Karadaiyan nombu adai recipe, Sweet and salt version. Learn how to make the karadaiyan nonbu adai authentically with homemade rice flour.
Karadaiyan nombu is one of the Thamizh festivals celebrated during the Tamil month of Panguni.
Check out my post on how to make rice flour at home with raw rice from scratch which will be helpful for you. You can also use idiyappam flour for easy version.
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About the festival
Karadaiyan nombu is a festival celebrated in Tamil community in the month of Panguni in southern part of India.
It is similar to Karwa chauth celebrated in North India. Married women observe fast for well being and long life of their husband.
We worship Goddess Parvati during the fast (nombu). It marks Birthday of Parvati Devi.
Karadaiyan nombu 2025
Karadaiyan nombu 2025 is on 14th March, Friday. Please consult your home elders for traditions or ask in your nearby temple.
Story behind the festival
What is Karadaiyan Nombu festival? Learn more about the festival here in my Dad's post 🙂
This nombu specifically appreciates Savitri, who won her husband Satyavan life from Yama. (the famous couple Sathyavan Savithri you might have heard)
The festival is celebrated when the Tamil month Panguni begins and precisely at the time when month starts. But can also be made at the nalla neram of that day. So make it as per your convenience.
"உருகாத வெண்ணெயும், ஓர் அடையும் நோற்று உனக்கு நான் வைத்தேன், எந்நாளும் என் கணவர் எனை விட்டு நீங்காத அருள் தருவாய்"
learnkolam.net
I have seen as I grew up. I can never forget the yellow thread with a flower tied to it, that we tie around neck/ hand.
Every day I apply turmeric to keep it yellow as my mom suggests. Mom ties it around her neck and for myself, she ties in my wrist.
Adai is secondary for me those days, but this yellow thread excited me a lot, don't know why. The adai is very flavorful as we roast and add karamani (black eyed peas).
About the adai
My mom adds navadhanyam in this just for namesake, but it's optional. so add it one each, while roasting karamani (Rice by itself make a grain nell/ Paddy).
I usually sandwich both sweet adai and savory adai during my childhood, as am not big fan of jaggery those days. Now I like both.
My MIL have no practice to do this nonbu, but I wanted to record here, so made it.
Even at my mom's place, I think, it is more like the first generation they adapted this festival to do learning about it form the neighbor.
After long time the flavor of this adai took me back to the childhood days.
My notes
Roasting karamani ensures flavorful adai. But take care not to brown it.
Also I found cooking karamani for sweet adai might help for soft texture. Just boil in water for 5 mins after soaking for 2-3 hours. Or if you do not want to wait for that long, just pressure cook for a whistle directly in a small pressure cooker.
For my salt adai, the karamani gets cooked softly, but found it's slightly hard if added as such in sweet adai.
Karadaiyan nombu adai in tamil, click here
Recipe card
Karadaiyan nombu adai recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Raw rice
For sweet adai
- 1 cup Rice flour
- 1 cup Jaggery
- 2 cups Water
- 4 tablespoon Coconut pieces
- ¼ cup Karamani/ black eyed peas
- 1 Cardamom powdered
For salt adai
- 1 cup Rice flour
- 4 tablespoon coconut
- ¼ cup Karamani
- Salt
- 1 teaspoon Oil
- ¾ teaspoon Mustard
- 2 Green chilli
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
- 2 generous pinches Asafoetida
Instructions
How to prepare rice flour:
- Wash and soak rice for 1 or two hours. After soaking, drain water completely and spread it in a clean kitchen towel.
- let the cloth absorb excess water. Say for 10-30 minutes. Grind it to a fine powder in a mixie.
- Sieve it and if you get more remains(coarse rice in the sieve) again powder it sieve to prevent wastage.
- Roast the rice flour just a little until steam raises to remove excess moisture. For store bought flour, no need to roast or just for 1 minute you can roast.
- This will yield 2 cups of rice flour. So divide and use it for this recipe. 1 cup flour for each, sweet and salt version.
