My family usually celebrates this auspicious day at home. We will offer neivedyam and perform a small pooja. The following picture is the neivedyam of this year’s Sri Rama Navami. We just made some vaadai and panakam.
Panakam is a beverage also known as sweet drink in Sanskrit. The drink deems to be a very important neivedyam during Sri Rama Navami, thus it’s a main prasadam in almost all the temple and home on Sri Rama Navami. This is a very delicious drink which best served on a hot days (for me any time will do, cos it’s sooo yummy) as it contains cooling properties. Perhaps we should call it Indian Lemonade.
I’ll skip the recipe for the Vaadai, as it has become an International Recipe by now.
How to make a delicious Panakam?
Jaggery / Vellam – 1/2 cup
Water - 2 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper Crushed - 1 tsp
Ginger Grated - 1 tsp
Lemon / Lime Juice - 1 Squeeze (optional) – I don’t add the lemon juice to my
panakam, but some people prefers to add it.
1) Powder the Jaggery and mix with water. Make sure the Jaggery fully dissolved in the water. Then filter the water into a new container.
2) Add cardamom powder, black pepper, grated ginger and lemon juice.
3) Give it a stir and refrigerate.
4) Serve cool or skip the third method and serve it at room temperature.
There you have a DELCIOUS Panakam to drink.
I would suggest trying the recipe before the day one plans to offer the drink as neivedyam. Why? At my home we won’t taste the food cooked for prasadam / neivedyam till it offered to God, so we must follow our instincts when cooking. Of course it would not be too hard if we have tried the recipes beforehand. By trying the recipes beforehand we can adjust the ingredients to soothe our taste & take note of the changes. It’ll be helpful when cooking the same foods for neivedyam.
I would like to wish Inniya Sarvathari Puthandu Vaalthukkal to all my hindu friends who celebrate Chithirai Puthandu. May everyone blessed with prosperity, health, wealth & peace.
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