashtrian fare. Let me share with you my cabbage vadis and fruit salad:

Cabbage vadis (Kobi che vade) -

1/2 small cabbage head - shredded
1 cup gram flour
2 tbsp rice flour
salt to taste
2 tsp cumin - coriander pwd.
1/2 tsp red chilli pwd. (or more to taste)
Cilantro - chopped

Mix all the above together. Add enough water to get a slightly thickish consistency batter. Line a microwave safe container (preferably square or rectangular) with little oil. Pour batter in it. Microwave on high for about 5 mins. The mixture will set by then. After it cools, invert the container. The cabbage mix should easily slide out. Cut into desired shapes. Then you can either shallow fry or deep fry the vadis. I myself enjoy them as is, but some may find this a bit "raw".

Fruit salad -

1 each apple, banana, pear, orange - chopped
1 cup milk
2 cups of vanilla or strawberry flavored yogurt
2 tbsp sugar (adjust to taste)
1/4 tsp cardamom pwd.

Fruits can be added/subtracted to taste. Mix all of the above. Cardamom pwd is the star of this salad folks.