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How are Wadiyaan made? Wadi Making?

Wadi making was a common pastime in almost every Punjabi household during summer. It has almost become a dying art.

Wadi is a sun-dried spicy dumpling made of black beans. This recipe has been been slightly modified as follows:

1. In the olden days, whole skin-on Urad was used and pounded to remove skin. I have used skinless Urad to avoid cumbersome pounding. Still, I do not use split skinless Urad due to loss of natural wild yeast needed for fermentation. If you plan to use split skinless Urad beans, add One Tablespoon of Fenugreek seeds along with Asafoetida powder to the batter during fermentation

2. Traditionally, Petha (Ash gourd) is added as one of the ingredients. Petha is not readily available in United States. So, I have used Zucchini.

3. Normally, dumplings are dried in hot tropical sun. We are going to use home oven to emulate hot-sun drying. Heat oven to 200º F. The Wadi  can be placed in the oven for about 45 minutes with the door ajar by about 2" to 3" emulating about one hour of hot sun noon temperature every day.

Ingredients

1. Skinless whole Urad: 1 pound

2. Zucchini fresh: 1 Pound

3. Asafoetida powder: 1 teaspoon

4. Fresh Ginger root, peeled, grated: 2"x1", about 2 Tablespoons

5. Fresh Serrano, chopped: 8

6. Fresh Cilantro, chopped: 1 cup

7. Black Cardamom seeds, coarse ground: 1 teaspoon

8. Crushed hot red peppers: 1 Tablespoon

9. Black Peppercorn, cracked: 2 Tablespoon

10. Fennel seeds, bruised: 2 Tablespoons

11. Cloves, cracked: 20

12. Cumin seeds, bruised: 2 Tablespoons

13. Nutmeg, grated: 1 teaspoon

14. Cinnamon ground: ½ teaspoon

Method

1. Presoak skinless whole Urad in water for about 4 hours or longer. Whole beans ferment better than split Urad.

2. Grind skinless whole beans very coarse with minimum water. This is called Pthi. Stir in Asafoetida powder. Let it ferment overnight. The fermentation adds unique flavor and makes the Wadi airy light-weight.

3. Grate Zucchini. Squeeze water out grated Zucchini. Set Zucchini water aside. Volume-wise grated Zucchini is about half the volume of fermented Pithi. Add grated Zucchini to Pithi.

4. Grind ginger, Serrano, and Cilantro. Add to Pithi.

5. Add remaining spices. Beat Pithi well to mix all ingredients. If needed add Zucchini some of the Zucchini water from step 3 for a desired consistency.

6.  Let it rest about an hour. Beat again. It should be hard paste.

7. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Grease parchment paper. Put a blob in your hand to make a ball. Insert thumb to make a cavity. You need to form a 2" hollow spherical shaped dumpling.

7. Heat oven to 200º F. Place Wadi in the oven for about 2 hours with the door ajar by about 2" to 3". Turn off oven. Let the Wadi keep drying in the oven. Repeat the process one or two more days till Wadi are bone-dry,