Nonbu Adai

Karadayan Nonbu :

Come the middle of March , we have this festival or ritual or whatever one calls it- the Kaaradaiyaan Nonbu. This is the day when the Tamil Month Panguni arrives .And when it arrives with the last few minutes of the previous month Maasi still clinging on to it, the Nonbu is observed .And in many of the Tamil homes, this day is considered very auspicious. Women have the first go at the Adais prepared and pray that their husbands do live long. And young girls too, pray for a good groom. A yellow thread in which a flower and a slice of raw turmeric is strung , is tied across the neck chanting the words meaning

"Throram Krishhnami subhake saharithamDharami aham

bharthuAyushya Sidhartham supreethabhava sarvadha."

The following is the tamil chant

"Urukaddha Venneyum oradhayam naan nootren

Orukkalum en kanavar ennai vittu pririyadhirukka vendum."

which means I offer butter and the rice made out of kaara arisi bless me that i live happily with my husband.

Read the Story behind Karadayan Nombu:

Neivedhyam:

Neivadhayam is made of banana leaves Neivedhyam consists of Adai made out of rice and butter, and adai made of rice and jaggery also, along with butter kept seperately.Vethalai paaku pazham is also offered to the Goddess . The women in the family perform Naivedyam (offerings to the divine) after placing a Karadai in a plantain leaf with betel leaves, areca nut (betel nut) and a ripe banana in front of the idol of God. A Charadu (sacred thread) with a flower tied to it like a pendant (in a necklace) is also placed along with the offering.

A small quantity of butter is placed on the adai and offered to the gods. While offering the women chant, ‘urukkadha vennaium oradaium vaitthen, orukkalum piriyamal en kanavan irukka‘ which is essentially an entreaty to God to grant her husband a long life. After finishing the pooja, according to one’s custom, charadu should be tied around the neck.

The menu for this event is very simple - just a mildly sweetened and steamed rice flour patty. I like the simplicity of this dish. It is usually served with a dab of freshly churned butter. The process is also time consuming but worth every effort. Traditionally it’s prepared by soaking raw rice in water, draining it, spreading it on a cloth and powdering the rice, while the rice is still damp.It is not that difficult to make provided you have loads of time to spare & a lot of patience too

Ingredients:

Rice flour 1 cup

Moong dal -2 tbsps

Jaggery- 1cup

Coconut gratings- ½ cup

Cardamom powder -1 tsp.

Method:
1. To prepare roasted rice powder– Wash and soak 1cup of raw rice in water for 1 to 2 hours. Drain water and dry the soaked rice in a white cloth under shade. When the moisture is removed fully dry grind it in a mixer into a fine powder. Dry roast it in a frying pan till a nice aroma comes out of it, taking care not to burn it. Keep aside.(This can be readied the previous day itself)

2. Roast the Moong dal also to a golden red colour. Cook the Moong dal with just enough water, until half done. Add the jaggery in 2 cups of water.

3.When the jaggery is melted add the half cooked Moong dal, coconut gratings, and roasted rice flour and cook until all the water is absorbed .

4.Add the cardamom powder and the ghee, stir well till every thing together cooks well to form a thick paste. Remove from fire and allow to cool.

5.When reasonably cool, roll the cooked flour into balls. Take half of the balls and flatten in the form of adais on plantain leaves.

6.Make small pieces of plantain leaves. Make small balls of the cooked rice flour (the size of a small orange) and keep on the plantain leaf. Flatten with the palm and make a small hole in the centre.

7.Keep the plantain leaves on a steamer and steam for 5 to10 min. This is offered with a blob of butter.

Savoury adai.

Ingredients:

Rice flour- 1 cup

Moong dal -2 tbsp.

Coconut gratings- ½ cup

Green chillies- 2 or 3 cut into small pieces

Mustard- 1 tsp

Urad dal -1 tsp

Curry leaves a few sprigs

Oil -1 tbsp.

Salt to taste

Plantain leaves to steam the adai

Method.

1.Roast the rice flour and moong dal separately to a golden brown colour.

2.Cook the moong dal in just enough water, until half done. Heat the oil in a pan and add the hing.

3.Add the mustard. When mustard starts spluttering, add the urad dal, green chillies and curry leaves.

4.Add 2 cups of water, salt to taste and the coconut gratings.

