TAMIL NEW YEAR LUNCH MENU RECIPES(VARUSHA PIRAPPU MENU)

Tamil Varusha pirappu /Tamil puthandu / Varuda pirappu is celebrated on the first day of Tamil month chithirai. Every year it falls on April 14th. Its a most important festival for Tamil people. We make a simple yet inviting lunch menu with sambar, poriyal or kootu, 2 pachadi varieties, vada, payasam and curd. Neer mor and Panakam should be prepared only when we keep panchangam in neivedyam otherwise it is not necessary.

Among these recipes, Mango pacahdi, Payasam and Vada are mandatory. We don’t keep appalam as it is not homemade. But Mor milagai I have kept is homemade. I have shared that recipe in a separate post. I have shared how to prepare this Tamil new year special lunch menu under one hour at the the end of this post. Instead of making full meals, you can make Tamil new year thaligai with 5 rice varieties like lemon rice, tamarind rice, coconut rice, curd rice and sweet pongal.

Actually I planned to post this lunch menu during last tamil new year but couldn’t as I was in Salem. Yesterday I asked my MIL and prepared this menu with the vegetables I had in hand. Sendhil loved the entire platter & especially he gave credits for Vendakkai sambar. He had the same for dinner too. I have posted sambar recipe separately as I want to have it as a dedicated post in my food book. Please check the link for sambar recipe below.

Here, I have shared raw banana curry and carrot raita recipe. I have also shared other options for making this lunch menu. Do visit the links for other recipes. Try this No onion No Garlic lunch menu for Tamil New year / Tamil puthandu. Let this year be filled with happiness & fortune!!

அனைவருக்கும் எனது இனிய தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள் !!

Tamil New year lunch menu recipes

Tamil New year lunch menu recipes – Paruppu, Vendakkai sambar, Raw banana curry, Carrot pachadi, Raw mango pachadi, Rice payasam, Pepper vada, Instant Mango pickle

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Lunch menu

Serves: 2

Prep time: 30 Minutes

Cook time: 60 Minutes

Total time: 90 Minutes

RECIPE LINKS

Check out THIS POST for Tamil new year celebration procedure.

Vendakkai sambar
Paruppu for rice
Mango pachadi
Carrot thayir pachadi ( recipe shared below)
Raw banana poriyal (recipe shared below)
Veppam poo rasam
Rice payasam
Pepper vada using mixie
Instant mango pickle
Panakam & Neer mor

OTHER OPTIONS (Avoid onions)

OTHER LUNCH MENUS

Instead of making full meals, you can also make 5 rice varieties like lemon rice, sesame seeds rice or tamarind rice, curd rice, sweet pongal, coconut rice. Please watch the video below on how to cook these rice varieties easily.

RAW BANANA PORIYAL/CURRY RECIPE

Prep time-5 min | Cook time-10min | Total time-15mins

Ingredients

Raw banana – 1 no
Sambar powder – 1 tsp
Salt & water – as needed
Moong dal – 1 tbsp
Grated coconut – 3 tbsp
Tamarind – A very small piece(optional)
Asafetida/hing – 2 pinches

To temper

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
Finely chopped ginger – 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – few
Coconut oil – 1 tbsp

Method

Wash and peel the skin of raw banana. Remove and cut the raw banana into slices. Keep immersed in water or rice washed water ( Kazhani thanni) till use to avoid discoloration.
In a cooking bowl, take the moong dal, raw banana, sambar powder, salt and a small piece of tamarind with required water and salt.
Cook until raw banana becomes tender. Make sure it is not over cooked. It should stay firm in shape. If you prick the cooked raw banana with a fork, it will go easily at the same time it will not break.
Remove and drain all the excess water..
In a kadai, temper all the ingredients given above and add the cooked raw banana, moong dal mixture. Saute well in low flame for 5 minutes. Make sure you don’t break the veggie. Do it gently. Lastly add grated coconut, mix well and saute for 2 minutes. Switch off the stove.

Serve with sambar sadam !

NOTE

Adding tamarind is optional but it helps to reduce the slight bitterness from raw banana. Add very little tamarind otherwise poriyal will become too tangy.
Adjust sambar powder as per your need. Sometimes I add red chilli powder + sambar powder half and half.

CARROT RAITA/THAYIR PACHADI

Prep time – 5 mins | Cook time-2 mins | Total time – 7 mins

Ingredients

Carrot – 1 no
Curd – 1/2 cup
Salt – as required
Green chilli – 1 no (finely chopped)
To temper
Cooking oil – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – few

Method

Wash and grate carrot. Take in a bowl with finely chopped green chillies , required salt.
Just before serving, mix the curd and temper the above said ingredients.

Serve with dal rice/paruppu sadam!

