Vegetable flat rice cakes ( Nombu adai)

These rice cakes are made on the occasion of "Kaadayain nombu". This is celebrated in relation to an ancient Indian tale of a princess who prayed to the God of death to bring her husband back from death - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savitri_and_Satyavan.
The sweet and savory cakes are made for this occasion. These cakes are made from rice flour and dal(lentils or black eyed peas). We added a few veggies to our savory ones to make it a complete meal.

INGREDIENTS

Rice flour           - 1 cup
Carrots               - 1/4 cup(finely chopped or grated)
Celery                - 1/4 cup(finely chopped)
curry leaves       - 4-5 
Ginger                - 1/4 inch(finely chopped)
Green chillies     - 1-2 (finely chopped) - optional
Black eyed peas - 1/2 cup (soaked for 2-3 hours and pressure cooked)
Water                  - about  2 cups
Salt                     - as per taste

In a pot boil about 2 cups of water. Once the water starts boiling lower the heat to low and add chopped veggies, ginger, chillies,salt and cooked black eyed peas. Slowly add the rice flour and keep stirring to avoid lump formation. Switch off the heat once all the rice flour is mixed well with the water and the color changes to off-white.

Make small balls about 1.5 to 2 inches in size. Then flatten them on your palm or on plastic or wax paper to thin circles and place a hole in the center. Wet your hands while flattening the flour mixture to avoid it from sticking to your hands.

Steam them until done. This should take about 15-20 minutes. Serve them with chutney.

Rice cakes before steaming

Steamed rice cakes

Tips

1. You can use an idli steamer or rice steamer to cook these. I used idiyappam plates to steam them.

2. You can  avoid black eyed peas and add chopped nuts if you prefer.