"Karadyan nombu" Adai/Jaggery pancakes

This adai is traditionally made on "karadayan nombu" (check out this link to know more about this festivity). This adai is one of my all time favorites. I wanted to make something really special and different today. I came with a couple of options- nombu adai, muffins and maida halwa. Finally, decided to give vella adai/nombu adai a shot although karadayan nombu was almost a month ago!! Well, any day of the year is a good day for eating something you like, right ? :) My mom makes this one whenever I visit India be it any time of the year!! Here is how I made it. I followed the recipe from Meenakshi Ammal's for the most part.

Ingredients:

Rice flour : 1 cup

Black eyed peas ("karamani") : 1/4th of a cup

Jaggery : 1 cup

Cardamom : 4 to 5

Coconut : 1 tbsp

Unsalted butter for the side

How to make :

• Lightly roast the black eyed peas in a skillet. Cook in a pressure cooker to 3 whistles. Drain water and keep aside.
• Lightly roast the rice flour in a skillet. Stop roasting when the rice flour starts turning light brown in color in places. Keep aside.
• Break the jaggery into small lumps.
• In a medium-sized sauce pan, boil 2 cups of water.
• When the water boils, add jaggery. Simmer down and let the jaggery dissolve in the water. Stir once a minute. This will take about 5 minutes.
• After the jaggery completely dissolves, add cooked black eyes peas, powdered cardamom and coconut.
• Add rice flour little by little. Keep stirring. Its best to get some help at this point since its difficult to add and mix simultaneously. Mix the rice flour well with jaggery. Break any lumps that may form.
• Once all the rice flour is mixed in, transfer the contents to a bowl. Let it cool for 30 minutes at room temperature.
• After 30 minutes, roll lemon-sized balls of the above cooked mix. Flatten them to the size shown in the picture (not more than the size of your palm). Make a hole in the center.
• Steam in a microwave for 3-4 minutes. (You can steam these in an idli plate. Grease idli plates slightly with oil. Place the flattened adais. Set a cup of water in a round bottom vessel on the stove. Place the idli plate on top and close with a lid. Steam for 8-10 min. I steamed the adais in a microwave using microwaveble idli plates. If using a microwave, steam for 4 minutes).

This adai is traditionally enjoyed with unsalted butter. This recipe yields about two dozen adais.