Karadaiyar Nombu Adai

Karadaiyar nombu/ vrat is usually celebrated during the beginning of the tamil month" Panguni"and the end of ' maasi".The legened behind this vrat is that ( from mahabharatha) savithri fought Lord Yama to save the life of her husband Satyavan.  if you want to read about the story Check here!
 Nombu or vrat is celebrated by women offering  prayers to be together with their beloveds for ever and offer &"adai".

Savithri had to be a minimalist in the middle of the forest and immense sorrow. So she made offerings with what she had to save her husband.
But I have no idea how adding  beans, cilantro and all other exotic spices to these adai came! Yama was tired of eating all the tasteless ones I guess!

We usually make sweet and savory adai during this pooja.  best results are by using fresh rice flour.

Get Ready: (yields 10 sweet and 10 savory ones)

Vella Adai

• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1 tbsp black eyed beans
• 2-2/12 cups of Jaggery powdered
• 1 tbsp coconut grated ( ideally thin wedges of coconut are used)
• 1 tsp cardamom powder
• 2 cups water

Uppu Adai

• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1 tbsp black eyed beans
• 1 tbsp cocnut
• 1 green chilli
• a pinch of asafetida
• salt to taste
• 1& 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp urad dal
• cilantro and curry leaves

Go:

The first couple of steps in the preparation is the same for both vella and uppu adai.

• In a pan add a drop of oil and fry 2 tbsp of black eyed beans for a couple of mins.
• Let it cool and cover with water and pressure cook for 3 whistles.
• In a pan dry roast the 1 cup of  rice flour till pink or nicely fragrant. set aside and divide into 2 half cups.

For the vella adai:

• In a pan,add 2 cups of water and the jaggery. once dissolved, strain the jaggery water to remove any dirt.
• let it boil after straining.
• Now add the 1/2 of black eyed peas, coconut, cardamom powder and 1/2 cup of rice flour and stir well.
• It should come together without sticking to the pan. turn the fire off and set aside. If it looks too dry, sprinkle some water.

For the uppu adai:

• In a pan, ( yes, lots of dishes to wash!) add 1 tsp of oil and do tadka with mustard seeds and urad dal, curry leaves and hing.
• Add 1 & 1/2 cups of water. once it comes to a boil, add the remaining BBP, coconut, salt to taste, cilantro and the rice flour.
• Mix well till it is in the same consistency as the sweet dough.
•  turn the fire off.

Final step:

• Once you can handle the dough, make small balls, flatten them and make a hole in the centr like vadai. use some water to prevent it from sticking.
• In a greased idli stand, steam these adai for 10 -15 mins or till they look shiny.
• Offer to god with butter and enjoy his blessings!

This year the nombu is on March 14th in the evening.