Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Vella Adai and Kara Adai

         Both of these are small Rice cakes one sweet and one spicy, and are made for Karadayan Nombu. This festival comes on the first day of the Tamil Month Panguni. For people who know the Story of Satyavan and Savitri, this was the day she fought the God of Death, Yama, to bring her Husband back to life. You can read the story in detail here.
          When my son was 9 years old, I was telling him this story and said that all married women pray that their husbands that they lead a healthy and long life and unmarried girls pray for a good husband. And  after listening to the whole story, my son stumped me with this question "What kind of a puja does Appa do, so that you may lead a long healthy life?" :))
                      
                                               
                     Vella Adai
Items Needed:
Rice Flour  1 Cup
Jaggery 3/4th to 1 cup
water - 2 to 2 and 1/2 cups
Black Eyed Peas  1/2 Cup (or lesser if you prefer) (I like the beans so I usually add a little more)
Cardamom - a few peeled and powdered
Coconut - cut in to tiny tooth shaped pieces (optional)

----> Pre Soak the the Black Eyed Peas and drain them. I usually soak it overnight, but if you are planning to cook it before you add it to the rice flour, then soak it just for 10 mins.
----> Dry Roast the Rice flour till it changed color lightly on a medium flame.
----> Keep Aside, and add the jaggery. If you like it sweeter then, add a bit more jaggery. Add water to this and let it melt. Turn the Stove on, and let the jaggery turn in to a thick syrup.
----> At this point add the Cardamom powder and the Black Eyed Peas and let it boil for a minute.
----> Turn the Stove off and then add the Rice flour. If you feel the dough is dry and need to add a little more water, then go ahead and add, just make sure the dough is like a good bread dough.
---->In the Picture Below, the dough on the left hand side is the Vella Adai Dough.  and the one on the right is the Kara Adai Dough.
Kara Adai: (I make more of these since my daughter is very fond of them)
Items Needed:
Rice Flour  1 and 1/2 Cup
Green Chillies - 4 or 5 Chopped (Depending on your spice level)
Water - 2 and 1/2 to 3 cups

Black Eyed Peas  2/3 Cup (or lesser if you prefer) (I like the beans so I usually add a little more)

Curry Leaves-   A few
Oil - 1 Tablespoon
Mustard - 1 Teaspoon
Hing - 2 Dashes
Salt - 1 and 1/2 Spoons (less if you prefer)
Coconut - cut in to tiny tooth shaped pieces (optional)
----> Pre Soak the the Black Eyed Peas and drain them. I usually soak it overnight, but if you are planning to cook it before you add it to the rice flour, then soak it just for 10 mins.
----> Dry Roast the Rice flour till it changed color lightly on a medium flame.

----> Keep Aside, and add the Oil
---->Let the oil become hot, and then add the mustard seeds, While they sputter, add the hing, chopped Green Chillies, and the curry leaves, and then the Black Eyed Peas and Fry for about a minute
----> Now, add the water and salt and let it come to a slow boil.
----> Turn the Stove off and then add the Rice flour. If you feel the dough is dry and need to add a little more water, then go ahead and add, just make sure the dough is like a good bread dough.

Steaming Process
Now that the Dough is ready, we are ready to make Adais.
Make the steamer ready, in my case, I just used a kadai and put  a cooker ring in it to get some height and then placed my steamer on it. IF you want you can smear the steamer with oil, but it is not necessary. Add water in the pan and let it come to a boil,
---->Meanwhile, make balls out of the Vella Adai Dough and flatten it and make a hole in the middle
----> Do the same process with the Kara Adai Dough ..
----> Steam for about 15 minutes.

 When you are ready to offer this to God, on a clean banana leaf, place one of each adais and a dollop of White Butter and say
“Urugaatha Vennayum Oru kaaradayum naan nootren
Orukaalamum en kanavar ennai vittu piryadhirukkavendum”
(I offer you un-melted butter and one Kaaradai, At no time whatsoever should I ever be separated from my husband)  
Since I don't have access to Banana Leaves, I put them on a plate... :)