Roasting the navadhanyam:
- Roast karamani and 7 other grains one in each just for name sake(optional)- I used chana, black urad, green moong, finger millet, red milltet, mocha kottai, dried peas . Roast until karamani starts golden and nice aroma wafts.
- Let the flame in medium flame. Soak in water until you do the other works (2-3 hrs). If you want you can give a whistle to ensure softness of karamani and easy cooking in kozhukattai.
How to make sweet karadaiyan nombu adai?
- Boil 2 cups water in a heavy bottomed vessel, add jaggery and dissolve it completely.
- Filter the jaggery to remove impurities in a metal strainer.
- Bring to boil again and add the karamani we soaked drained from water. (Pre cook the karamani for softer results).
- Simmer the flame and add the flour in a sprinkled way.
- Mix it while you add briskly with other hand to avoid lump formation.
- Continue stirring in a mashing way, to break the lumps if any.
- When it becomes a lump as in the picture, switch off the flame.
- It takes some time, so keep stirring. When it forms lump, it may look sticky, but after cool down, it will stiffen.
How to make Salt version of karadaiyan nombu?
- heat a heavy bottomed pan with oil and season with mustard, green chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida.
- Add 2 cups water,mix salt to it. Bring to boil. You can add a pinch of asafoetida at this stage for extra flavour.
- Add karamani and boil for 5 mins. Simmer the flame and add the rice flour little by little as you mix with the other hand.
- Cook in medium flame, this will thicken soon than the sweet dough, so be prepared for that.
- When it forms as a lump, switch off the flame and transfer to another vessel.
- By now the sweet dough would have cooled down.
- Make equal sized balls, flatten in well greased hands and make a hole in the middle. Knead each dough ball every time just before/ while you flatten to avoid cracked edges.
- When you make hole, dip the finger in sesame oil to make it easier.
Steaming the prepared karadaiyan nombu adai:
- Arrange in plate/ idli plate.Repeat the same for salt version and make equal size balls and flatten in well greased hands, make a hole in the middle.
- Arrange in greased idli plate and steam for 5-8 minutes.
Video
Notes
- You can use store bought rice flour also for this preparation.
- Make sure you reduce the flame when you add flour and keep stirring to avoid lumps in the dough. If few lumps are there, it will break as we keep stirring, no need to worry.
- Roasting karamani adds a great flavour, not only that, it also makes it cook easily. The longer it gets soaked, it will easily get cooked and be soft in the adai. But make sure not to roast too dark as it will give you hard result in the kozhukattai.
- You can roast the karamani prior night and morning on wake up you can soak it. So that it gets cooked easily when added to water.
- If you skip the above steps, you can even boil or pressure cook the karamani for a whistle, to cook it before adding.
- Keep the prepared dough covered, as it will become dry while cooling down.
- If it is too dry, sprinkle water while you make adai. Otherwise the edges will be cracked.
- You can add grated coconut in place of chopped coconut, both has its own texture and taste.
- The sweet dough takes longer time to get stiff. So keep stirring.
- You can add finely chopped ginger in salt adai while tempering…
Karadaiyan nombu adai Step by step photos
Rice flour preparation
- Wash and soak rice for 1 or two hours. After soaking, drain water completely and spread it in a clean kitchen towel.
- Mean while, roast karamani and 7 other grains just one in each (optional) - I used chana, black urad, green moong, finger millet, red milltet, mocha kottai, dried peas. Roast until karamani starts golden and nice aroma wafts. It will also crack slightly. Let the flame in medium flame.
- Soak in water until you do the other works. If you want you can give a whistle to ensure softness of karamani in kozhukattai.
- Now the rice flour, let the cloth absorb excess water. Say for 10- 20 minutes. Grind it to a fine powder in a mixie. Sieve it and if you get more remains (coarse rice in the sieve) again powder (along next batch) it sieve to prevent wastage.
