The Sakha Vrata starts from Ashada Sudha Ekadasi to Sravana Sudha Ekadasi. That is, 14th July to 10th August 2008.
Prohibited ingredients
- Tamarind
- Chili
- Coriander
- Mustard
- All types of vegetables
- Fruits (except Mango)
- Dry grapes
- Cardamom
- Coconut
- Nuts like Cashew, etc.
Allowed ingridents
- Pulses (except Bengal gram and fried gram)
- Pepper
- Cumin seeds
- Amla powder
- Wheat
- Sesame seeds
- Ragi
- Sooji
- Rava
- Maida
- Gingelly oil
- Ghee
- Jaggery
- Sugar
- Corn
- Amchur poder (dry mango powder)
Common ingredients
First powders TO be prepared for easy preparation of the food.( TO KEEP FRESH FOR A WEEK)
Toordal powder
Two cups of toordal,2 table spoon pepper, salt as required.
Fry the toordal dry till it becomes golden brown, so also pepper lightly. Mix the toordal and pepper along with salt and powder it finely and keep it in a tight container.
Urad dal powder
Same method as above and keep it in a container, but don't add salt.
Sesame powder
One cup urad dall, Half a cup of white sesame seeds, One table spoon pepper. Fry the items separately in a dry kadai lightly and mix all and grind it in a mixie as a powder and keep it in a container.
Amla, Aamchur powders are available in packets in the market and this can be kept. ( this is an alternative for tamarind or lime)- Pepper is an alternative for chili.
With this base you can make any dish.
Kosambari
Take some quantity of Moong dal place it in a cup of hot water and later drain the water . Fry cumin seeds in ghee/oil. Mix it with the moongdal and add salt and serve.
Poriyal (Instead of vegetables)
Soak toor dal in a bowel of hot water for sometime and drain it later. Add a few pepper and a required quantity of salt and grind it coarsely in a mixie and keep it aside. In a kadai fry the cumin seeds ( one teaspoon) urad dal (half tsp) and add the toordal mix. It is called DALL USILI.
Chitranna
In a kadai add one tsp of Ghee and fry cumin seeds, and uraddal (one tasp). Add this with the required quantity of cooked rice along with the urad dall powder and sesame seed powder with salt and mix it and serve.
Chutney
One small cup of Toordal or uraddal, and pepper. Fry this in a kadai with ghee till it becomes golden brown. Add salt and Amla powder and grind it coarsely in the mixie and use it as chutney (as side dish for Idly dosa).
Rasam
Fry small quantity of pepper and cumminseeds in ghee and powder it. Cook the toordal and make a fine paste by adding required quantity of water. Add the pepper, cumminseed powder along with dried Amla or Aamchur powder and salt and boil it. Finally add the cumin seed ½ tsp in ghee and fry it and pour it.
Kootu
1Small cup of green gram dall, 1cup of toor dal,urad dal powder (2 tsp).
Cook green gram and toor dal separately. Make a paste of toordal by adding water and add the cooked greengram dall Add Amlaor Aamchur poder mix and boil.Fry cumminseedsin ghee and pour it and serve.
Mor Kuzhambu
Soak the toordal in hotwater for some time and later drain it. Add pepper and salt and grind it coarsely in the mixie and Remove the paste and make it as small balls (as bonda) and fry it in the oil and keep it aside. Lightly heat the curd and remove it and drop the bonda. Fry the cumin seeds in ghee and pour over it and serve.
Thus, so many verities can be prepared with the few ingredients as prescribed during this period. At other times (other than this vrata perid) one can use the chilis instead of pepper and Bengal gram and fried gram.
What is the effect in our body?
- As already described earlier one can avoid the contacting with the disease which spreads during this period.
- The body gets required carbohydrate to keep the energy.
- Good quantity of protein is added in the food for strength.
- Pepper and cumin seeds gives a good health and takes care of the digestive system
- Less salt and totally non inclusion of Hot chilly prevents Blood pressure and it keeps in control.
- Ghee gives strength to the bone marrow
- Curd and milk gives good energy and maintains the required fat to the body.
- Use of Jaggary gives a good iron substitute to the body.
- Sesame seeds help to keep the body joints active.
Above all it helps to improve our will power in controlling our sense organs. To put it in other words the sense organs are under our control instead of us being under the control of the sensory organs!
