KARADAIYAN NOMBU ADAI RECIPE (SWEET & SALT)

        Karadaiyan nombu is one of the Thamizh festivals I have seen as I grew up. I can never forget the yellow thread with a flower tied to it, that we tie around neck/ hand. Every day I apply turmeric to keep it yellow every day. Adai is secondary for me those days, but this yellow thread excited me a lot, don't know why. The adai is very flavourful as we roast and add karamani( black eyed peas). My mom adds nava dhanyam in this just for name sake, but its optional. so add it one each, while roasting karamani(Rice by itself make a grain(nell)). I usually sandwich both sweet adai and savoury adai during my childhood, as I am not big fan of jaggery those days. Now I like both. My MIL have no practise to do this nombu, but I wanted to record here, so made it. After long time the flavour of this adai took me back to the childhood days .

        The festival is celebrated when the Tamil month Panguni begins and precisely at the time when month starts. But can also be made at the nalla neram of that day. So make it as per your convenience.

              

Karadaiyan nombu Recipe    Prep time : 2 hours  Cooking time : 45 mins   Makes : 14 each   Ingredients For rice flour Raw rice 1 & 1/2  cups   For sweet adai Rice flour 1  cup Jaggery 1 cup Water 2 cup Coconut pieces 3-4 tblsp Karamani/ black eyed peas 1/4 cup elachi 1, powdered For salt adai Rice 1 cup coconut 3-4 tblsp Karamani 1/4 cup Salt As needed Oil 1 tsp Mustard 3/4 tsp Green chilli 2 Curry leaves 1 sprig Asafoetida 2 generous pinches Method Wash and soak rice for 1 or two hours. After soaking, drain water completely and spread it in a clean kitchen towel.  Mean while, roast karamani and 7 other grains(optional)– I used  channa, black urad, green moong, finger millet, red milltet, mocha kottai, dried peas . Roast until karamani starts golden and nice aroma wafts. Let the flame in medium flame. Soak in water until you do the other works. Now the rice flour, let the cloth absorb excess water. Say for 30 minutes. Grind it to a fine powder in a mixer. Sieve it and if you get more remains(coarse rice in the sieve) again powder it sieve to prevent wastage. This will yield 2 cups plus little more. So you can use it for this recipe. 1 cup flour for each, sweet and salt version. Boil 2 cups water in a heavy bottomed vessel, add jaggery and dissolve it completely.  Filter the jaggery to remove impurities in a metal strainer. Bring to boil again and add the karamani we soaked drained from water. Simmer the flame and add the flour in a sprinkled way. Mix it while you add briskly with other hand to avoid lump formation.   Continue stirring in a mashing way, to break the lumps if any. When it becomes a lump as in the picture below, switch off the flame. It takes some time, so keep stirring. When it forms lump, it may look sticky, but after cool down, it will stiffen. For salt version, heat a heavy bottomed pan with oil and season with mustard, green chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida. Add 2 cups water,mix salt to it. Bring to boil. You can add a pinch of asafoetida at this stage for extra flavour. Simmer the flame and add the rice flour little by little as you mix with the other hand.  Cook in medium flame, this will thicken soon than the sweet dough, so be prepared for that. When it forms as a lump, switch off the flame and transfer to another vessel. By now the sweet dough would have cooled down. Make equal sized balls, flatten in well greased hands and make a hole in the middle. When u make hole, dip the finger in sesame oil to make it easier. Arrange in plate/ idli plate. Repeat the same for salt version and make equal size balls and flatten in well greased hands, make a hole in the middle. Arrange in greased idli plate and steam for 5-8 minutes. Notes You can use store bough rice flour also for this preparation. Make sure you reduce the flame when you add flour and keep stirring to avoid lumps in the dough. If few lumps are there, it will break as we keep stirring, no need to worry. Roasting karamani adds a great flavour, not only that, it also makes it cook easily. The longer it gets soaked, it will easily get cooked and be soft in the adai. If you want, you can even boil the karamani to cook it before adding. Keep the prepared dough covered, as it will become dry while cooling down. It it is too dry, sprinkle water while you make adai. Otherwise the edges will be cracked. You can add grated coconut in place of chopped coconut, both has its own texture and taste. Longer the time you soak karamani, sooner and soft it will get cooked in the adai. The sweet dough takes longer time to get stiff. So keep stirring. You can add finely chopped ginger in salt adai while tempering…

                   
                         We offer with butter(urugaadha vennai) and it does tastes best with it :)

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