Holi, an Indian festival, heralds the arrival of Spring – the season of hope and new beginnings and marks the rekindling of the spirit of life. Gulmohurs, corals, silk-cottons and mango trees start flowering, gardens and parks present a glorious spectacle of a riot of colours – crimson, red, pink, orange, golden yellow, lemon and a variety of glittering greens.
A pallette of colours from my garden…
As the brief spring warms the landscape, northern India cuts loose for a day of hi jinx and general hilarity. The festival of Holi is celebrated on the day after the full moon in early March every year. The spring season, during which the weather changes, is believed to cause viral fever and cold. Thus, the playful throwing of the colored powders has a medicinal significance: the colors are traditionally made of Neem, Kumkum, Haldi, Bilva, and other medicinal herbs prescribed by Āyurvedic doctors. A special drink called thandai is prepared, sometimes containing bhang (Cannabis sativa). It’s amazing that Spring is heralded & celebrated in so many different ways across the world!
Drenched in colour…& loving it!
This festival of joy, mirth and buoyancy is celebrated when both Man and Nature cast off their winter gloom.
Man, of course, includes our son. He was polishing his water guns days in advance, making plans with his pals & couldn’t wait for the day to arrive. Drove us insane as usual with his impatience!! He was up early & we saw him disappearing into realm of colour within no time! The daughter, on the other hand, let it pass. There was NO WAY she was going to get mucked up!! The boy was unrecognisable by the time he reappeared. It was eventually scrub-a-dub time for him & he is still quite pink!! This was also the only time in his life the colour pink wasn’t girlish at all!! He had an absolute blast, & came back famished begging for lunch!! PHEW!!
‘Before’ & ‘After’ Mug-Shots of the boy!!
Can you tell that it’s the same kid?
So the famished fellow gorged on ‘Aloo–ka–parathas‘ & a raita when he returned. ‘Aloo–ka–parathas‘ are an Indian flatbread stuffed with a filling of boiled mashed potatoes, spiced up with chopped green chillies, fresh coriander, powdered pomegranate seeds etc. I’ll walk you through a quick tutorial… Roll a ball of dough, place a round portion of spiced up mashed potato on it, wrap the dough around it & roll out gently. Cook on a hot griddle/non-stick flat pan on both sides, & then flip over, smear with oil (or clarified butter); repeat on the other side! Serve hot with a dollop of butter, yogurt/raita & pickle (lime, mango,green chili…)! YUM!!
2 things I always remember…make sure the stuffing is cold, not warm, and the dough is firm & pliable. Practice makes perfect…then you can graduate to stuffed parathas with grated cauliflower, radish, cottage cheese, mince…the possibilities are endless!
The kids had theirs with a ‘chilled raita‘…whipped yogurt to which finely chopped tomatoes, spring onions & greens, green chilies & fresh mint was added; spiced with black rock salt.
We had ours with the same but added some finger licking good home-made ‘Lime & Green Chili Pickle’ to our menu! Burst of flavour…& colour!
The recipe for the pickle comes from Maya @ Konkan World. Thanks Maya…this recipe is a keeper & the flavours are simply amazing. This pickle can perk up the blandest of Indian dishes…I’ve known some brave-hearts who even make pickle sandwiches!! HOT!! Do check out the recipe HERE at Mayas’. I will post a detailed one later, with another pickled lime thingy soon! My personal blog patrol continues with this one…
