Vadams and Appalums

[jackal10]

Went to dinner with some South Indian friends, who made a feast.

Things for which there are really no equivalents in Western cooking, but where the principles could be extended. For example Western cooking uses lentils and other dhals like chickpeas, but almost never grinds them. Here they were ground to produce interesting batters and textures. Our garcious hostess explained the secret to Vadais is their freshness and ground to "fluffyness" with very little water - she imported from Inda a wonderful electric stone edge roller mill. I want one - I could see it being a must have for molecular kitchens...

She also served Vadums - crispy snacks. Since I had just done the prawn crackers ( http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=63405 ) I was very interested, since these are almost the same process. Again I feel they could be adapted to new and interesting things, although I expect there are already many varieties. I particularly liked the ones with onion in them.

Anyone make their own?

Recipies? Recollections? Secret tips?

Edited March 20, 2005 by jackal10 (log)

[FaustianBargain]

Went to dinner with some South Indian friends, who made a feast.

Things for which there are really no equivalents in Western cooking, but where the principles  could be extended. For example Western cooking uses lentils and other dhals like chickpeas, but almost never grinds them. Here they were ground to produce interesting batters and textures. Our garcious hostess explained the secret to Vadais is their freshness and ground to "fluffyness" with very little water - she imported from Inda a wonderful electric stone edge roller mill. I want one - I could see it being a must have for molecular kitchens...

She also served Vadums - crispy snacks. Since I had just done the prawn crackers ( http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=63405 ) I was very interested, since these are almost the same process. Again I feel they could be adapted to new and interesting things, although I expect there are already many varieties. I particularly liked the ones with onion in them.

Anyone make their own?

Recipies? Recollections? Secret tips?

←

There are different kinds of vadams. appalams and pappadams are a different family. vadams can be made with rice or tapioca. my favourite? the tapioca wafers.

the 'vadam' season lasts for a very very short time when the days are mercilessly hot. the vadams made during these few weeks can be stored and usually the stocks last for an entire year.

raw tapioca vadam batter is lovely and imo, better than the final deep fried version. my grandmother always kept some in a little bowl. vadams will be made in LARGE batches. i mean..several litres at a time. in the terrace, clean plastic sheets will be laid out and weighted down with bricks. after the vadams are squeezed in its various forms, they'd be let out to dry. usually, it takes two days for them to dry completely. at the end of the first day, the edges of the vadams will be bone dry, but the centre will still be soft. (i LOVE licking the soft heart of the vadam and the saliva literally softened the dry part..it becomes chewy..mm) the vadams have to be completely dry because they have to be stored and moisture/water isnt good for the deep frying.

one can add many flavours to the vadam. onion, garlic, tomato, potato..etc. the plain ones have green chillies and lemon juice only. there are also several shapes. the simplest tapioca vadam is to spoon the gooey tapioca batter onto the sheets. it spreads out and then shrinks after it is completely dry. the starch holds it together, but some of the tapioca pearls still retain their shape. they are absolutely lovely when fried. it is with the 'rice vadams' that one can make different shapes. they can be squeezed through a special vadam squeeze. there are different settings...think pasta shapes..except the stuffed versions, of course. the broad strips, thin like singapore noodles..like thick egg noodles. rice vadam dough is easy to manipulate into shapes unlike tapioca version.

i am a tradionalist. i like the plain chilli-lemon vadams. the tomato and garlic and onion versions lack zing. of course, in my house, onion and garlic were taboo anyways.

vadam memories. wow. i'll have to come back with another seperate reply.

the recipes in about an hour or two. guests.

[FaustianBargain]

Kuzhambu vadam

1 cup black gram dhal

5-6 dry red chillies

a small bit of asafoetida

soak black gram dhal(urad dhal, i think) for about 45-60 mts. Grind to a smooth paste with the red chillies. Add the asafoetida. Season to taste.

Roll them into tiny balls. About the size of a cherry, maybe? Dont make them too big or they wont be cooked through when you deep fry them. Dry in sun.

You may omit the chillies. Optionally, sputter some black mustard and add it to the dough along with some torn curry leaves.

Rice vadam

8 cups(about 2 litres) rice(i think this is raw rice and not parboiled rice)

175 gms tapioca pearls

2-3 limes, juiced

1 cup sour buttermilk

175gm green chillies

a small bit of asafoetida

24 cups(6 litres) water

1/2 cup

wash and soak rice for about an hour.

dry well in the shade.

grind to powder.

grind the salt and chillies to a smooth paste.

heat the water in a large enough vessel. stir in the tapioca pearls.

add buttermilk. cook tapicoa pearls.(it helps if they are soaked for 30 minutes or so before adding) Add the rice flour.

