Deepavali lehiyam

Wish you all a Very Happy Diwali !!! May the festival of lights fill your homes lots and lots of peace and prosperity !

When Diwali comes , our homes will be filled with sweets and savories. In Tamil Nadu , we have a tradition of making sweets and savories , and most importantly this Lehiyam. This involves jaggery , so do you think it's a sweet ? This contains loads of fresh ginger, now do you think this is a savory? If you have chosen any one of these, you are totally wrong. This is a kind of medicine we prepare to aid digestion as we might end up eating a lot of sweets and savories.

The prior night of Diwali , friends will be coming for sleep over and all girls will be having mehandi (tradition and natural tatoo). That night will be filled with endless chats, giggles and laughter.

The Day of Diwali begins usually with a heavy and loud noise from the fireworks to help us wake up(?). Mom would have prepared a special oil with pepper and ginger and she would generously apply a handful on our head and we will have a hot water bath chanting the holy bath sloga
" Ganga Cha Yamuna Chaiva Godavari Saraswati, Narmada Sindhu Kaveri Jalesmin Sannidhim Kuru"

which literally means I invoke , water from holy seven rivers  into this water to become pure and blessed.

Mom would have kept our new clothes in front of God in a Manai( wooden plank). We pray God and get ourselves dressed up with all new clothes and accessories and lots of flowers too.The first thing that we eat on this day is this medicine to prepare our tummy. By that time Dad would have prepared a small hurricane lamp to help us with our fire crackers.  
Breakfast will be usually all the savories and sweets (Bakshanams) along with a tsp of this medicine. Some homes prepare Idli and chutney .

All these  traditional  and festival memories are so fresh , which i cherish the most and I feel it's my responsibility to pass it on further.

As you all might know about the medicinal properties of ginger , cumin and coriander, all these are the basic ingredients. If prepared in a correct manner this medicine stays well for up to an year in the regfrigerator. Every morning you can take a small marble size portion and help you regulate your appetite and aid in proper digestion.

Ingredients

Ginger ..................................250 gms
Cumin Powder .....................50 grms
Coriander Powder................50 grms
Jaggery.................................500 grms
Ghee ................................. 3 tbsp

Method

• Wash and peel the ginger, slice them into roundels and grind to a fine paste without adding any water to it.
• Now add the cumin and coriander powder and mix well and set aside.
• Mix jaggery and 1/8 cup water in a heavy bottom pan and heat in medium to let the jaggery melt.
• Now strain the jaggery syrup to remove any impurities and bring it back to the same pan.
• Heat in medium and let the jaggery syrup thicken to consistency that when you drop some in a bowl of water , you will be able to roll it well.
• Now add the ginger +cumin+coriander mix and cook in low to medium flame.
• About after 15 minutes of cooking , add 1 tbsp of ghee and keep stiring.
• later after another 5 minutes add another 1 tbsp ghee and again keep stirring.
• After another  minutes, you will see the mixture is becoming a single mass  now add the remaining 1 tbsp ghee and cook.
• In about 2 or 3 minutes you will see the mixture leaving the edges of the pan and resembles that of halwa.
• Turn off the heat and remove it from the stove.
• Let cool completely and transfer to a clean air light container,preferably steel one.
• After its completely  cools down , keep it refrigerated.

Serving Suggestion:

One marble sized ball every morning.