getfood: AADI THENGAI PANDIGAI RECIPE/FIRE ROASTED COCONUT-AADI FESTIVAL RECIPES

Today I celebrated Aadi pirappu/Aadi pandigai( Aadi festival) in my house by roasting coconut in direct fire by stuffing the coconut with sesame & jaggery pooranam.In Tamil we call this as “Thengai suduthal/thengai sudum pandigai”.This kind of celebration may be new to some of you.Its a customary practice among the people in and around Salem District,Tamil nadu.My mom follows this every year.Usually my mom makes pooja in evening around 6 pm by offering this roasted coconut for Vinayagar & Amman.This year 2016, AAdi 1 falls on 16th of July. In Tamil nadu,special sticks and readymade pooranam/stuffings are available in all the stores.Being in Bangalore,I couldn’t find these things here. So I used a long kulfi stick for holding the coconut,asked my mom for the stuffing part and celebrated Aadi 1 festival for the first time in my house.By God’s grace,everything went very well and I was totally satisfied Happy

.As this practice is almost forgotten among our generation,I wanted to have a record of this festival and the recipe in my blog for my future reference and of course for the Salem people who look for this festival.Wish u all a very happy Aadi Pandigai !
Lets see the procedure for stuffing and roasting coconut in detail Happy

Aadi thengai pandigai recipe

Aadi thengai suduthal recipe for aadi pirappu/aadi pandigai !

Cuisine: Indian

Category: Festival recipes

Serves: Serves 1-2

Prep time: 60 Minutes

Cook time: 15 Minutes

Total time: 75 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

Coconut - 1 no
Turmeric powder – 2 tsp (to coat the coconut)
Coconut water – as needed

For stuffing/Pooranam

Raw rice – 2 tbsp
Grated jaggery – 5-6 tbsp
Fried gram dal/Pottukadalai – 1 tbsp
Moong dal – 2 tbsp
Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp (black or white)
Thick Poha/Aval – 1 tbsp

METHOD

Mix all the ingredients given under “ for stuffing” in a bowl and set aside.
Clean the coconut by removing the fibre part(thengai naar) and rub the coconut well on the hard,rough surface to remove its fibre completely & make it smooth.

Now u can see three eyes on the bottom part of the coconut.Pierce one eye with a sharp pointed tool ( i used screw driver) and make a big hole.Invert the coconut over the tumbler and collect all the water.Keep the water aside.

Inside the hole,stuff the pooranam mixture using ur fingers.It would be slightly difficult and it takes more time too. Use the pointed tool whenever necessary to push the stuffing inside the coconut through the hole.
Add the coconut water little by little say few tbsp in the middle of stuffing. Keep stuffing the mixture and pouring the coconut water & fill the coconut.At one stage the coconut water will come out.At this point,stop filling it.

Now wash the coconut once and apply the turmeric powder all over it.Insert the strong stick or skewer.Seal the top with some turmeric powder paste.Decorate the coconut by keeping kumkum wherever needed.I kept 3 dots around the coconut and 4 dots on the top.

Keep the coconut over the gas burner.Switch on the flame and roast the coconut on all the sides.I used a big screw driver to turn the coconut as my stick was very tender.
Roasting takes nearly 10-15 minutes.Adjust the flame whenever necessary.While roasting,the water stuffed in the coconut may spill and drop over the burner.Don’t panic.U may get some strange sound too.Keep turning the coconut whenever needed.Coconut will turn black and it will get a big crack at one stage.
Stop roasting the coconut at this stage and remove.Keep aside to cool.

Offer this roasted coconut to GOD.Pray for all ur wishes to come true !
Then break the coconut and enjoy eating the coconut pieces along with the stuffing.It tastes great !!

Note

Adjust the quantity of jaggery based on ur taste.
Stuffing the coconut takes more time and it really tests ur patience too.Add the coconut water in the middle of stuffing and keep filling.Use a pointed device to push the pooranam inside the coconut else it would be really difficult.
Its better to add lesser quantity of poha and fried gram dal in the stuffing as they struggle to go inside the hole whereas rice,moong dal,sesame and jagggery goes in smoothly.
Some people soak the rice for an hour before stuffing in the coconut.Its purely optional.