Keep stirring to prevent lumps. Turn down the heat until the rice is cooked. Let it rest for 30 minutes.

Add the asafoetida and the salt/green chilli paste. Knead.

'vadam press' is available in the market. Thin/Thick/Serrated noodle like vadam dough can be laid on top of dry, clean plastic sheets.

Day 1, dry in the sun.

Day 2, turn the vadams over and leave it out to dry. This way, the whole vadam will be bone dry.

Edited March 20, 2005 by FaustianBargain (log)

[FaustianBargain]

Tapioca vadams

1.5 kilos tapioca pearls

200-250gms green chillies(how hot is your chilli?!)

1/2-3/4 cup salt.(to taste)

2 cups sour buttermilk

2-3 lime, juiced

asafoetida

24 cups(6 litres) water

Soak the tapioca pearls in water and buttermilk(water: buttermilk > 8cups:2cups). Do not soak for more than one hour. This will cause the tapioca pearl to become too soggy.

If we want to keep the shape of the pearl, we want to skip the soaking. Bring water and buttermilk to a boil. Add the tapioca to the liquid. Stir.

Boil the remaining 16cups of water. Add the soaked tapioca, buttermilk, water and all. Keep stirring until it feels like a porridge. Keep stirring to avoid lumps. It is nice to have a thin porridge consistency. The 'thicker' it is, the longer it will take for it to dry and the deep fried vadams will be too thick. The thinner they are, the more delicate the vadam will be...

Grind asafoetida, salt and greenchillies together into a paste. Add to the tapioca porridge. Add the juice of limes. Taste. Season to taste.

These, given their consistency, cannot be made into noodle shapes. They are spooned onto a dry plastic sheet. You get a round pool of pearly, gooey, lemony, SPICY tapioca. Leave it out to dry. On day #2, peel the half dried vadams and turn them over so they are dried out completely.

There are three more in this book. My mom had marked some from the book, 'Samaithu Paar'. There are no recipes for 'Aval'(beaten rice flakes), Wheat and Ragi(dont know what that is in English) vadams in my copy even though they are mentioned in the book.

Edited March 20, 2005 by FaustianBargain (log)

[FaustianBargain]

Vadais

entirely different from vadams. Vadams are dried wafers that can be stored and then they are deep fried. Vadais are wetter.

There are different kinds of vadais. The easiest is the Urad Dhal Vadai(and my favourite). I dont even need to look this one up.

1 cup urad dhal soaked for 45-60mts ground to a fine paste. No need to add water as we need a thick paste and the soaking already has gotten in some of the water. Add water only if you need it..the consistency is like this..it is like very thick and dense pancake batter. Too thin and it wont keep its shape. Too thick, it would be pasty and gummy. When you spoon it, it should reluctantly drop from the spoon. The nature of urad dhal is such that, it will 'coagulate' into a single, dense mass while still being liquidy.

After you have got the smooth paste (It must be smooth as silk to touch. I mean..no lumps...no stray urad dhal left unground), add salt to taste, asafoetida(with caution. urad dhal causes flatulence. asafoetida counters it, but not too much of it) Chopped, thin ringlets of green chilli. *Whole* black peppers, if you dont want to use green chillies.

Drop them into the hot oil. It will turn a golden brown. Turn it over so the other side gets the same lovely colour as it cooks evenly. A hot vadai is a beautiful thing to behold. It is a perfect golden brown pillow. It is still white inside, but it is cooked to a fluffy perfection. Unfortunately, it also 'drinks' a lot of the oil. Although, thats what makes it heavenly. You want to have the vadai immediately. It isnt as good when it cools down.

edited to add: This is the 'tabletop wet grinder' I got in the States. It is cheaper in India, but I wasnt going to lug it up and down an aircraft. These people import it, change it from 220v to 110v etc. So it is double the price in the States. And worth it. It is impossible to make *real* 'Idlis' without this grinder. I have used the regular blender to make the vadai batter. Urad dhal is soft, especially when it is soaked. Idli needs rice(parboiled rice. harder to grind to a paste) and a stone wet grinder is an absolute must.

Edited March 20, 2005 by FaustianBargain (log)

[jackal10]

Wow thanks!

I notice that some, like the rice, are cooked for 30 mins, but others the starch is not cooked, just stirred into hot water. My prawn recipe steams the dough for an hour before drying and slicing. What makes the difference?

[FaustianBargain]

Wow thanks!

