Karadayan Nombu Adai

There are certain dishes that are invariably made only once a year, on particular days, like Poornam Kuzhakattai for Ganesh Chathurthi, Kali for Thirvadarai, Cheedai for Janmashtami, Pori urundai for Karthigai and this particular adai for Karadayan Nonbu. At least it is like that in my house. Somehow we don’t make these dishes on a day to day basis. I guess that’s what makes them so special.

Savithri Vratham or Karadayan Nonbu is generally observed on the day when the Tamil month Masi ends and Panguni begins. Married women observe a fast on this day for the well being and long life of their husbands. Unmarried girls pray to be blessed with a good husband. There is a particular time, (the time changes every year), at that time, the women tie a yellow charadu or thread around their necks and break their fast by eating these special adais with unsalted butter. Usually while having the adais, the following two lines are repeated:

Urugatha vennaiyum, oru adaiyum nothein
Orukaalum yen kanavan piriyamal irrukaname

Before going to the recipe I would like to share the legend behind Karadayan Nonbu. The story behind observing this Vratham is that, Princess Savithri, daughter of King Ashwapati, married Satyavan a penniless prince. She also knew the fact that Satyavan would live only for a year. Three days before the destined day of Satyavan’s death, Savithri vowed to fast. On the last day, when Yama the God of Death came to take Satyavan’s soul, Savithri prayed to him to either take her with her husband or to leave her husband behind. Impressed by Savithri’s love and devotion, Yama agreed to grant her any boon other than Satyavan’s life. Savithri asked for a son. Yama granted her wish. But how could she have a son without her Satyavan and hence Yama was forced to give back Satyavan’s life. Thus Savithri rescued her husband Satyavan from death. It is said that later she broke the fast by having these adais.

Makes about 12 - 14 adais

What you'll need

1. Rice Flour – 1 cup
2. Grated or powdered Jaggery – 1 cup
3. A handful of cowpeas or Karamani
4. Cardamoms – 3 -4
5. Coconut cut into small pieces – a handful
6. Ghee – 1 tsp
7. Water – 1 1/2 cup

Method

1. Dry roast the rice flour till light brown on medium heat. (You should be able to put lines with the flour like you do with kolam maavu). 
2. Dry roast the Karamani for 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Pressure cook the Karamani, mash them coarsely and keep it aside.
4. In a Kadai, heat the said 1 ½ cups of water with the grated jaggery. 
5. Once the jaggery dissolves completely, remove from heat. Strain impurities and place it on heat again. Let it start boiling. 
6. Once the jaggery water starts boiling add the cooked cowpeas/karamani, coconut pieces and cardamom powder and roasted rice flour. Mix well without forming any lumps. 
7. Add a tsp of ghee and mix well. The whole flour should become a round mass. Remove from heat. Let it cool a little.
8. Grease idly moulds. Knead the dough a little to make it smooth. 
9. Make small balls out of this mixture and flatten them. Make a small hole with your finger in the middle. Place in idly moulds and steam for about 10 mins. Once cooked the Adais will have a shiny appearance.

Karadayan adai is ready. Offer to the Almighty with some homemade butter.

Chembu Pulivitta Curry (Spicy Tangy Colocasia Stir Fry)

Chembu Colocasia or taro root is one of my favorite vegetables. I love anything made out of it like Chembu Sambar, Chembu Moru Kootan, Chembu roast etc. Chembu Pulivitta curry is a perfect combination with Molagootal, molagutiam or curd rice. This is another traditional palakkad recipe.

Ingredients                                                         Serves - 4

1.       Chembu/colocasia/taro root/arvi – ½ kg

2.       Tamarind – gooseberry size

3.       Jaggery a little

4.       Turmeric Powder a pinch

5.       Asfoetida – a pinch

6.       Salt to taste

Dry roast and grind

1.       Channa Dal – 1 tbsp

2.       Dhaniya – 1.5 tbsp

3.       Red Chillies – 2 to 3 adjust according to taste

For seasoning

1.       Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp

2.       Curry leaves a few

3.       Oil – 3 tsps

Method

Steam the chembu with the skin. Do not overcook.Cool, remove skin, cut them into 1 inch thick pieces and keep aside.