- This will yield 2 cups of fresh homemade rice flour. So divide and use it for this recipe. 1 cup flour for each, sweet and salt version.
- Roast the rice flour just a little until steam raises to remove excess moisture. For store bought flour, no need to roast or if you want, slightly roast for a minute. You can sieve again if it has lumps or run again once in mixie to eliminate lumps.
Sweet version
- Measure 1 cup ready of the prepared rice flour. Boil 2 cups water in a heavy bottomed vessel, add jaggery and dissolve it completely.
- Filter the jaggery to remove impurities in a metal strainer. Bring to boil again and add the karamani we soaked drained from water. You can pre cook and add for softer results. Simmer the flame and add the flour in a sprinkled way. Mix it while you add briskly with other hand to avoid lump formation.
- Continue stirring in a mashing way, to break the lumps if any. When it becomes a single mass as in the picture below, switch off the flame. It takes some time, so keep stirring. When it forms a dough, it may look sticky, but after cool down, it will stiffen.
Salt version
- For salt version, heat a heavy bottomed pan with oil and temper with mustard, green chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida. Add 2 cups water, mix salt to it. Bring to boil. You can add a pinch of asafoetida at this stage for extra flavour. Add karamani and boil for 5 mins.
- Simmer the flame and add the rice flour little by little as you mix with the other hand.
- Cook in medium flame, this will thicken soon than the sweet dough, so be prepared for that. When it forms as a dough, switch off the flame and transfer to another vessel.
- By now the sweet dough would have cooled down. Make equal sized balls, flatten in well greased hands and make a hole in the middle. When u make hole, dip the finger in sesame oil to make it easier. Arrange in plate/ idli plate.
- Repeat the same for salt version and make equal size balls and flatten in well greased hands, make a hole in the middle. Arrange in greased idli plate and steam for 5-8 minutes.
We offer with butter (urugaadha vennai) and it does tastes best with it 🙂
Sowmya says
Being Karadaiyan Nonbu today, i was chkng for this recipe y'day and cudnt sfind in ur site.. Was wondering how u missed posting this recipe..Started looking into other sites, and now its a timely post.. Thank u Raks!
APARNARAJESHKUMAR says
lovely picture raks !
prathibha Garre says
nice to know more abt the festival..nice festive food
Sangeetha Nambi says
Fabulous recipe in fabulous clicks... Asusual Rocking Raji...
Madhuri says
superb....just what I was looking for. A non Tamilian married to an Iyer :).
lovely pictures...superb explanataion. many thanks
Meena Selvakumaran says
lovely clicks,good presentation.
Kaveri Venkatesh says
Great pics Raji...Very well explained
anitha anand says
This comment has been removed by the author.
anitha anand says
woow lovely pics raks:) even i was searching in ur site for the recipe yesterday and was thinking y u didnt post this one:(thankss ...
Hamaree Rasoi says
Nicely explained and good to learn a new festive recipe
Priti S says
Never tried this though thinking for long time now ..looks very yum
Anu says
Looks lovely, nice tempting clicks
Tamilarasi Sasikumar says
Looks good...never tried this...
Todays Recipe : Coconut / Thengai Chutney
Pratiba Bhat says
I joined hands with my MIL and made these. Fasted too 🙂 Its my first fast since the wedding. 🙂
Revathi says
awesome pics raks....so clear...What lens you used...
Priya Suresh says
Nombu wishes Raji, we dont do this fasting but you guys are tempting with ur nonbu adais.
Hema says
Looks superb, though we don't have this nombu, wud love to try this..
Dipti Joshi says
This is totally new to me...never seen such recipe...
Srimathi says
Looks nice Raks. I just finished making Karadai.
divya says
Looks superb and very inviting too
Sangeetha says
well made sweet n savory adai...thanks for the detailed pictorials...inviting!
Sushma Madhuchandra says
great pictures with beautiful explanation!
