Kolam by Sudha Balaji

Tulasi kota decoration or Tulasi katte decoration for Tulsi marriage festival Festival - Tulsi Vivah Some more photos of Tulsi Vivah celebrations decorations rangoli , aarti , cotton garland Tulasi Pooja vidhanam and Tulasi Pooja ela cheyali through pics  Tulasi kota mundu muggulu Tulsi Maa decoration with silver Face Amla aarti preparation with 5 fruits Aishwarya rangoli with kaavi border  with battery operated lamps  - a blend of old and new traditions Auspicious rangoli are drawn for the Tulsi plant or maadam in Tamil  and for Tulsi Vivah .  The videos of these rangoli are in my YouTube channel.  The play list of these kolam/ muggulu  designs is at Apart from auspicious rangoli designs for Tulsi Vivah we can actually have a representation of a Tulsi plant or madam using a 5 by 5 plus  3 by 1 plus 5 by 1  dot grid some free hand patterns for leaves and branches and cotton buds.  The pictures below should be self explanatory. Simple Tulsi rangol

Butter murukku pieces - savory recipe for Diwali or evening snacks What we need is rice flour that is readily available in the stores or rice flour that is home made by soaking rice in water , spreading it on a clean cloth , drying it in shade and then dry grinding it. Then white sesame seeds , asafoetida , green chillies wet ground in a mixer , butter and salt Take three measures of rice flour , 3/4 to 1 tea spoon butter is added. All other ingredients are added one by one.   Green chillies paste and salt can be varied according our taste. Mix will adding water little by little At this step we can check whether salt and chillies are as per our requirement We should prepare the dough as and when required only.  Do not prepare the entire dough at one stretch . After preparing the dough use the murukku achchu or template with single star shaped opening  Take oil in a vessel and when it has been heated to the right temperature Place the dough the in the achchu and ma

There are many options for side dish for rice with vendhaya keerai or fenugreek greens or just vendhayam or fenugreek.  I have tried to shared some traditional and different varieties that I prepare as side dish for rice at home for children and family. Similarly with radish or mullangi what I have shared is a different kulambu  that  is prepared with jaggery added so it will liked by children due to its sweet and sour taste.  It is also an excellent side dish for Pongal Easy vendhaya kulambu without coconut without toor dhal How to prepare fenugreek kuzhambu  The ingredients are  Mustard, urad dhall,  , gram dhall  , fenugreek, asafoetida , red chillies and green chillies cut vertically Gram dhal is taken a little more than normal because we do not use toor dhal for this recipe We can add or decrease chillies depending upon the karam we need. Add a little oil in a vessel and saute with mustard , urad dhal , gram dhal , asafoetida, red chillies and green chillie