Days were sordid and gloomy, today its colder and dreamy. Slowly the spring is arriving or the winter is longing to stay,I think London is weaving its own weather spell. I begin to find poetry in every nook and corner coming straight out of Robert Frost’s book. I see trees, tiny bees, green leaves and budding blossom. I am suddenly not cold, as winter begins to wrap a sheath of frost on the ground. It is the weather or my mood but I am oozing warmth. In my search for something unique I have Sri-lanka today and I am doing the Thala Auwa for Makarsankranti. Last week my hubby’s manager had sent a lovely sesame toffee from Sri-lanka which inspired me to this post.
I close my eyes and see tall conifers, hoards of people, bright blue and green, chaotic hum and river flowing by. Every year at this time I accompanied my parents to watch the tribal climax Tusu festival into the holy river. The old ambassador creeks with load and the humpy ride. We stop a short distance at the top of a tiny hill (almost an ant hill) which descends into the river bed. A beeline of tribal women clad in pink,blue and green singing their songs make way for the Tusu choudala. The choudala is a wooden edifice adorned with bright streamers,wooden dolls and flowers considered as an embodiment of a deity by the tribal who are going to immerse the choudala into the Dohmuhani river. Occasionally the rhythm is broken by loud shriek of the toy bugles and whistles. The children and men follow the women giggling and hooting their own songs. The synchronisation of steps is tremendous and the girls break into an occasional jig. My sister and I watch the whole troop with amazement and glee,we bombard so many of questions to my father. We follow too and purposefully drag our feet on the pebble river side and stand close to the river to watch every movement of the deity’s immersion in the water. The crowd disperses to let through another group of onlookers for their ritual. Every immersion is accompanied by hul-hulis, throwing of lia and black sesame seeds.
After silently observing the swarm of people perform their ritual we are tired. My father decides to take us back home. My mother would have prepared peetha and ghuguni at home like any special occasion in our religious calendar followed by a black sesame sweet to end the day. The day in the hindu calendar is known as Makar sankranti. There is an ample amount of written content on its religious significance from various regions of India but I find very little written about Tusu parav which culminates on the day of Makarsankranti. This festival is celebrated by the tribals belonging to the Jharkhand,Odisha,West bengal and certain regions of Assam.
“On the first day of Pousa, adolescent girls prepare the idol of Tusumoni out of a mixture of “Tusa” (husk of the paddy) and cow-dung. They prepare two idols which represent male and female reproduction organs. These are known as symbolic deities. Every day the girls worship Tusu mother with profound devotion offering corn and marigold flowers……On Makar Sankranti the worshippers go to a nearby river in a procession carrying the deities in a decorated chaudola for immersion.”
There is a huge amount of conjecture around the origin of Tusu festival but quoting a thesis submitted by B.K Mohanta. Whether it is the beginning of harvest or the rejoicing of Tusu or ‘Tusumoni’ the tribal girl whose sacrifice for the society,her own chastity or love etches Tusu parav’s spirit. To me it signifies the deep cultural heritage associated with the tribals which was handed over from generation to generation and thus became the representation of its people and its belief just like innumerable festivals of India.
Sesame is said to be the sweat beads of Vishnu on earth. It is one of the earliest known oilseeds known to ancient man. It is rich in vitamins,minerals and healthy oils.It has been known to control the bad cholesterol in our body. Sesame oil imparts warmth to the body during cold winter months. There is a huge significance of giving gifts in the months of Pousa, to acknowledge kindness, grace and earth in human relationships. My understanding of spiritual science tells me a warmth in your feelings equates to the warmth of your conduct. Rituals just add another dimension to the whole aspect.
I have tried to show a form of gift wrapping which is like extending a willow of prosperity along with the warmth of sesame toffee. I researched a lot on the dish ‘Thala Auwa‘ and finally zeroed down to making this for the makarsankranti. I am late I know but there is always a tomorrow. Hope you enjoy the thala Auwa recipe and the suggested gifting technique.
- 200 gm Brown Sugar
- 150 gm Pan Roasted White Sesame seeds
- 200 gm Rice powder (The amount is an estimate)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Handfuls of raisins
- 1 cup of water
- 1 tbsp icing sugar
- In a heavy bottomed pan heat the water and the sugar on medium heat until the sugar has melted and is bubbling.
- Into the mixture add your sesame seeds gradually and the vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly for 3 minutes,then followed by the raisins.
- Set aside for 5 minutes allow it to slightly cool down. Then gradually add rice powder, one tablespoon at a time until the mixture gets thick. Do not add the entire rice powder. We need a fraction of it to make a non-sticky mass.
- Then on a wooden board dusted with rice powder( you can use baking paper instead).Spread the mixture on it and flatten it to a thickness of 3 cmm. Then adjust the edges to form a even square.
- Dust some of the remaining rice powder and icing sugar over the flattened base.
- Then when the mixture is still warm run through your knife and cut it into even squares cubes.
- Allow it to throughly cool before packing it in a air tight container.
- I have used rectangular baking sheets to wrap the sesame toffee or Thala Auwa for gifting. I have used jute twine for typing the knots around the gift with a tiny fir twig.It adds to the aesthetic value of the gift.
Amazing recipe and you clicked so beautifully! love it!
Gorgeous gorgeous post – so full of emotional goodness. The toffee looks grand and the images are totally dreamy.
Hi Roy, you are one inspirational lady. ..I have been eating those thala bola (if they are round, we call them bola) shop bought and never thought of making them.
You are truly gifted.
Just one minor thing, did you mean to call them thala aluwa? Back home my mum makes something similar with jaggery, but rest of the ingredients are similar and we call it aluwa.
Sad that your hubby isn’t coming to the same office as I am often enough, I don’t have the pleasure of tasteing your sweets. 🙁
I’m sure they are absolutely delicious! !
Best regards
Oh Imal,
You flatter me the most and trust me I enjoy it every bit. The soul searches for some boost and you are the right tonic. From the moment I ate that little toffee you gave me it intrigued me I kept reading about importance of Sesame in Sri Lankan cuisine.
Actually his distance is equally troublesome for Mr. H I am keeping my prayers for a better proximity.
I will PM you for our visit to Hoppers in SOHO. Looking forward to meeting and chit chatting in an informal surrounding. Of course good food.
In Bangladesh we have similar street-snack: extremely addictive. Thank you for the recipe.
Beautiful, romantic pictures.
And lovely narrative.
Hugs.
Hello Nusrat,
It was very rustic and earthy in taste something like mums use dot prepare for us when we were kids. I could feel like I am unravelling a portion of my childhood seeing my mum n grand mum make them for me. Our variety has jaggery and is slightly harder in texture which as a kid I found hard to bite. But this uses addition of rice flour which is different.
Thank you for your kind words.