Preparing the rice flour for the adais
Wash and soak 3 cups of rice in water for half an hour.
Drain and allow to dry on a kitchen towel for half an hour or so. It should not be dried completely. Some moisture left on it is good.
Powder it from a flour mill or in a mixer grinder.
Seive them to get the fine powder.
Dry roast the rice flour in a kadai till they turn light brown.
You may have to seive again, since some lumps can be found.
Those lumps can be powdered again by giving a run in the mixie again.
Cool and store in an airtight container.
Preparing the Vella Adai
Roasted rice flour - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Powdered jaggery - 1 cup
Cooked black eyed peas(vellapayar/karamani) - 2 tblspn
Coconut pieces - 2 tblspn
Ghee - 1 spn
Boil the jaggery along with the measure water. When the jaggery is fully dissolved, remove any scums.
Transfer the strained jaggery water to a kadai. When water starts boiling, add chickpeas, coconut pieces and slowly add the rice flour.
Keep stirring while you add so that it doesn't form lumps. Add a teaspoon of ghee.
Cook till the water is fully absorbed. Leave it to cool.
Take a lemon size of the dough, flatten it on a banana leaf.
Arrange the leaves on a idli mould and steam cook for 10 mitnutes. The test is the adais would have shiny texture.
For neivadyam, adai is offered with a blob of fresh butter. Adai with fresh home made vennai (butter) is heaven.
Uppadai (Salty adai)
For seasoning
Mustard - 1 tspn
Green chillies- 3
Red chilly -2
Coconut pieces- 2 tblspn
Chana dal - 2 tblspn
Oil
Roasted rice flour -1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Salt
In a kadai, do the seasonings as given.
Add water and salt.
When waters starts boiling, tip off the flour into it.
Cook till it reached the upma consistency. Cool and prepare adais in the same way as sweet ones.
