Pushnikai Vadam Recipe

Ash gourd and urad dal vadam

Ingredients:
2 cups blackgram dal
6-8 green chillies (or to taste)
small piece of asafoetida
salt to taste
1/4kg ash gourd
little coriander leaves (optional)
1-2 sprigs curry leaves

Method:
1. Wash and soak dal for half an hour, strain all the water.
2. Add chillies, salt and asafoetida to dal and grind to a very smooth paste. Avoid adding excess water while grinding.
3. Peel the ash gourd, remove seeds and the centre portion. Grate the gourd or mince into very fine pieces.
4. To ground batter add ash gourd pieces, add curry and coriander leaves, mix thoroughly.
5. Spread a clean sheet in the sun and using a teaspoon, keep spoonful of batter on cloth leaving space between two spoonfuls.
6. Allow one side to sun dry before removing from cloth. Gently peel the vadam, reverse them, so that the other side also gets dried properly before storing.

Fry and serve.