 Soak tamarind in hot water for 10 mins. Squeeze, take a thick extract and keep it aside.

Dry roast channa dal, coriander seeds and red chillies. Cool and grind to a fine powder.

In a Kadai, heat oil, temper it with mustard seeds, once they splutter, add the curry leaves. Then add the chembu, turmeric, asfoetida and salt to taste. Fry for about 7 to 8 minutes. Then add the tamarind extract and little jaggery. Fry this for a few mins or till the tamarind extract is absorbed completely. Take care while stirring, not to mash the vegetable. 

Now add the spice powder and mix well. Let it fry for another 4 to 5 mins. Chembu Pulivtta curry is ready. Serve it as an accompaniment with steaming hot rice and molagootal.

Arachukalaki

Arachukalaki is a distinctive side dish of Palakkad Iyers. It is a curd based side dish for our mild kootans like Molagootal and Mulagutiam. You could call it maybe a Palakkad Raita. The name arachu kalaki exactly translates to the procedure of how this dish is made: Arachu meaning grind and kalaki meaning mix. This is a really simple dish.

In olden days, seasonal fruits like gooseberries or nellikai in Tamil, mangoes or mangai in Tamil etc would be preserved in brine in large bharanis (big porcelain vessels) for the entire year. Whenever one felt like having a nellikai or mangai – there it was always available. My mother-in-law still follows the tradition. So this winter when the gooseberries were readily available in the market, she bought a Kg of them and preserved it in brine. Today we made arachukalaki out of these preserved gooseberries. So, here’s how arachukalaki is made:

Preserved Nellikai

Ingredients                         (Serves: 3 – 4)

1.       Fresh or Preserved Nellikai/ Gooseberries/Amla – 2 big

2.       Grated Coconut – 2 tblsps

3.       Sour curd – 2 to 3 tblsps

4.       Dried Red Chillies – 3 – 4

5.       Methi seeds – ¼ tsp

6.       Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp k

7.       Curry Leaves a few

8.       Coconut oil – 1 tsp

9.       Salt to taste

Method

Heat a small pan with ½ tsp of oil, fry the methi seeds and red chillies. Deseed the Nellikai or gooseberries. Grind the nellikai pieces, grated coconut, fried, methi seeds and red chillies into a fine paste. Add little sour curd to get a smooth paste. Add salt to taste. Transfer the ground pastes into a bowl. Now, adjust consistency by adding some more curd. Mix well. Arachukalaki should not be very thick like thogayal, it should be like pachadi or raita. Heat a small frying pan with the remaining oil, add the mustard seeds, when the splutter pour it on top of the arachukalaki. Garnish with a few sprigs of curry leaves.

Nellikai Arachukalaki is ready to be served with rice and molagootal. You can also relish the taste of this arachukalaki with idly or dosai.

Note: Arachukalaki can also be prepared with small raw mangoes (Vadu manga or Kanni mangai as it is called in Palakkad. Procedure is the same. Just replace gooseberries with raw mangoes). 

It can be made with Chenai (yam/Suran) also. Remove skin from chenai, cut into small pieces. Rest of the procedure remains the same except that you need to add a little tamarind while grind since chenai does not have a sour taste.

Pulikachal

Pulikachal is a tangy tamarind (puli in Tamil) sauce. This is an ideal side dish for Molagootal, Thair Sadam, Idly and Dosai.  Also, you could simply mix a few spoons of this sauce with plain rice and have it as Puliyumsamdam. Pulikachal has a good shelf life. It can easily stay good for a week to 10 days. It comes in handy on those really lazy days when you just don’t feel like entering the kitchen. 

