I felt inspired to write more on a universally favorite subject - food -with all the heavy discussions on holocausts and religion and all. Will post one whenever I find time since I have a large collection of these (if moderators are ok :) Some are history, some are legend/folklore but all are interesting.
We can starting with payasam, with pranams to Sri Krishna.
The best and most popular Payasam dishes are found in the temples of Guruvayoor and Ambalappuzha. In the Ambalappuzha temple, Payasam is served as part of a tradition, based on an ancient legend. The legend states that Lord Krishna (the eight avatar of Vishnu, playing a major role in the Hindu religion) took the form of an old sage and challenged the great king who ruled over that region to a game of chess. Being a true chess player and a master of the mind game's tricks, the king gladly accepted the sage's invitation. Asking what the sage wanted in case he wins the game, the king remained bedazzled by the sage's request: an amount of rice grains for each square of the chess board, each pile having double the number of grains than the previous pile. So the first square would have only one grain of rice, the second would have 2 grains, the third would have 4 grains, the fourth would have 8 rice grains and so on, each pile growing at a geometrical progression from the past pile of rice grains. Hearing this request, the king was shocked that the sage wanted only what he taught were a few piles of grain, when he could have betted for his whole kingdom or the immense riches that he held.
Naturally the king lost, (because playing chess against a God is not that easy, mind you) so he started placing grain piles on each square, starting with only one grain. He soon realized that the sage's demand was not entirely what he thought of, when the number reached one million grains of rice by the 20th square. By the 40th or so square, the entire kingdom's rice reserve was depleted and when he got to the last square he calculated that he would have to pay the sage 18,447,744 trillions of tons of rice, which he could have never paid off. The sage then revealed his true form, that of Lord Krishna, and said that the debt does not have to be paid immediately, but the king will have to serve Payasam freely in the temple of Ambalappuzha, to pilgrims, homeless or whoever comes there for peace of mind and prayer or for those seeking shelter. This is how the Payasam became famous, integrating in the Hindu culture.
It is known that Valli offered the Lord Thinai maavu + then + fruits etc also fish I believe from some older verses.
I am curious to know what combination would it be from the above constituents, i am not sure if they were raw or cooked. Either ways Thinai maavu + Then is unedible (atleast in modern times).
I can add a bit here. 1. A ripe 90+ old lady relative used to eat on most days flour (not sure whether rice or wheat) kneaded with a generous quantity of ghee and jaggery. Other relative attributed her clear, translucent, wrinkle free skin to this food habit.
2. My mother used to light an elongated lamp (about 8 inches) made with kneaded flour, fill it with ghee,and a long wick for the 'thirupathy malai-eruthal ceremony'. After about 4 hours, the top portion of the dough lamp is half cooked and half burnt, but it is quite tasty.
3. Of course, it may not be available; fresh 'appalam urundai' is quite tasty.
There may be many more uncooked flour based dishes. I can vouch for the above three. Sampath
> you left out this in your list > > After making ghee from butter{homemade) rice flour is mixed with jaggery or sugar in the same vessel. As children we used to love this. >
many times just plain rice was mixed. hot ney sadham used to be a favourite.
Yes. And the zeal and aggression amongst the kith and kin for a share of the 'kasandu' was comparable to that of the pallava soldiers for a share in the vatapi victory spoils! Sampath
Nei saadam with the 'vandal' from making ghee, the brown sediment that settles..oh that is a very special treat.
Thinai maavu by the way is not exactly uncooked, thinai is fox millet. Roasted fox millet flour made into balls with honey and coconut still a hot favorite among Sri Lankans. Like our pottu kadalai urundai, ravaa laadu type.