Vadaam watchman

Summer days were cool days (no pun intended) those days. We had lots of activities. One prime activity was the role of ‘Vadaam Watchman’ :-) Those who are familiar with vadaam making will instantly understand this - this post is for the other unenlightened ;-) 

The process used to start with if I vaguely remember right - mom used to soak the rice in water and spread it out to dry. Then patiently she used to grind it cook it with salt and chilli powder and make an ‘anda’ full of vadaam mixture :-)

I may not have the full ingredients right (my mom and her sisters will know better) but you got the gist right - its a process that needs a lot of patience when you are in the middle of six children!!

This done you will have to spread out dad;s old white dhotis on the floor and ‘puzhinjufy’ the maavu with ‘murukku’ naazhi. Then this would dry for about a day or two inside.

The final climax is putting it out to dry in the sun :-) - which is where I come in ;-) My job was to prevent the vadams from being eaten by crows and stray animals (and one human being also whose name I won’t mention here :-))

So I was essentially the ‘Vadaam watchman’ for mom.

But the lifecycle of a vadaam doesn’t end here - Once they get dried in the sun, they will be stored in huge glass bharanis and taken every other day and deep fried in oil to serve as a tasty side for sambar and rasam!!!

Those were the days! Slow cooking and lots of home made stuff!

Nostalgic :-)