Karadayan Nombu Adai | Vellam Adai and Uppu Adai

Karadayan nombu is a major Tamil festival celebrated during the Meena Sankranti or the Sankramana that comes in March. This is also known as the ‘Savithri Vratham’ or ‘Savithri Nombu'. Karadaiyan Nombu Adai is the neivedhiyam for this festival.

This Karadaiyan Nombu festival is celebrated at the precise moment when the month of Maasi ends and the month of Panguni begins. The prayers are offered and the rituals are done at that exact moment.

Karadayan nombu is celebrated by married women for the well-being of their husbands. This is celebrated in honor of Sathi Savithri bringing back her husband Sathyavan from the footsteps of death and freeing him from Lord Yama.

How to celebrate Karadaiyan Nombu?

Married women have the sacred yellow thread tied around their necks by their husbands and the unmarried/young girls get it tied by their mothers.

This is the sloka that the women chant when tying the sacred thread around their necks and offering the prasadam.

"Urugaada Vennaiyum Oaradaiyum Naan Tharuven
Orukaalum En Kanavar Ennai Piriyadirukkanum"
which translates into - "O God, I offer butter and adai to you, please make sure that I and my husband do not ever separate from each other."

As with any Indian festival, this also has its unique neivedhiyam offered to God. We make sweet adai that is prepared with rice flour, jaggery, and karamani. To go with the sweet, a salt adai is also prepared and is made with rice flour and seasonings.

The Nombu adais are served with a dollop of freshly churned butter. When offering the prasadam, women chant the above-mentioned verses and pray for the well-being and long life of their husbands or future husbands.

Ingredients needed

Check the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact measurements and printable detailed recipes.

For Karadayan Nombu Vellam adai

• Rice flour
• Vellam / jaggery
• Karamani (Black eyed peas)
• Coconut (grated or finely chopped)
• Elaichi powder/cardamom powder
• Water

For Karadayan Nombu Uppu adai

• Rice flour
• Karamani (Black eyed peas)
• Coconut (grated or finely chopped)
• Water
• Green chilies
• Red chilies
• Mustard seeds
• Oil
• Curry leaves
• Asafetida
• Salt

Step-by-step process

Common steps for both sweet adai and salt adai

• Fry the rice flour very well until the color slightly changes to pinkish red. For both the sweet and the salt adai, we need to fry the flour. So fry 2 cups of rice flour and then split it.

• Traditionally raw rice is washed, dried, and then ground into rice flour to make the karadayan nombu adai. But it works equally as well using rice flour. If you want to make your own rice flour, refer to this post here on how to make homemade rice flour.

• Dry roast the karamani to reddish color and then soak it overnight in water.

• Then pressure cook it and keep it aside. This step is also common for both the adais. It takes about 12 minutes on pressure cook mode in the Instant mode. I have used dark red cowpeas. We could also use regular black-eyed peas and they cook much faster.

For Karadaiyan Nombu Vellam Adai / Sweet adai

• In a heavy bottom pan, melt the jaggery in the water and let it come to a boil.

• To this add the coconut, karamani, elaichi powder and then the rice flour and mix well to form dough.

• The dough should not be too wet. If so add more rice flour. The dough should appear slightly crumbly. At this stage take it off the flame, cover it, and keep it aside.

• Once it cools down a bit, mix it well using your hands. At this stage to bring the dough together a little bit of hot water could be sprinkled.

• Make balls out of the dough flatten it in between the palms and make a dent in the center.

• Steam the adais in greased idli plates/steamer plates for about 12-14 mins. I use my instant pot to steam. I set it on steam mode and have the vents open. Make sure to keep the timer externally as the Instant Pot timer won't kick on with the vents open.

• Once taken out of the steamer / instant pot, the adai should appear glossy. The sweet adais are very soft and fragile right after they come out of the cooker. Let it rest for a few minutes and then remove them.

For Karadaiyan Nombu Uppu Adai / Salt adai

• Add oil and fry the seasonings (Mustard seeds, red chilies, green chilies, curry leaves, and asafetida).

• Add around 1 ¼ cup of water and let it boil well.

• Once the water boils add the coconut and the karamani along with salt.

• Then add the rice flour and mix it well. Take it off the flame cover the dough and leave it aside for a few minutes.

• Once the dough cools down a bit, bring it together using your hands.

• Make balls out of the dough and flatten it between the palms. Make a dent in the middle and steam it the same way, we steamed the sweet adais. I use my instant pot to steam. I set it on steam mode and have the vents open. Make sure to keep the timer externally as the Instant Pot timer won't kick on with the vents open.

• The salt adai does not need as much time as the sweet adai to cook. It should be ready in about 10 minutes. Let it rest for a few minutes and then remove it carefully.

• Serve the karadayan nombu adai with a dollop of butter.

Happy Karadayan Nombu to all my friends and Family!!!

