Killu Vadagam

Today is the first day of Blogging Marathon #4. I will be posting seven days of preserves. Pickles, Vadagam, Spice Powders which have longer shelf life come under this category. Today I will give the recipe of a delicious vadagam.  I learnt this recipe from my mom. When summer begins, my mom used to become very busy. She will start preparing all spice powders, pickles, vadagam and vatral required for the whole year. I used to help my mom before my marriage. After marriage, my mom used to give me all these items and I never bothered to ask for the recipes. This year as my mom’s health is not so good, I had to learn it from her and I have started following family’s tradition of becoming very busy during summer. It is a great experience. I will be sharing this experience with you all this week.

The name says it all. Killu vadagam, is prepared by pinching small portion of vadagam dough and arranging on a cloth. This is then dried in sun and stored in jars. These are deep fried in oil and make a great accompaniment for rice dishes. I prepared vadagam with 2 cups of rice. Both hubby and Sruti liked it very much and they pester me to fry it daily.


Ingredients:
Par Boiled Rice-1cup
Green Chilly-5
Asafoetida-1/4tsp
Salt-to taste


Procedure:
1. Wash and soak parboiled rice for 3 hours.
2. Grind the soaked rice in wet grinder to a fine batter.
3. Grind green chillies and asafoetida in mixer grinder to a fine paste.
4. Add this paste to the batter and add salt.
5. Measure the quantity of the batter. For 1 cup of batter you need 3cups of water.
6. Boil the measured water in a wide deep pan.
7. When water starts boiling, transfer half the water to another bowl. 
8. Switch flame to low and add the batter to the boiling water, stirring vigorously.
9. The batter will cook within seconds and it will come to dough consistency.
10. Add the reserved water 1/2cup at a time and stir well. Switch the flame to medium.
11. Gradually add all the reserved water and allow the dough to cook. After adding water, the dough will come to a semi solid consistency.
12. Cover and cook for 10minutes, stirring it often to avoid burning.
13. Once it is completely cooked switch off lame and cover the pan. At first the dough may seem so watery, but once it cools it will come to the required consistency.
14. Let it sit overnight.
15. The next day, in your terrace, spread a clean cotton cloth.
16. Knead the dough(it will be slightly sticky and it may have some lumps) to make it smooth.
17. Pinch small portions and place it on the cloth. You don’t have to make it a ball
18. Repeat till you finish with all the dough.
19. Let it dry in sun the whole day.
20. By evening, try removing the vadagam from the cloth. If it sticks, then it is not ready.
21. Bring it inside your home and fold the cloth and keep it covered overnight.
22. The next day, again spread the cloth in the terrace. 
23. If your area is hot, then it would have surely dried.
24. Sprinkle water on the back side of the cloth and gently remove all the vadagams from the cloth. Store in a box.
25. The next day, dry the vadagams by spreading them on large plated(thambalam) and keeping them in terrace.
26. Once it is completely dry store in airtight container until further use.
27. When needed, heat oil and fry the vadagams and enjoy with rice.


P.S: 
1. Use a heavy spoon to stir the batter into boiling water. This mixture hardens fast and you need strength to stir (You can always ask your hubby to help)
2. While adding the batter to boiling water, ask your hubby to add the batter while you stir. You can’t do it alone.
3. Be sure that your terrace gets sunlight the whole day. This will speed up the process.
4. Please start arranging the vadagam before sunrise(Start it atleast at 5:45am, so that you will not feel the heat). If you start the work at 7 am then you will not enjoy it.
5. Store vadagams when completely dry. Completely dried vadagams have a shelf life of more than 2 years.
But don’t worry, if it is tastier then they will be finished within 3 months.
6. Start with 1 cup of rice. When you have gained experience you can always prepare a large quantity.
7. This can also be prepared with rice flour. Add water to prepare a batter. Add salt and green chilly paste. This batter can be used instead of the ground batter.


Photo Tutorial:

The dough after cooling overnight

Pinch small amount of the dough.

Drying in sun

After 2 days of drying, I removed it from the cloth with the help of water

Completely dried vadagam

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me
  Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
  Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves:  Vaishali 
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli