Vengaya Vadagam has a long story behind it at my home. When we were in our school days, every summer cousins and aunts would assemble at my uncle s house and gear up for the Vathal season of the year. We would under my Grandmom s leadership make all kinds of Vathals and Vadagams. The best of them was Vengaya Vadagam as it had a long process to make and tasted out of the world. I still remember paati sitting in the middle of the hall and instructing everybody to make this, to get that.. When I made this vadagam this year, I was remembering her every minute. There are many things which I got to learn from my grandmom, like how to play Pazhanguli, how to tie flowers, how to make athirasam, how to make vadagam, etc. I will proudly say that Im her only granddaughter who knows all this, and learnt it from her.I miss her so much . Wish she is still there with me life will surely be different than what it is.
I miss you Paati
Going on to today's Vadagam.
The ingredients are
Big Onions - 1 kg
Urad Dal - 1/4 kg
Garlic - 1 cup
Red Chili powder - 4 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves - 2 cups finely chopped
Fenugreek Powder - 1 tbsp
Salt as per taste
Method :
Peel the onions and cut them into small pieces
Soak the urad dal and pulse it into a coarse paste
Pulse the garlic pods into small pieces
Take the onions, garlic and urad dal in a bowl add red chili powder, fenugreek powder, turmeric powder and salt
Add the mustard seeds and chopped curry leaves
Mix well to form a nice moist paste. It should be in the consistency of pakoda
I use an aluminum tray lined with plastic sheets to lay small quantities of the mixture to be dried under the sun
A completely filled tray
A close up view of the vadagam
This is how the vadagam will look after sun drying for two days
A bowl full of sun dried Vengaya Vadagam
Vengaya Vadagam after being deep fried
