Mung dal makha prasad - Fruity and Nutty Yellow Lentil
Food has great importance for Vedic Indians. All who live on this earth have to subsist on food called panacea. One is advised to worship food for it enables a man to use all his faculties. They wanted to maintain a harmonious balance between the different aspects of life. It was this outlook on life which made them attach considerable importance to the matter of food. These sages believed that the health of a man depended considerably on the type of seasonal food he takes. With that aim different food preparations were prescribed in different seasons by different puja rituals.
These preparations of yellow lentil and seasonal fruits and jawb or barley sattu was always made and served as a offering of Neel Shasthi Puja and Charak puja on Chaitra Sankranti the day before Pahela Baishakh festival.
Ingredients :
Yellow mung [mudga] lentil: Washed and soaked for 1 hour. 100g
Mixed fruits - Cucumber, Chikoo, Ripe Mango, Palm Dates, Sweet Lemon, Grapes, Pomegrante etc all seasonal fruits: 2 teaspoon each
Scrapped coconut: 2 teaspoon
Dry fruits - Cashew nuts and Indian raisin : 2 teaspoon each
Sugarcane juice : 1 tablespoon
Edible camphor: 1 pinch
Salt: to taste
Directions :
Prep time: | Cook time: | Total time:
Yield: 2, | Serving size: 2 persons, 100g | Calories per serving: 110
Hot Favorite Mung [mudga] dal makha
This salty and sour preparation is our hot favorite snacks in all seasons.
Ingredients :
Yellow mung lentil: Wash and soak for 1 hour. 100g
Minced Ginger: 1 teaspoon
Green chili: 1, minced
Scrapped coconut: 1 tablespoon
Coriander leaves: 2 teaspoon, minced
Lemon juice: 2 teaspoon
Salt: to taste
Directions :
Prep time: | Cook time: | Total time:
Yield: 2, | Serving size: 2 persons 75g | Calories per serving: 100
Jawb or barley Sattu
The food products required in the various religious practices from the Vedic period that has been continuing till now has ensured their survival even after so many years since they were cultivated ritually for these reasons framed to maintain the purity of food. In recent times the degradation of our resources like soil, drinking water etc. has made us realize the importance of these seasonal puja rituals in maintaining the ecological balance, which we cannot afford to ignore them still now.
Therefore, the above facts prove it that ancient Indians attached great importance to proper diet of the people. These recipes are mostly religious in character but provide us with some data about the food articles used by early Aryans as most of the offerings which they made to the gods consisted of the food articles, which they themselves used.
My intention is to identify the food items that are free from any religious and communal bias and refer to the food habits of the people in all parts of India, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian.
As now, cereals formed a very important part of Indian food and among cereals the most important place was occupied by barley. In the Atharva veda it is called one of the two immortal sons of heaven i.e. barley and rice. It was ground and formed into cakes which were dipped into ghee before eating. Sweet cakes (apupa) of barley flour were also prepared. Parched barley was eaten either whole with Soma juice or ground into meal, which was mixed with curds, clarified butter, Soma juice. Water is preferred to frequently in the post Rigveda literature. Two varieties of barley, one superior and the other inferior and two of those wheat called Nandimukhi and Madhulika were used. All the old preparations of barley and wheat were in use but yavagu seems to be very popular. Some new preparations such as vitanaka, polika, istaka, and locika are mentioned. As before groats were taken in the liquid form as also when they were prepared in a thick consistency. People often took groats with them when proceeding on a journey.
The general rules of etiquette were clearly mentioned in Vedic period significantly for the medical reasons. The duty of preparing food and taking meals on a clean piece of leaf after washing hands, feet and mouth is equally emphasized through puja rituals. Necessity of changing food according to the climatic temperature and temperament of human character and not eating the same preparations day after day was fully recognized by them.
Ingredients :
Jaw or Barley sattu: 200g
Mashed ripe banana: 2
Tal patali or Tody palm jaggery: 100g
Scrapped coconut: 1 tablespoon
Skimmed milk: 100mL
Puffed rice or muri: 1 tablespoon
Salt: one pinch
Directions :
Prep time: | Cook time: | Total time:
Yield: 2, | Serving size: 4 persons 50g | Calories per serving: 150