Pulusu Adai

Introduction

Pulusu Adai was amongst the favourite items at our home. My mother-in-law, G. Aravindakumari had stayed with her mother-in-law during the early days of her marriage. The four-generation joint family was a repository of recipes. They used simple ingredients, simple processes sans decorations. Those days ushered in a lot of joy at home. The Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) was a big boon. There were people with whom one could share a lot. My husband, Rajesh continues to recall those grand old days when our aristocratic household was the fulcrum of the old town area.

Ingredients

1. Par boiled rice – 2 cups
2. Red chilly – 6 nos.
3. Grated coconut – 3/4th of a cup
4. Jeera – ½ tsp.
5. Thick tamarind puree – ½ cup
6. Jaggery powdered – 2 tbsps.
7. Banana leaf – 1

Procedure

Wash and rinse the rice. Soak the rice in boiling water for 3 hours. Grind the coconut, jeera, tamarind puree, and jaggery in mixer-grinder. Discard the soaked water and grind the rice in grinder by sprinkling water. Add the coconut and chilly paste into it. Grind everything thoroughly till the rice grinds smoothly to a fine paste. This mixture should resemble a thick murukku dough (should be able to make small balls when shaped).

If the dough has more moisture, it should be rolled in a clean towel for sometime till the excess moisture gets absorbed.

Wash the banana leaf and cut it into two. Take one half of the banana leaf and further cut it into two. Take teaspoon of oil and grease the banana leaf. Take a small portion of the dough and pat it into a medium to thin sized Adai on the leaf using the fingers. Heat a Dosa tawa and invert the banana leaf slowly on which the Adai is made. Let it cook for a few seconds and then peel off the banana leaf slowly from the tawa. Add a spoon of oil to the adai and close the tawa with a lid. After few seconds turn over the adai so that the other side also gets cooked. You can make it crisp or leave it soft, according to one’s preference.

The Pulusu adai is spicy, sweet, and tangy. It can be eaten without any accompaniment. But we at our place always enjoy this adai with thick curd or butter.