Expert Tips

• Using homemade rice flour from soaking and grinding the rice gives a very authentic flavor and texture. I have had good luck with the rice flour here in the US. We can use Idiyappam flour as well to get soft adai.
• Roasting the karamani / black-eyed peas gives a very distinct flavor to the adai. I would highly suggest that you patiently roast it.
• My mother always used chopped small pieces of coconut in the adai. This gives a lovely crunch and a burst of fresh flavor.
• The adais are very fragile right after they are done steaming. So let them rest for a few minutes before removing them from the steamer plate.
• Serve the karadaiyan nombu adai with butter. This is one day when I would not hold back on the butter as it tastes the best with butter.

More Festival recipes

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Recipe

Karadayan Nombu Adai | Vellam And Uppu Adai

Karadayan nombu is a major Tamil festival celebrated during the Tamil month of ‘Masi’. This is also known as the ‘Savithri Vratham’ or ‘Savithri Nombu'. Karadaiyan Nombu Adai is the neivedhiyam for this festival.

5 from 48 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert, sweets

Cuisine: Indian, South Indian, Tamil Nadu

Diet: Vegetarian

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour hour

Total Time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 20 Adai

Calories: 136kcal

Author: Sandhya Ramakrishnan

Equipment

• ▢
  pan

Ingredients

For Karadayan Nombu Vellam Adai / Sweet adai

• ▢ 1 cup Rice flour
• ▢ 1 cup Vellam/jaggery
• ▢ ¼ cup Karamani Black-eyed peas
• ▢ ½ cup Coconut Grated or finely chopped
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Elaichi powder/cardamom powder
• ▢ ¾ cup Water

For Karadayan Nombu uppu Adai / Salt adai

• ▢ 1 cup Rice flour
• ▢ ¼ cup Karamani Black-eyed peas
• ▢ ½ cup Coconut Grated or finely chopped
• ▢ 1 cup Water
• ▢ 2 Green chilies
• ▢ 2 Red chilies
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
• ▢ 2 tbsp. Oil
• ▢ few Curry leaves
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Asafetida
• ▢ to taste Salt

Instructions

For Karadayan Nombu Vellam Adai / Sweet adai

• Fry the rice flour very well until the color slightly changes to pinkish red. For both the sweet and the salt adai, we need to fry the flour, so fry 2 cups of rice flour and then split it. Traditionally raw rice is washed, dried and then ground to rice flour, but it works equally as well using the rice flour.
• Dry roast the karamani to reddish color and then soak it overnight in water. Then pressure cooks it and keep aside. This step is also common for both the adais.
• In a heavy bottom pan, melt the jaggery in the water and let it come to a boil. To this add the coconut, karamani, elaichi powder and then the rice flour and mix well to form dough. The dough should not be too wet. If so add more rice flour. The dough should appear slightly crumbly. At this stage take it off the flame, cover it and keep aside. Once it cools down a bit, mix it well using hands. At this stage to bring the dough together a little bit of hot water could be sprinkled.
• Make balls out of the dough and flatten it in between the palms and make a dent in the center. Steam the adais in greased idli plates for about 12-14 mins. Once taken out of the cooker, they should appear glossy. The adais are very soft and fragile right after they come out of the cooker. Let it rest for few minutes and then remove them.

For Karadaiyan Nombu Uppu Adai / Salt adai

• Fry the rice flour very well until the color slightly changes to pinkish red. For both the sweet and the salt adai, we need to fry the flour, so fry 2 cups of rice flour and then split it. Traditionally raw rice is washed, dried and then ground to rice flour, but it works equally as well using the rice flour.
• Dry roast the karamani to reddish color and then soak it overnight in water. Then pressure cook it and keep aside. This step is also common for both the adais.
• Add oil and fry the seasonings (Mustard seeds, red chilies, green chilies, curry leaves and asafetida). Add around 1 ¼ cup of water and let it boil well. Once the water boils add the coconut and the karamani along with salt. Then add the rice flour and mix it well. Take it off the flame and cover the dough and leave it aside for few minutes.
• Once the dough cools down a bit, bring it together using hands. Make balls out of the dough and flatten it between the palms. Make a dent in the middle and steam it the same way, we steamed the sweet adais. The salt adai does not need as much time as the sweet adai to cook. It should be ready in about 10 mins. Let it rest for few minutes and then remove it carefully.
• Serve the adais with dollop of butter.

Notes

Expert tips

• Using homemade rice flour from soaking and grinding the rice gives a very authentic flavor and texture. I have had good luck with the rice flour here in the US. We can use Idiyappam flour as well to get soft adai.
• Roasting the karamani / black eyed peas, gives it a very distinct flavor to the adai. I would highly suggest that you patiently roast it.
• My mother always used chopped small pieces of coconut in the adai. This gives a lovely crunch and a burst of fresh flavor.
• The adais are very fragile right after they are done steaming. So let them rest for few minutes before removing it from the steamer plate.
• Serve the karadaiyan nombu adai with butter. This is one day when I would not hold back on the butter as they taste the best with butter.

 

Nutrition

Calories: 136kcal | Carbohydrates: 25g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 17mg | Potassium: 41mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Vitamin A: 13IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 7mg | Iron: 1mg

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