5.When the water starts boiling add the half cooked moong dal and rice flour and cook until all the water is absorbed. Allow to cool.

6.Make balls of the cooked rice flour and flatten on plantain leaves and steam for 10 mnts.

On this occasion let me wish all the ladies a happy karadayan nonbu!

Sweet Rice Puttu & Awards....

Puttu is my all time favorite. My grandma, My mother,& MIL usually prepares it wonderfully delicious puttu as a snack in the evening and usually it is the sweet variety. Puttu is a culinary specialty & this is a common dessert in our village and near by Tirunelveli dist in Tamil Nadu. It is traditional dish used to prepare in functions & festivals for neividyam. This puttu is different from what the Keralites prepares. .. Puttu is a steamed rice cake is supposed to be soft and fluffy. It’s made with rice flour, grated coconut and jaggery. The process is also time consuming but worth every effort. Traditionally it’s prepared by soaking raw rice in water, draining it, spreading it on a cloth and powdering the rice, while the rice is still damp.It is not that difficult to make provided you have loads of time to spare & a lot of patience too... . This dish came to my mind for purva’s Holi festival Event. But work front kept me busy and somehow I could manage it to prepare it on Holi.hope you enjoy it:)

Here's the recipe for it; .

Ingredients:

Rice -3 cup

Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp

Jaggery- 1 cup

Salt - A pinch

Water-¼ cup

Cardamoms-4 to6

Coconut-cut into small piece few

Cashew- 50 gm

Method:

1. Soak raw rice in water, draini it, spreading it on a cloth and powdering the rice, while the rice is still damp. Then make like powder by using Mixer.

2. Dry roast rice flour in a kadai in medium flame till golden coloured. Remove from fire & allow to cool.

3. Heat the water with salt & turmeric till it becomes lukewarm.

4. Sprinkle this little by little, to the roasted flour & mix well till it resembles fine bread crumbs.( The rice flour should be wet enough to hold together when you try making a fist with it and dry enough to break apart at a simple knock with the thumb. It shouldn’t be clumpy or too powdery. Keep breaking it with the hand as you mix. The amount of water varies with the kind of rice flour used. So keep adding in small quantities.)

5. Sieve this using a coarse sieve & wrap the flour in a clean cloth like a bundle. Place the bundle in a vessel; keep the vessel in a pressure cooker & steam cook for 10 minutes. Remove from fire & crumble the flour without any lumps. Again pass this steamed flour through the sieve(Take a pinch of the cooked flour and rub it with your two fingers.If the flour turned like a thread then the cooking is over.It is ready. If you can do that , If notkeep it again in the cooker and cook for some more time.)

6. Mix well with hands without any lumps.Fry cashew nuts in 1 sp ghee and keep aside.

7.Now, in a deep pan pour 50 ml water and put crushed jaggery and when it melts filter it.
Make syrup out of it.

8. The syrup should become thick enough, so that when you add a drop of it in a vessel of water, it should solidify immediately. (When a drop of the jaggery syrup is dropped in cold water, you should be able to form it into a ball. When you reach this consistency switch of the stove and remove the vessel from the stove.)

9. Now add this mixture little by little to the steamed flour and simultaneously mix the flour and jaggery syrup with the other hand using a spatula. Be careful because the syrup will be very hot and it will scald your skin if it drops.

10. The 'puttu' is ready and it must be like 'dry sand' after adding the jaggery. Allow to cool & then serve.

11. Add cardamom powder, grated coconut and fried cashew nuts. Mix well. Actually it is some what difficult ...Experiment in small quantities.

These goes to FestiveFood: Holi Hai event hosted by dear Purva.


Load Of Awards:

Vibaas & Gita has passed me on this very cute award. Thanks a lot for both of you for remembering me!

It is really tough to pick just 8 of my friends for this award, so I am passing on this award to all my blogger friends

Again Vibaas has passed me all this cute awards for me Thanks for sharing it with me dear.I feel honoured dear:)

I would like pass these awards to all my sweet friends Purva, Priti, vidhya, Suma, Hema, Srihari vatsan, Asha, Akal Sappadu, Nithya Praveen, Rajeswari Vijayanand, Rekhas Kitchen, Gita,Vidas, Malar, Viki, Anu,Mahima,srilekha, sia, A&N, Usha, Sripriya, Deesha ,N33ma.
Enjoy !!!