Karadaiyan nombu adai

Karadaiyan nombu is a festival celebrated by Tamil Iyers around the world. The story behind it is an interesting one. Savitri was a very brave and intelligent princess. Since most kings were intimidated by her valor and intelligence, her father was unable to find a groom for her. He asked her to find a groom for herself and thus she set off to find a partner. She found herself the perfect partner - Satyavan - in a remote jungle. However, she was warned by the sage Narada that Satyavan would only live for a year after their wedding. She decided to marry Satyavan despite the warning. They lived in the jungle for a year. The pre-ordained day of his death arrived. Savitri fasted all day. She offered karadai to God, and asked that her husband should be with her always. Yama, the God of death arrived and took Satyavan's soul away with him. Savitri followed him. Pleased with her love for her husband, Yama said that though he could not release Satyavan from the clutches of death, he would grant her 3 wishes. The clever Savitri asks that her father should be blessed with a hundred sons, that her blind father-in-law should regain his eyesight and that she and Satyavan should be blessed with a hundred sons. Pleased with her intelligence, Yama grants her boons and brings Satyavan back to life.
Iyer women and girls continue the tradition of offering karadai while praying for the long lives of their husbands or in the case of unmarried girls, for good husbands. A yellow thread with a flower strung on it is tied around the neck and the adai with a blob of butter is offered to God. This festival usually falls in March (the end of the Tamil month of Masi and the beginning of Panguni). In our family, we offer sweet and salt adai as neivedyam along with butter. This is usually eaten as dinner on the day of the vratam.

What you need:
For vella adai/sweet adai
Rice flour - 1 cup (double roasted)
Jaggery - 1 cup, powdered
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Karamani/cow peas - 2 tbsp., soaked in water overnight & cooked
Water - 2.5 cups

Heat water in a thick bottomed pan. Add jaggery to it and heat until the jaggery melts completely. At this point, if there are impurities in the jiggery, you can filter it out. Lower the flame. Add cardamom powder, cooked cow peas and the rice flour, stirring continuously and briskly so that no lumps are formed. Keep stirring until the water is completely absorbed and the mixture thickens to a dough. Keep aside to cool. Once it is cool enough to handle, make small lemon sized balls and flatten them into thick discs with a hole in the center. Place this in a steamer/idli pan in a single layer and steam for 10-12 minutes or until the adai looks glossy.

For uppu adai/salt adai
Rice flour - 1 cup (double roasted)
Oil - 1 tbsp.
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida - a generous pinch
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Water - 2.5 cups
Salt - to taste

Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard and urad and roast until the seeds pop. Add water, asafetida, salt and grated coconut. When the water starts to boil, add the rice flour, stirring briskly and continuously. Cook till moisture is absorbed and mixture thickens to a dough. When cool enough to touch, make lemon sized balls, flatten them into thick discs with a hole in the center and steam in a single layer for 10-12 minutes or until shiny.

This is my second post for Week 4 of Blogging Marathon #78 under the theme Festival foods.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM# 78

Ragi Adai for a Virtual Bridal Shower

Blogging brings us close to so many people. People that we have never met face to face become virtual friends.....we share our joys and sorrows with them.
Aarthi of Yummy Tummy is one such blogger buddy who has an amazing collection of recipes with detailed step-by-step instructions and pictures. She is getting married later this month and the Blogging Marathon team is holding a virtual bridal shower for her. What better way to show her how much we appreciate her than by cooking a dish from her blog? I have followed her recipe almost to the T, except for a few small changes.
Aarthi, this is for you......Wish you a very happy married life.



Ragi Adai - What you need:
Ragi(finger millet in English) flour - 1 cup
Water - 1.5 cups
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Broken urad dal - 1 tsp
Green chilli - 2, finely chopped
Onion - 1, finely chopped
Carrot - 1, grated
Curry leaves - a few, chopped

Heat oil in a pan. Add the urad dal and mustard seeds. When the seeds pop, add curry leaves, green chilli and onion. Saute on a low flame till the onions turn translucent. Add carrot and saute till soft. Now add water and salt and bring it to a boil. Reduce the flame and add the ragi flour little by little, stirring continuously to ensure that no lumps are formed. Keep stirring until it comes together to form a firm, soft dough.
Set aside to cool.
Oil a plastic cover.
Take a  small ball of the dough and pat it into a circle on the oiled plastic sheet. Heat a tawa. Transfer the patted adai on to the tawa. Cook on medium flame until the under side turns a dark, glossy brown. This takes about a minute. Turn over and cook the other side too until dark brown.

Serve hot with any tangy, spicy chutney.
 

Adai (savoury lentil crepe)

A typical South Indian dish, almost every household has its own recipe for adai. This is a very forgiving recipe in the sense that if you don't have any of the ingredients, you can leave it out and still come up with a decent adai. Once my aunt omitted rice and made this with just pulses and it still tasted great.
Any lentil that you like can be added to it.

What you need:
Parboiled rice - 1 cup
A handful each of:
Chana dal
Urad dal
Moong dal(whole or in the absence of it, broken)
Tuar dal
Masoor dal
Whole kabuli chana/brown chana
Black eyed beans
Cilantro stalk
Curry leaves
A tsp each of:
Fenugreek seeds
Cumin seeds
Whole black pepper (adjust to taste)

Red chillies - a few, according to your spice tolerance
Asafoetida - a marble sized piece (a heaped tsp if you are using the powder)

Soak all the ingredients except the asafoetida, corriander and curry leaves in plenty of water for 5-6 hours. If you are not using whole chana and black eyed beans, about 3-4 hours of soaking will do.
Drain the water. Add salt, asafoetida, corriander stalk and curry leaves. Grind together to a coarse paste adding water as required. The batter should be slightly thicker than regular dosa batter.
Set this aside for about 8 hours (takes much less time in hotter places) to ferment.
While it can be made without fermenting,it tastes better when fermented.

Heat a dosa griddle. Stir the batter well and pour a ladleful on the griddle. Spread into a circle. Drizzle some oil over it and cook both sides until brown and crisp.


Serving suggestions:
This can be paired with Avial, Karuveppila thogayal, tangy tomato chutney, or shallot(ulli) sambar.

This is my entry to My Legume Love Affair hosted for Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook by Superchef at Mirch Masala.