KANJI AND VENNI

This year Vishu is on 14th April 2014. New Year day of Keralites and Tamilians.

Kanji and venni is made during the New Year Day by Keralites and Tamilians.  It is a  traditional simple food relished on the day of Vishu.

In the month of Chitirai, (April) mango and neem trees will be full of flowers and fruits (In the spring season).  On the day of Vishu i.e New Year day, we make a curry with sweet, bitter, sour, salty and spicy.  It symbolizes the fact of our is a mixture of sadness, happiness, anger, fear, disgust etc which we have to digest and come out of all these problems accepting the fact of life and still live happily through  our life.

In Kerala, we celebrate "Vishu"  On the day of Vishu, "Kani Kannal" is a tradition.  On the previous night, in front of the God, in a thambalam or plate or big banana leaf, we keep broken coconut filled with coins and gold, a mirror with a golden chain in it, a vellarikka (madras kakadi), flowers, fruits, all the vegetables, jackfruit, lime, rice, dhal, mangoes jaggery, banana, vettilai, paku etc to seek the blessings of God and pray that through out the year, we should get all these things abundantly.  In this Kani, a special flower called "Konnapoo" or Amaltas or Indian Laburnum is must.  On the day of Vishu, elderly women wake up all the members of the family one by one to see the Vishu Kani and Kai Neetam ( giving money by the elderly person in the family to all the younger ones) is given.  Then celebrate the whole day and nice feast is also made and enjoyed. by all the family memebrs together.  It is really fun and I really enjoy at Kerala only and not in Metro.

Kanji and Venni

Kani Konna poo,  Indian laburnum

Kanji and Venni Youtube


I have spoken about Vishu and Vishu Kani, now coming to the main issue of how to prepare this dish

Let us look at the recipe now;

Ingredients:

FOR KANJI

1/4 cup brown boiled rice
3 cups of water.

Method:

wash and soak the rice for 1 hour so that it gets cooked faster.
In a pressure cooker I cooked the same in low flame for 3 whistles with 3 cups of water.

VENNI

Venni is a mixed vegetable curry with yoghurt.  It has got some resemblance to the avial but it is not avial.

Ingredients:

1 cup vegetables (a piece of drumstick,  colacasia, 1/4 raw mango chopped, a small piece of ash gourd and red pumpkin, a small piece of snake gourd, a small piece of karela (bitter gourd), 2-3 beans, a small piece of carrot etc)

1/2 tsp black pepper powder
salt
few curry leaves.
1 cup thick curd
1 tsp rice flour
a small piece of jaggery

Method:

Cook  the vegetables with salt, pepper powder. Mix the rice flour in water and add to the vegetables and boil. this will give little thick consistency to the curry. when the vegetables are cooked, switch off gas after 5 minutes, beat the curd, add to the vegetables and mix well.  break the curry leaves and put in it. Your venni is ready to serve with the Kanji

The recipe of venni is given here as I remembered faintly.  I also checked with my mother's cousin and she said I was right.

You can also add if you wish little green chilli paste and ginger paste ( I added) and also gave seasoning of  viz. mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chilli (my pesonal choice).

Also see the recipes of   mambazha pachadi,  neem flower rasam,  neem flower pachadi, neem flower raita made by Tamilians during this day.

WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY VISHU.  MAY GOD BLESS U ALL WITH HEALTH, WEALTH, PEACE AND HAPPINESS.