two

Search this blog

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Vadagam( Tempering used for South Indian dishes).

Many of my blogger friends were enquiring about the Vadagam and its preparation method. This an aromatic tempering used in many of South Indian and Chettinad dishes like Sambar, Kuzhambu and Kootu. This is my granny's recipe, which is passed on to my mother and to me.

Ingredients
Chinna Vengayam/ Shallots( Small onions)-1kg
Ulli Poondu/ Small garlic-1/2kg
Green chilles-1/4kg
Mustard seeds-50gms
Split Urad dal/ Split black gram dal-1/4kg
Jeera/ Cumin seeds-50gms
Fenugreek/ Methi seeds-25gms
Curry leaves-2 sprigs
Nallennai/ Gingelly oil-50gm
Velakennai/ Castor oil-50gm
Turmeric powder-4tsp

Method
Remove onion and garlic skins. Chop green chilles. Mince onion, garlic and green chilles in a mixer grinder( should be rough and coarse). To the onion mixture, add rest of the above said ingredients. Mix in both the oils to the mixture and make medium sized balls. Keep these balls in direct sunlight for 10 days. When these balls are fully dried, store it in airtight jars. You can store these vadagam balls for a year. 

Tips to prepare
Take 2 balls of vadagam, crush them and store it in small container. When used as tempering, to the medium hot oil add 1tsp of crushed vadagam and allow it to turn golden brown, then add the rest of the ingredients.( Do not burn the vadagam as they may turn bitter).

38 comments:

shahana said...

Thanks a lot for the vadagam information.nice click!!

Priya Suresh said...

My mom do the same, i never tried making out vadagam, i dont have any excuse if i say now that i dont know to make this aromatic vadagam..Thanks for sharing Mythreyi.

Cool Lassi(e) said...

Kudos to you for trying to make these yourselves. I always get them from my MIL who in turn gets it from her relatives. They sure look good enough for Fish Kuzhambhu/any seasoning dish. Good Job Myethreyi!

Simplyfood said...

This is very interesting spice never seen or heard of it before.

Cicily Antony said...

New to me...sounds interesting...

Gita Jaishankar said...

hey thanks for sharing the vadagam recipe da :) I still have some of the vadagam my grandma sent me, I need to make some soon since my supplies are dwindling...will try your recipe dear.

Gomathy S said...

Appreciate you doing vadagam all by yourself..good work :)

Preety said...

looks so Delicious

Bergamot said...

This is something really new for me... though wouldn't know how to use it. The balls look really good, nice pics

Fathima said...

never made or had this before... thanks for sharing such a wonderful recipe! you have a nice space here... following u now...

Shama Nagarajan said...

nice vadagam...nice picture

Angie's Recipes said...

Don't know about the vadagam...but anything made with garlic and onions must be good.

Saritha said...

Good girl,u r doing this yourself,i always get this from my -law,this summer will try ur recipe

Hayley said...

Something new for me to try...thanx 4 sharing!!

Rachana said...

I've never had these yummy vadagam...thanks for sharing this recipe with us dear...

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

this version of vadagam is new to me.looks very nice.

Parita said...

Wow this is something new and looks so crispy!

Indian food recipes said...

Daaaa,
Happy holi!
It's an interesting recipe!never heard before..but luks gr8..would luv to try it out....tnx 4 posting

Sandhya Hariharan said...

Thanks a lot for sharing.. Spl hugs to ur granny :) for this beautiful recipe

Saraswathy Balakrishnan said...

My in-law prepares the same way but used dried chillies instead ..looks very good :)

Jyoti V said...

This is new to me..must be lovely tempring..

RV @ Food for 7 Stages said...

looks delicious Mye..... very authentic too....

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

Mom usually sundries them and I dont like the raw smell of the Onions much so she prepares and sends them to me... One batch is getting ready and will reach me this month end... Wonderful pic n love to have them handy...

Shri said...

I have never heard of this Mye..They look so good!

Sashi said...

I have heard this, but never got any recipe. Thanks for sharing it dear !!

gtyuk said...

that's a very useful post for many!!! so many people don't know what is vadavam and come asking for it!!! lovely post!!! we do our vadavam ourselves too! thank you for this post!!

Malar Gandhi said...

Its a must in my pnatry...you have done' it too well:)

Usha said...

Very informative and interesting post!

Chitra said...

I love vadagams.. plz pass me some..iam craving :(

Suparna said...

this one is new to me my3 :) something really unique :) thanks for sharing an antique recipe :)
ur pics are always beautiful
TC

Namitha said...

Have heard a lot about this..Thanks for sharing this authentic recipe Mye :-)

Shabitha Karthikeyan said...

First time to your blog..Vadagam look YUMM..great pic..will try it soon..

Vegetarian Zest said...

I love such age old recipes.

Unknown said...

Hi, Do we need to add mustard seeds and split black urud dhal as it is - ie., RAW? Thanks. BTW, you have a very pretty smile - RAJI

Mythreyi Dilip said...

Yes Raji you need to add them raw. After drying vadagam in sun light and in future when you temper vadagam in oil the mustard n urad dal will get fried. Thank you for the compliment:-)

Unknown said...

Many thanks and point ntd - Raji

Anonymous said...

Thank you for a classic recipe. Just a couple of questions, how dry are the balls meant to be? Do they have to be really dry and crumbly or moist with traces of oil? Can it be stored in the refrigerator?

Mythreyi Dilip said...

The vadagam has to be dried well so it lasts for months and need not be refridgerated.