Until recently, I never ventured into making pulikachal, as I was quite apprehensive about making it. I always felt that Pulikachal is for seasoned cooks like my mom and mom in law to make. Whenever Pulikachal was on our day’s menu, I would be out of the kitchen.  But as this academic year started, I had no other choice but to start making this since Puliyhari as it is called here in Andhra was on my daughter’s Monday Lunch Menu. For the past six to seven months, every Monday morning I prepare Pulikachal and make Pulihari for my daughter and hence have learnt to make it quite well now. Coming to the recipe:

Ingredients

1.       Tamarind – a big lemon sized ball

2.       Ginger – a medium sized piece

3.       Green Chillies – 4 -5 or according to taste

4.       Jaggery – almost the size of the tamarind

5.       Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp

6.       Asfoetida – ¼ tsp

7.       Salt to taste

For Seasoning

1.       Sesame oil – 2 tblsp

2.       Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp

3.       Channa Dal – 1 tsp

4.       Ground nuts – 2 tsps

5.       Curry leaves a few

Roast and grind

1.       White Sesame seeds/ til – 1 tsp

2.       White Urad Dal – 1 tsp

Method

Soak the tamarind in hot water for a 5 mins. Squeeze and take out the tamarind juice. Grind the green chillies and ginger. Now in a Kadai, heat the sesame oil, add the mustard seed, once thy splutter, add the ground nuts and channa dal. Fry till dals turn brown. Next add the curry leaves and the chilly ginger paste. Fry for a minute. Next add the tamarind juice. Add turmeric powder, asfoetida and salt. Allow this to boil in medium flame for about 5 to 8 mins. Once you see the tamarind juice slightly thickening, add the jaggery and let it simmer for another few mins or till you see oil floating on top and the sides.

Dry roast the til and urad dal and powder it. Add this to the pulikachal. Addition of this powder gives a good flavor and aroma to the pulikachal.

Spicy, Sweet, Sour Pulikachal is ready!

To make the pulyumsadam or pulihari take about 2 teaspoons of pulikachal and mix it with plain cooked white rice. (Make sure rice is not mushy) You can increase or decrease the amount of pulikachal depending on your taste.

Note:

1.       If you add til and urad dal powder, the shelf life of the pulikachal will be reduced. Also to retain the freshness it is best to roast and powder this whenever required and add it to the required amount of pulikachal.

2.       The amount of jaggery mentioned in the recipe may seem too much, but that is the measurement my MIL follows, Jaggery should be equal to the amount of Tamarind. Also keep in mind not to add the jaggery in the beginning itself. Only after the pulikachal is half done jaggery should be added.

Thair Sadam - Curd Rice

Curd Rice, Thair Sadam, Mosaranna, Peruguannam, Dahi Bhat etc are few of the names by which this comfort food is known. Curd rice is my daughter’s favorite. She can live on curd rice morning, day and night.

Lunch on no day is complete without a serving of curd rice. Though, on day to day basis, we just take some rice in our plates and mix it with curd or buttermilk and have it with some pickle. Curd Rice as such is reserved for special occasions. Also leftover rice is usually converted into curd rice and you really don’t know where the otherwise not so appetizing rice went.

Though most people might know how to make this really simple dish, nevertheless I wanted to do a post on this all time favorite of my family – Thair Sadam

Ingredients                         (Serves – 2)

1.       Cooked White Rice – 2 Cups

2.       Curds – 3 cups

3.       Milk – ½ cup

4.       Green Chilly – 1 chopped

5.       Salt to taste

For seasoning

1.       Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp

2.       Urad Dal – 1 tsp

3.       Channa Dal – 1 tsp

4.       Asfoetida – A Pinch

5.       Curry Leaves a few

6.       Vegetable oil – 1 tsp

Method

Mash the cooked rice very well with the back of a flat ladle. Add green chilly, salt, milk and the curds and mix well. Heat a pan with oil, add mustard seeds, when they crackle add the urad dal and channa dal and fry till brown. Lastly add asfoetida and curry leaves. Pour this over the curd rice and mix well.

Soothing curd rice is ready to eat. You can serve these with fried Moru Molagas, Sun dried curd chillies instead of pickles as I did.

Note: Thair sadam or curd rice can be made healthier and tastier by adding grated carrots, cucumber, raw mango pieces, fried cashews etc. Pomegranate seeds and grapes can also be added, if you like.