Onion Rice Vadam

Onion Rice Vadam brings the summer holiday memories from my childhood. I used to spend the whole of my summer vacation with my Grandma. Summer vacations to the Indian kid is quintessentially the best time of the year, when there’s no homework, no uniforms and the endless games that we play.

My Grandma’s special Onion Rice Vadam Recipe

Rice Vadam making is one of my summer memories. The most easiest of all vadam recipes is Rice Vadam, and my Grandma used to flavor it with onion and other spices. She is an expert in making vadams and vathals. She used to make variety of vadams but I never bothered to learn from her. Her recipes are very special, easy and her methods never fail. I learn’t this from her years later. It is better late than never, isn’t it?

These onion rice vadams can be served as a side dish for sambar sadam, all South Indian Variety rice and even rasam sadam. You can even eat it as an evening snack. It’s my favorite tea time snack 🙂

Which rice is the best for vadams?

I use red hand pounded rice which has most nutrients intact. You can use any rice that you have at home. Some people use Sago/Javvarisi in their vadam to make it crispier. But I do not use it, as it’s not a healthy choice. Sago is low in nutrients compared to other types of flour, and it’s not the most nutritious carb choice.

Advantage of Homemade Vadams

The advantage of homemade stuff is that, we can be sure of the quality of ingredients used and we get the happiness that we have prepared it. And it’s also very economical, Today we will learn how to make my Grandma’s special Onion Rice Vadam. I will give step by step instructions with pictures.

First thing, you cook 2 cups of rice with 4 cups of water. I cook it in a pressure cooker, which cuts down the preparation time. You can also cook it in a pan until it is soft. Once it is cooked, keep it aside to cool down.

Take 4 Red chillies, 1/2 tsp Asafoetida/Hing, 1 tsp Cumin Seeds and salt(as needed) in a mixer/blender and powder it.

Now add the cooked rice to the same mixer, add little water and blend this into a smooth paste. You can use the water as necessary. You need a thick consistency, we don’t want the mix to be runny.

Transfer this to a bowl

Cut 1 medium sized onion and blend it a little bit without water. We don’t want a smooth paste. We want some pieces of the onion left intact, that makes the vadam very tasty. You will see the difference after frying. It needs to be blended to a coarse texture.

Add this onion paste to rice along with 2 tbsp lemon juice.

Combine everything well with a spatula or a spoon. You can also mix them by hand, but be careful not to touch your eyes as the mix contains onions and red chillies. It will burn your eyes.

Drying the Vadams

Pinch small dollops of this rice mixture and line them up in a tray or a plate or you can even use a newspaper to dry the vadams. My Grandma used to line the dollops in a dhoti or saree. And we kids used to place big stones around the corner of the dhoti so it won’t fly in the wind.

In London, during summer it takes a couple of days to dry. I usually take them inside home at night and then put them back in the garden during the next day. But if you live in a very hot place, you can start this process in the morning, and by the evening it will be ready.

Fry them in hot oil and voila, your super delicious onion rice vadams are ready!

You can enjoy this with Rice and Dal or as an evening snack with Masala Tea!

Ingredients

Rice – 2 cups
Onion – 1 medium size
Lemon juice- 2 tbsp
Red chillies – 4
Asafoetida/Hing- 1/2 tsp
Cumin Seeds – 1 tsp
Water – 4 to 5 cups
Salt – As per taste

Method

Cook the rice with 4 cups of water until it’s soft. Keep it aside until it cools down.
Add all the other dry ingredients except onion into a mixer/blender and powder it.
Add the cooked rice to the same blender with spices and add little water and grind it. You will get a smooth paste. You can use the water as necessary. But we need a thick consistency, we don’t want the mix to be runny.
Transfer this rice and spices mix to a bowl.
Cut the onion and blend it a little bit without water. We don’t want a smooth paste. We want some pieces of the onion left intact. It needs to be blended to a coarse texture.
Add this paste to the rice mixture.
Add lemon juice and combine everything with a spatula or a spoon.
Pinch small dollops of this rice mixture and line them up in a tray or a plate or you can even use a newspaper to dry the vadams.
Let it dry completely in the sun.
Once they are dried, fry them in hot oil and enjoy your onion rice vadams!

My Top Tip

Make small sized vadams as it will be easier to dry and also frying is easy too. It will fry evenly.

If this is your first time, try it with less quantity, once you are confident, you can make it in bulk.

Note

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