Kaaradayaan nonbu or Savithri viratham is a traditional Tamilnadu festival of fasting wherein married woman pray for the wellness and long life of their husband and the unmarried girls pray God to get a good husband.  Along with the Rice Flour, we use cowpea which is called as Kaaramani in tamil. Hence the name Kaaradaiyaan nonbu. We make both salt and spicy adai. Here is the recipe for sweet adai.

Preparation of rice flour

• Wash and soak 1 cup of raw rice for 2 hours.
• Completely drain the water and spread it on a cloth.
• Let it dry for 5 hours.
• Every half an hour gently mix and spread the rice with your hands.
• After 5 hours grind the rice finely.
• For one cup of rice you will get 2 cups of rice flour.

INGREDIENTS

Rice Flour – 1 cup

Water – 1 1/4 cup

Cowpea – 2 tbsp

Coconut bits- 2 tbsp

Asafoetida – A pinch

mustard -1 tsp

Urad dhal – 1 tsp

Channa dhal – 1 tsp

Curry leaves – 2 tsp(finely chopped)

Coriander- 2 tsp(finely chopped)

Green chillies – 2(finely chopped)

Oil

• Roast the rice flour in a pan until it turns from fine powder to coarse powder. it should remain white in colour.
• Soak the cowpea overnight and pressure cook it.
• In a heavy bottomed vessel, add oil and splutter mustard seeds. Once it start cracking, add urad dhal, channa dhal, chillies, curry leaves and coriander. fry it for one minute.
• Add water, salt, asafoetida,  coconut bits and cowpeas.(You should not use the water that has been used to cook cowpeas. it will turn the white flour to brown).
• Allow it to boil.
• Once they start to boil, add the rice flour and mix well.
• Add ghee and mix once again.
• Turn off the flame and keep the dough aside.
• After ten minutes, apply ghee in your hands and knead the dough well to make it soft.
• In a polythene cover, take a small ball of the dough and press it well to a round shape and make a hole in the middle.
• Then remove it from the polythene cover and keep it in Idli plate.
• Once you fill all the four idli plates, steam cook it.
• You can place 8 adais in one plate. So at a time you can cook  40 adais.
• Steam cook for 20 minutes.
• Then open the cooker lid, slowly remove the adai from idli plate and put it in hotpack.
• Serve it with butter.

Note: While removing the adai from idli plate, dip the spoon in water. So that it will not stick .