CHITRA says
looks lovely, i too clicked similarly and was drafting the post & u posted before me. Very quick 🙂 Nice write up 🙂
Gayathri Ramanan says
lovely recipe..beautiful clicks
RAKS KITCHEN says
Not quick at all, it took more than 2 hrs for me 🙂
Shama Nagarajan says
Interesting and yummy .Raks u always rock !!!lovely clicks
Ongoing event:
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decafTwithspice says
Since I subscribed to your blog, I've come across cooking and recipes totally new to me. I've never seen or eaten anything like this - I will try out. Wonders of the internet - linking people who one would otherwise never come into contact with.
Janani says
wow beautiful raks.love the way u have arranged and clicked it beautifully. I have never heard of what you made but looks awesome.
Jayanthi Karthikeyan says
Authentic recipe. Sure feast for our eyes...
Anonymous says
Hi Raks,
I make the quick version from rice flour as against this original version! This is definitely a lot more flavourful than the rice flour version! Lovely clicks Raks.
Shobha
ramya says
Very traditional and healthy recipe!
Gajus kitchen says
Love your space and I am happy to pass on the " Very inspiring blogger" award to you .
http://gajuskitchen.blogspot.ae/2013/03/i-am-very-happy-to-receive-my-first.html
M D says
Loved both the versions of Adai. They look so delicious!
Nagashree says
Both sweet & savory version look so yummy. I have never had but seen in many blogs lately. Should try soon.
Kiran says
Healthy and delicious! I love this sweet and salty versions 🙂
Chitra Amma's Kitchen says
Blogil Pandigai!Delicious and lovely.
Vardhini says
Gorgeous clicks. New blog template looks nice.
Sharmilee! :) says
Wow both versions look very tempting I am sure I will love the jaggery version more 🙂
Anonymous says
Truly Mouthwatering Pictures
Jeyashrisuresh says
Nombu adai looks perfect. Gorgeous pictures
Shabitha Karthikeyan says
Simply loved the clicks. Gorgeous looking Adai.
Latha says
I came to your blog late while searching for nombu adai. Having got fed up with the usual upmas & dosas, I made these as you have explained. They came out awesomely. I shared them with my neighbours. Thanx Raks. The clicks tell it all.
amp says
Raks one change in our recipe is, after you sieve the powder, it is evenly heated in kadaai (my mom used to say kolaamavu padham),rest of the preparation process is same
Subaddra Harish says
Thanks Raks....this recipe is of great help. Luv ur site.
Malini Kumar says
Luv your presentation. Very colourful. Feels like grabbing few of the adais right from the screen.
Mary Mathew says
Can we use store bought rice flour for this?
Mary Mathew says
Can we use store bought rice flour for this?
Raks anand says
Yes you can.
Raks anand says
Yes you can.
Vidhya Balaji says
Can we make this recipe even after festival
Vidhya Balaji says
Can we prepare this dish in other days
Dp :-) says
Hi Raks, was wondering if there is any particular indicator to know when the adais are done in the steamer. This question arises since the adai s look similar before and after placing them in the steamer.
Raks anand says
After the adai gets cooked, it becomes glossy and shiny. You will sure notice it. Or, Take an adai and drop over a plate. it should bounce slightly. Then it is cooked. If it settles and sticks to the plate, then its not cooked.
Jayandhi Krishnan says
Wow.... Since Karadayan Nombu is approaching, very helpful. Thanks dear for the wonderful yummy adai recipe
Raks Anand says
Thank you 🙂
Divya Venkatesan says
Kozhakattai's came out excellently. Thanks raks. Tried it first time and completely followed the procedure you had mentioned. Great work and your page is my guide to many dishes.
Raks Anand says
Thank you so much for your feedback. So happy 🙂
Gayathri says
I tried this recipe & it came out so well.. Thank you so much raks....
Raks Anand says
Thanks a lot Gayathri for taking time to let me know the feedback 🙂 <3
Srigeet says
Beautiful pictures and so well explained. Thank you
Raks Anand says
Thanks a lot