AADI THENGAI SUDUM PANDIGAI RECIPE | FIRE ROASTED COCONUT – AADI PANDIGAI RECIPES – TRADITION OF SALEM

aadi festival recipes

Today I celebrated Aadi pirappu /Aadi pandigai( Aadi festival) in my house by roasting coconut in direct fire. We stuff the coconut with sesame and jaggery pooranam. In Tamil we call this as “Thengai suduthal/thengai sudum pandigai”. Some people also call this as vedi thengai. This kind of celebration may be new to some of you. Its a customary practice among the people in and around villages of Salem District, Namakkal and Dharmapuri district, Tamil nadu. My mom follows this every year.


 Usually my mom makes pooja in the evening around 6 pm by offering this roasted coconut for Vinayagar (Lord Ganesh) and Amman on Aadi 1st day. This year 2024, Aadi 1 falls on 17th of July. In Tamil nadu, special sticks (Alinjil kuchi and Vadha narayanan kuchi in Tamil) and readymade pooranam/stuffings are available in all the market. 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. 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 you all a very happy Aadi Pandigai / Aadi Pirappu !


Lets see the procedure for stuffing and roasting coconut in detail.


Do check out my another aadi pirappu recipe – Brahmin’s style Aadi Thengai Paal Payasam recipe.

aadi thengai sudum pandigai

Aadi thengai pandigai recipe

Fire roasted coconut recipe Aadi thengai suduthal recipe for aadi pirappu/aadi pandigai !

Cuisine: Indian
Category: Festival recipes
Serves: 2
Prep time: 60 Minutes
Cook time: 15 Minutes
Total time: 75 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

  • Coconut – 1 
  • Turmeric powder – 2 tsp (to coat the coconut)
  • Coconut water – as needed

For stuffing/Pooranam

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

  • Take all the ingredients given under “ for stuffing” in a mixie jar.  Grind everything to a coarse powder or fine powder before stuffing. It helps to stuff easily. Alternatively you can dry roast all the ingredients, grind to coarse powder and stuff them.  My mom doesn’t grind the stuffing ingredients. So I too followed the same. But grinding to a coarse powder makes the stuffing job easy. 
  • Clean the coconut by removing the fibre part (thengai naar) and rub the coconut well on the hard, rough surface or grate using a carrot grater to remove its fibre completely & make it smooth.

aadi festival step1

  • Now you can see three eyes on the bottom part of the coconut clearly. 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. Reserve the water aside.

aadi festival step2

  • Inside the hole, stuff the pooranam mixture using your 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.

aadi festival step3

  • Now wash the coconut with drinking water 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.

aadi festival step4

  • 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. Its the crackling sound of sesame seeds and the shell of coconut. 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 it. Keep aside to cool.

aadi festival step5
Offer this roasted coconut to GOD. Pray for all your wishes to come true !
Then break the coconut, remove the shell and enjoy eating the coconut pieces along with the stuffing. It tastes great !!

Note
  • Adjust the quantity of jaggery based on your taste. 
  • Stuffing the coconut takes more time and it really tests your patience too. Add 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 powder the ingredients before stuffing. It makes the job easier. l
  • Some people soak the rice for an hour before stuffing in the coconut. Its purely optional.

aadi pandigai recipes

Enjoy this roasted coconut pieces with the stuffing. It tastes yummm..
roasted coconut recipe

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34 thoughts on “AADI THENGAI SUDUM PANDIGAI RECIPE | FIRE ROASTED COCONUT – AADI PANDIGAI RECIPES – TRADITION OF SALEM”

    2. Unknown

      I love this thengai and have enjoyed a lot in childhood roasted the coconut with neighbours and frnd together..my native is Salem as well.was just asking mom why this is done and the reason behind this special receipes on aadi 1st and it's unique to Salem alone.Any idea..?

      Reply
    4. Chitra

      Hi, Good to know that its celebrated in Karur as well. I have heard that this celebration is popular in and around Salem only 🙂

      Reply
  3. Unknown

    super chitra…ths z d frst tym i m hearing abt ths prasadam…usually v make adi paal n vada n offer to god!!! lovely recipe… wil try 2 make it fr sure … !

    Reply
  8. Hema

    This is the first time I am hearing about this, very traditional one Chitra, thanks for sharing it, I would love to try this, my only doubt, the coconut will crack, it'll not burst rt..

    Reply
    2. Chitra

      Thanks for the reply Sangee 🙂 U must be knowing it very well 🙂 Yes Hema,it won't burst.Just adjust the flame whenever necessary to prevent over roasting !

      Reply
  13. Unknown

    wonderful recipe chitra , I had hear about this festival from a friend and now I see this thengai sutadhu 🙂 very well explained , thanks for sharing !!

    Reply
  14. Sangeetha M

    lovely post Chitra…I am missing it badly…you have done it so well and the coconut looks delicious!

    Reply
  15. Jeyashris Kitchen

    Though i have heard about this , never tasted though. Love to taste this ,must be yum for sure. Nicely explained

    Reply
  16. Unknown

    lovely tradition.. i had never heard of it. can't imagine the taste of this coconut.. im sure they must be yummy…

    Reply
  18. Unknown

    I moved to Salem last October and this was my first experience with the Adi Pirrappu festival. My maid roasted a coconut for me. Thoroughly enjoyed the stuffed roasted coconut. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

    Reply
  19. Unknown

    my native is salem, but i'm living outside from salem district here no one don't know “Thengai suduthal/thengai sudum pandigai”. i missed this festival

    Reply
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