Tredition

Every family has their own traditions and patterns of life style to which the family members adhere strictly. Tradition is usually transmitted orally from generations to generations. Haring a great heredity Suryakaladi man observes several traditional customs and practices. The most important aspect is ‘mantravada’ or ‘mandrasastra’, a process in which discomfort of a person will be removed by using series of mantras and following certain ritualistic pattern like incantation. The power to practice mantravada was born from Parasurama. The eldest male member is assigned to perform mantravada chiefly but other male members also do it with the guidance from the chief. Mantra rites bear desired results only when done by an ‘upasak’ (a man) with ‘tapasakti’, (intense power generated by meditation of mantras’ knowledge, with an exactitude and adhering to the time tested heritages. ‘Mantravadam’ (defi) is an act of purification. In Suryakaladimana the practice of mantras and the connected rituals are mainly done for the well being of the society and humanity as a whole. Intention is to help the distressed and ailing people to solve their problems and make their lives peaceful and contended

Mantras are the basics of all kinds of poojas, worships and mantravadas. Acquiring such knowledge is not easy as it is not in schools or elsewhere. This will be done with such a scholarly person who is well versed in mantras. The process of making a man who is worthy and deserving into the path of mantras is known as ‘Initiation into Mantra’. Suryakalady Bhattathiripad is capable of granting such a boon to aspiring people. Initiation into mantras will be done by the chief. It was a usual custom for the Tekkumcore Royal family members to be initiated into Mantras from Kaladimana.

Upasana moorthees

They are the first and final protectors of a family, yielding shelters and caging them from all dangers. It is they who aid come out with solutions. From time immemorial, Lord Surya, Mahaganapathi and Sree chachakra have been the upasanamoorthees of SuryaKaladiMana. The family members have been worshipping these deities with extreme devotion and commitment.

Rasmalai

All time favorite Indian dessert of almost everyone who had tasted it at least once .Made out of freshly made paneer / cottage cheese dumplings in creamy milk sauce with the flavor of cardamom and saffron. What else can you ask for a perfect dinner or lunch to end up with. So without much blah blah let’s hit the recipe……
Ingredients:
1. Full fat milk – 2 litres
2. Water – 3 cups
3. Sugar – 1 cup + 3-4 tbsp
4. Lemon juice – of one lemon
5. Pistachios and almonds chopped – ¼ cup
6. Saffron – a pinch
7. Cardamom powder – a pinch
Making of the paneer;
* Boil one litre of milk.
* When the milk comes to a boil add the lemon juice diluted in a small cup of water little by little stirring the milk continuously so as to curdle the milk. (while doing this you should be very careful that the milk should not get over curdled which would result in giving hard paneer/cottage cheese since we need very soft paneer for rasmalai)
* Once the milk curdles up with a very soft texture switch off the flame and put some ice cubes which will prevent the milk from further curdling up.
*Strain the paneer in a cheese cloth or any thin cotton cloth and hang it up for around ½ hour to 1 hour in the cloth itself to get the extra moisture out of the paneer.

While this is happening we can make the milk sauce;

*Boil the rest of the 1 litre milk. Once it comes to a boil simmer n keep stirring until it becomes ½ litre you can actually see the color change here from milky white to slightly yellowish cream color.
*Add 3-4 tbsp of sugar to the milk or more if you want but that would be very sweet.
*Now add the chopped pistachios and almonds and give it a stir and let it boil for 5 more minutes and off the flame.
*finally add the saffron and cardamom and stir.

Now its time to check the paneer;

*We have to make a soft dough of the paneer, for that you can either get it done with the help of a food processor or can be done with your hands. But the hand process may take a bit long to get it done into the right consistency.
*Well I did it with my hands only but that was pretty quick with the help of a small towel, that is without taking out the paneer from the cheese cloth I kept it on a towel on the kitchen slab and pressed and smashed it with one end of the towel which not only squeezed out the extra moisture but made the paneer into very soft dough with in a jiff around 3-5 minutes.
*Now divide the dough into10 small portions and make it into balls and give it a slight press to get a flat shape without much crumbled edges though slight crumbles are fine .(try not to make the balls too big because once put it into the sugar syrup it will double in size)

Now comes the sugar syrup part;

*While dealing with the paneer it self keep the 3 cups of water and one cup of sugar for boiling.
*Once it comes to rolling boiling state drop the paneer balls into it and close it with a lid and let it boil on high for about 10–15 minutes.
*After 10-15 minutes you can see the paneer balls all spongy and double in size floating in the sugar syrup.
*Now take the paneer balls out of the syrup and let it get cool.

Final stage;
*Warm up the milk syrup if it has got cool down by this time coz that helps in soaking up of the paneer balls very well.
* Squeeze out the extra syrup out of the paneer balls slightly do not press it too hard.
* Now drop it into the milk sauce and let it get cool.
*Garnish with some more pistachios and saffron.
*Serve chilled.

NOTE: Getting the paneer balls real spongy is quite tricky it all depends upon how soft paneer you are getting after curdling the milk. So be very careful during the curdling process.

Chocolate Salami

Well this is the most easy and sinfully chocolaty dessert I have ever made. Trust me you are never going to get any of the desserts done so easily and taste so rich at the same time. To mention, actually it’s a traditional Portuguese dessert made out of crushed cookies, raw eggs, chocolate, butter, rum/wine etc. But in my recipe you would not find any eggs or rum/wine still it would taste sinfully rich and chocolaty .So lets see how it could be get done in a jiff with no effort.

Ingredients:
Marie biscuits – 10-15
Sweetened Condensed milk – ¼ cup
Dark chocolate melted – ¼ cup
Butter – ¼th of a 100gm stick
Almonds chopped – ½ cup
Vanilla essence - 1tsp

Let’s start…
*Grind the biscuits into fine powder.
*Melt the dark chocolate in a microwave along with the butter or you can melt it by double boiling on the stove on low flame.
*Pour the chocolate butter mixture (when it is slightly warm itself), vanilla essence and chopped almonds to the finely powdered biscuits and give it a rough mix.
* Now add the condensed milk little by little at a time and knead the biscuit mixture into smooth and firm dough. Here the consistency of the dough should not get too soft or too hard that’s why it’s been asked to add the condensed milk little by little at a time. Sometimes you might not need the whole ¼ cup of condensed milk to get the right consistency of the dough. That depends upon your measuring cup. Once you are done with the dough you can see the butter oozing out of the dough.
*Now make the dough into cylindrical shape with your hands and wrap it tightly in a cling wrap and keep under refrigeration for 2-3 hours time. (I kept it only for 2 hours)

*After refrigeration remove from the wrap and slice it soon with a sharp knife or else keeping it in the room temperature will make it soft n brittle so it would be pretty difficult to get it sliced neatly.
*Keep for 15-20 minutes before serving in room temperature and can be served with whipped cream, chocolate sauce or shavings or even with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. I served it simply as it is to enjoy the true and rich taste of chocolate.

NOTE: We are not using extra sugar in this recipe coz the condensed milk and the chocolate is already sweet enough. If you want you can add 1-2tsp of sugar.

Crunchy Healthy Burritos

Method

1. Spoon the sauces equally onto each tortilla.
2. Spoon on equal portions of the chicken/ veggies, tofu and cheese in a row closer to 1 side of the tortilla.
3. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Fold in at 2 ends and holding the stuffing in place, fold the tortilla over and tuck it under the filling. Roll on and sit on the other end.
5. Dry roast (or with a little butter) in a pan to ensure the open end closes well to seal in the filling and heat lightly in the microwave.