KARADAIAN NONBU ADAI - Sweet and Savoury Version included

Karadaian Nonbu is an important festival celebrated by married and unmarried women in the South when the Tamil month Maasi ends and Panguni starts.  Married and unmarried women fast on the auspicious day and tie the "Sacred thread" or "Nonbu Charadu" around their necks praying for the long life and well being of their husbands and unmarried women pray for an ideal husband. The festival is celebrated in remembrance of Savitri who with her clever arguments fought with "Yama", The Lord of Death to win back her husband Sathyavaan 's life. It is believed that Savithri did a Gowri Pooja and offered Nonbu Adais to the deity before she fought with Yama that gave her back her husband. 

On this auspicious day, All women and girls do a similar Pooja and chant " உருகாத வெண்ணையும் ஓர் அடையும் தட்டி நோன்பு நோற்றேன், ஒரு நாளும் என் கணவர் என்னை விட்டு பிரியாமல் இருக்க வேண்டும்".  I used to giggle   while I chant this as a little girl and my Mother would glare at me. I would want it to be over soon as i would be impatient to get my hands on the  Sweet Adai and Salt Adai. The other interesting part would be the day after in School or College where everyone thinks that you are married overnight.  Ha! Ha!

Now over to the recipe. I know i am late in posting this one. I could take pictures only of the salt Adai that i made. I was too busy with many things in the morning so could not click pictures of the Sweet Adai. I have given the recipe and i will post the photos sometime later. 

SWEET ADAI

Ingredients

Raw Rice Flour................................................... 1 cup

Jaggery............................................................... 1 cup  

Cardamom.......................................................... 5 to 6

Black Eyed Beans............................................... roughly 50 gms ( soaked

Chopped fresh Coconut or Grated....................... 4 tbsp

Ghee.................................................................... To grease your Idly plates

Method

• Soak Raw Rice for one hour  and drain the water. Towel dry it. Usually a white soft towel is used exclusively for this purpose. Do not allow the rice to dry too much.
• Dry roast the rice say for 5 minutes till a mild toasted flavour arises and cool it.
• Grind the rice in a mixer to get a fine powder and sieve it twice so that it becomes extra fine.Cool it for sometime and store in an airtight container.This procedure can also be done the previous day of the festival.
• Soak the Black eyed beans for sometime and microwave it so that it becomes soft. Chop Coconut kernel to small pieces or grate coconut to get around 3 to 4 tablespoons of it. 
• Now measure the flour in a measuring cup and take exactly the same measure of jaggery. The measurement is always 1:1.  Dissolve the jaggery in just enough water to submerge it and filter to remove all impurities. 
• When the mixture starts boiling, add the black eyed beans and coconut into it and then add the rice flour slowly and mix to make a stiff dough.
• Make Flat Adais out of this dough and place it on Idly plates greased with ghee and steam for 7 to 8 minutes. You can make around 15 Adais but may vary depending on the thickness. 
• Your Sweet Adais are now ready for Neivedhyam. It is served with a dollop of butter on top of it. 

SAVOURY ADAI

Ingredients

Raw Rice Flour ..................................................... 1 cup

Black Eyed Beans ................................................. a handful ( soaked and cooked )

Chopped Coconut.................................................. 3 to 4 tbsp

Asafoetida................................................................ To taste

Mustard Seeds......................................................... 1 tsp

Urad Dhal................................................................  2 tsp

Channa Dhal............................................................  1 tsp

Curry Leaves...........................................................  2 sprigs

Corriander Leaves...................................................  2 to 3 sprigs

Green Chillies..........................................................  4 to 5

Ginger.....................................................................   1 inch piece grated

Oil........................................................................... To saute and temper

Salt.......................................................................... To taste

Method

• Prepare the raw rice flour and soak and cook the black eyed beans as mentioned above.

•  Heat Oil in  Kadai or Non stick vessel and add the asafoetida powder. Following this splutter the Mustard Seeds, Urad Dhal and Channa Dhal. Add the chopped green chillies, grated ginger, curry leaves, corriander leaves, coconut and the black eyed beans. Saute for one more minute and add water. This procedure is more or less similar to the Rawa Upma recipe.

• Add water  and salt to this mixture. Once the mixture starts boiling, simmer the flame add the rice flour in small quantities with constant stirring. Lumps form quickly if the flame is high so be careful. Once you are done adding all the flour stir well till you get a smooth yet stiff dough.

• Make flat Adais out of this dough and stack them on Idly plates greased with ghee and steam for 10 minutes. Serve hot. 

NOTES

• Adding Corriander leaves or ginger to your Salt Adai is optional. I added because i like it.You can skip if you do not want to.
• Adding grated coconut to the Sweet Adai makes your Adai taste like Coconut Pooranam used for Poli. Try it .