HOW TO MAKE TAMIL NEW YEAR LUNCH MENU

Wash and soak urad dal for vada and keep in refrigerator till you grind. It takes nearly 30 minutes to 1 hour for soaking. Wash and soak big gooseberry sized tamarind for sambar, small gooseberry size tamarind for rasam. Dry roast moong dal till golden and raw rice till puffy. This is for payasam. Set aside. Grate or slice one full coconut. You can use it for making pachadi, kootu and poriyal.
Take 2 pressure cookers ( 3 litre cooker is better). In first cooker bottom, add washed toor dal for sambar, turmeric powder, a drop of oil and required water. (If you are using broad beans, cluster beans for sambar, add to dal. I used lady’s finger. So I made sambar in a different way).
Take a small box with lid. Add moong dal, turmeric powder, hing, a drop of oil and water for paruppu. Keep it inside the pressure cooker.
Take another small box with lid. Wash and peel raw mango. Chop into big pieces and add to the box. Add chopped green chillies, little salt and water. Do not add more water. Keep in inside the first cooker.
Take a round plate suitable for first cooker. Spread chopped raw banana, moong dal, sambar powder, salt, turmeric powder and a pinch of tamarind. Sprinkle little water and place the plate covering the first cooker. Close the cooker lid.
In the second cooker bottom, add washed rice, required water. Take a small round box, add dry roasted moong dal and rice for arisi paruppu payasam. Add required water and keep in inside the rice. If you want to make kootu, add the chopped vegetable, moong dal, salt and water in another small box and keep that inside the cooker. Close the cooker with the lid.
Pressure cook both the cookers in low flame for one whistle. (i.e Keep the flame high till steam comes out. Put the weight valve and then lower the flame completely. Cook for one whistle in low flame. It takes nearly 10 to 12 minutes based on the cooker make.) Switch off the flame. Let the steam release naturally.
In the mean time, heat oil in a kadai. Temper mustard seeds, methi seeds, red chilli, curry leaves. Add chopped lady’s finger till golden brown. Add chopped tomato and saute till mushy. Add tamarind extract from big gooseberry size. Add sambar powder, salt and hing. Boil till raw smell goes off and lady’s finger cooks soft.
Grind chopped gooseberry, grated coconut, green chilli, salt and hing adding required water. Add to curd and set aside. Do the tempering at the end. Pachadi is ready. ( I made carrot pachadi. For this grate carrot, finely chop one green chilli. Add to curd and temper with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves.)
Grind coconut + rice flour for kootu and mango pachadi. Set aside.
Now both the cookers will be ready to open. Open the dal cooker first. Remove the plate and boxes kept inside. Mash the dal and add to sambar kadai. Boil and garnish with coriander leaves. Sambar is ready.
Open the paruppu/ moong dal box and mash well. Add tempering in ghee. Mix well and set aside. Paruppu is ready.
Open the mango pachadi box. Heat oil in a kadai. Temper mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves. Add cooked mango pieces. Add jaggery and ground coconut paste. Mix well and boil till thick. Mango pachadi is ready.
Take the poriyal plate and drain excess water if any. Heat oil in a kadai, temper and add cooked raw banana mixture. Mix gently and add grated coconut. Mix and switch off the flame. Transfer to a bowl. Poriyal is also ready.
Now open the second cooker with cooked rice. Remove the payasam box and kootu box.
Add ground coconut paste to the kootu box. Temper mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves in coconut oil. Add the kootu mixture. Boil for few minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Kootu is done.
Lastly open the payasam box. Mash the rice+dal. Take in a wide bowl. Add required water, powdered jaggery or jaggery syrup after removing impurities. Add crushed cardamom. Boil till raw smell of jaggery goes off . Roast cashews, cloves and a pinch of mace powder in ghee. Add to payasam. Lastly add boiled milk or coconut milk in room temperature. Boil in very low flame just for 30 seconds and switch off the flame else it may curdle. Payasam is ready now.
Now take the soaked urad dal and grind to smooth paste adding green chilli, hing, pepper and cumin seeds. Add water carefully. Make thick paste and transfer to a bowl. Beat the batter with your hanads for few minutes till fulffy. Add finely chopped curry leaves and salt.
Mix well and deep fry vada in hot oil. Remove and fry the papad / appalam, more milagai.
If you want to make raw mango pickle, chop finely. Add salt, red chilli powder, a pinch of roasted methi seeds powder, hing and mix well. Temper with mustard seeds with sesame oil. Mix well and serve.
Lastly make neer more and panakam. For this, take curd. Add water and salt to make buttermilk. Add crushed ginger + green chilli to the butter milk and finely chopped coriander leaves. Temper mustard seeds, curry leaves and hing. Add to buttermilk. Neer more is ready.
To make panakam, take one cup of water, add grated jaggery, lemon juice, a pinch of salt, crushed cardamom, cloves and mix well. Panakam is ready.
Rice, paruppu, 2 pachadi, poriyal, kootu (optional), payasam, vada , pickle, neer more and panakam are ready to serve for neivedyam.
This is how I make Tamil new year lunch menu every year under one hour. You too try this way and finish your work quickly.