I notice that some, like the rice, are cooked for 30 mins, but others the starch is not cooked, just stirred into hot water.  My prawn recipe steams the dough for an hour before drying and slicing. What makes the difference?

←

The rice vadams need to be cooked or else they wont loose the 'raw' smell of rice. Also, they need to be of a certain consistency to be able to 'pressed' through the vadam contraption. Steaming them will cook the rice, wont it? I dont really get the steaming thing. It reminds me of another recipe for steamed rice dough. It is called 'undili kozakattai'. A mass of rice dough with green chillies and sputtered mustard is rolled into tiny little balls. They are then steamed and you can pop it into your mouth just like that. Of course, there is no tapioca in that one.

Tapioca pearls(note that we are not using the tapioca powder. the desired pearl like bumps on the vadams was probably for aesthetic purposes.) are much more tender than rice and unless you boil them in water, how will you get the starch out? Boiling them will 'disperse' the starch. Without boiling them, you cannot get that 'gooey' starchiness into the vadam batter. Also notice that the tapioca vadam batter is porridgey and liquidey(needs to be spooned to make the wafers) while the one cooked with rice is more of a slack dough or a semi solid mass. The ratio of tapioca to rice is very negligible but without the tapioca(cooked in boiling water), the dough will be a lot less starchy. The tapioca porridge 'gels' the rice together. This is how I understand it.

[Milagai]

faustianbargain: you're a gem!

thanks for the detailed explanations and recipes.

i knew there was a reason i bought my vadams and appalams

dry in packets from the grocery store....

milagai

[Tepee]

The ratio of tapioca to rice is very negligible but without the tapioca(cooked in boiling water), the dough will be a lot less starchy. The tapioca porridge 'gels' the rice together. This is how I understand it.

←

Different food but same reasoning. The bit of tapioca flour in wheat starch dough (1/4 cup tapioca flour to 1-1/4 cups wheat starch) for making translucent (reference to the skin) steamed chinese dumplings, helps to make the sealing easier, and the dough more elastic (less prone to split during the steaming process).

Thank you, FaustianBargain, for your recipes, especially, the vadai Yes, it's really good when it's hot. Luckily, the putu mayam cum vadai man who plies our route on a motorcycle (used to be bicycle a couple of years ago) must have gotten his stock right off the stove.

Edited March 23, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[FaustianBargain]

woohoo! I found 'more milagai' today! my all time favourite with curd rice. I had forgotten how strong the aroma of moremilagai can be while it is being prepared. is anyone else familiar with these?

now, i have to go and open the windows to clear the smoke.

[shanta]

woohoo! I found 'more milagai' today! my all time favourite with curd rice. I had forgotten how strong the aroma of moremilagai can be while it is being prepared. is anyone else familiar with these?

now, i have to go and open the windows to clear the smoke.

←

Yup! I made some recently in my oven!

[FaustianBargain]

woohoo! I found 'more milagai' today! my all time favourite with curd rice. I had forgotten how strong the aroma of moremilagai can be while it is being prepared. is anyone else familiar with these?

now, i have to go and open the windows to clear the smoke.

←

Yup! I made some recently in my oven!

←

get outta here!!! you baked it instead of frying it??? how do you get that dark black colour?

[shanta]

woohoo! I found 'more milagai' today! my all time favourite with curd rice. I had forgotten how strong the aroma of moremilagai can be while it is being prepared. is anyone else familiar with these?

now, i have to go and open the windows to clear the smoke.

←

Yup! I made some recently in my oven!

←

get outta here!!! you baked it instead of frying it??? how do you get that dark black colour?

←

Ummm! Lemme get this straight - 'more milagai' are those green chillies soaked and dried in the sun, right? If so, instead of drying'em in the sun, I dry'em in a warm oven for a few days until all the moisture is gone. They still need to be deep fried, though.

[shanta]

FaustianBargain,

I tried baking instead of deep frying and it was great! Got the dark/black color too :)

[Episure]

FaustianBargain,

I tried baking instead of deep frying and it was great! Got the dark/black color too :)

←

Shanta,

Thanks for paving the way, I'm going to try that also.

[shanta]

FaustianBargain,

I tried baking instead of deep frying and it was great! Got the dark/black color too :)

←

Shanta,

Thanks for paving the way, I'm going to try that also.

←

Just a word of caution:

These baked ones seemed to be HOTTER than their deep-fried version. Hubby has the habit of munching on these before dinner, he had one last nite and it was so hot, he felt it burn all the way down to his stomach and we had to call urgent care! I'll have one with curd rice for lunch today.