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Home » Seasoning recipes

Onion Vadagam-thalippu vadagam-Oven Method

Updated: June 25, 2021 / Posted: February 7, 2014 / By Sujatha Muralidhar This post may contain affiliate links· As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases·

Recipe

Onion vadagam/ vaduvom/ thalippu vadagam are the sundried seasoned onion where chopped onion cured in spices and later sun-dried.

This is used for seasoning Sambar and also the main ingredient in making South Indian Fish Curry. Vadagam is usually prepared in the summer months and stored for the whole year.

vadagam-recipe-thalippu-onion- (17)

Usually, in a family, mom prepares and distributes to daughters and daughters-in-law. But apartment life and other factors made this distribution vanishes slowly.

Nowadays even moms started buying it ready-made from the market. The vadagam recipe is not a hectic task, but the procedure needs little care and attention.

Being away from the homeland, sun drying procedure became impossible to even the sunny days are longer here.

No sunshine or missed the summertime or not preferring the sun drying method. Then this recipe could be the best option for all these questions.

The procedure is made very simple, instead of sun drying, the dehydration process is done in the oven without taking away its originality and taste. And I'm very proud that this recipe turned out very successful.

Onion Vadagam-thalippu vadagam-Oven Method

My equation for Onion vadagam is like this, 1 day of sun drying is equal to 4 hours of oven drying. And for the resting/curing period, as usual, I allowed 12 hours of curing/soaking to get the spices to blend well.

For the oven, the setting goes for the least available setting in your oven. My oven has 170° F, so I went with this setting. You know your oven pretty well, so analyze and set the temperature as required by your oven.

The procedure is divided into resting time and baking time. Resting time is for 3 days that just need a "stirring". In the baking process, after baking test a ball by squeezing----- if it leaves the water, crumble the balls to a mixture, and soak again------If not, start tightening the balls and bake for a day.

If you are sun drying, follow the same method, instead of baking..go for sun drying for 6-8 hours in the peak summer.

How to make onion vadagam

Onion Vadagam-thalippu, steps and procedures

1. Peel onion, Chop off the head and the tail.

Onion Vadagam-thalippu, steps and procedures

2. Peel Garlic and them ready.

Onion Vadagam-thalippu, steps and procedures

3. Using food processor minced onion, garlic and curry leaves to fine pieces. If your food processor is not working fine, then chop them manually with the knife.

Onion Vadagam-thalippu, steps and procedures

4. Keep all the pieces ready, so that you may end up missing any of them.

Onion Vadagam-thalippu, steps and procedures

5. Combine everything well, with the wooden ladle.

Onion Vadagam-thalippu, steps and procedures

6. Cover the lid soak for 3 days, by stirring and mixing them once in 8 hours. On the second day, you might be noticing the mixture becomes moisture and little watery.

Onion Vadagam-thalippu, steps and procedures

7. On the third day, Preheat the oven to the minimum setting(my oven has 170°F). Take the baking tray, and line with the baking sheet(I found parchment paper was working fine for me, for the lining).

Onion Vadagam-thalippu, steps and procedures

8. Now take a fistful and squeeze tightly and arrange them in the baking tray, and collect the excess spiced water in the same vessel. Repeat the same with the remaining onion mixture.

Onion Vadagam-thalippu, steps and procedures

9. Bake onion balls for 3½-4 hours. Leave the excess spiced water in the vessel, by covering with the lid and keep aside. (This is a DAY-1 pic.)

Onion Vadagam-thalippu, steps and procedures

10. Once baked bring the baked onion balls to the room temperature. Then crumble all the baked onion balls to the kept aside excess onion spiced water. Allow the onion to get absorbed with spiced water for another 12-16 hours. (This is a DAY-2 pic).

Onion Vadagam-thalippu, steps and procedures

11. The Next day repeats the earlier step, squeeze the onion mixture, and Bake the onion balls for 3½-4 hours and after baking leave them in the same shape. (On the second day, you may not be getting excess water while squeezing, but if you have, repeat the same process till the onion absorbs all the water content).

vadagam-recipe-thalippu-onion- (6)

12. On the third day, press the onion balls tightly furthermore. Now the onion balls should be reduced in their shape. (This is a Day-3 pic).

13. Store Onion Vadagam in the airtight container and it stays good up to a year in the room temperature.

This vadagam is used for seasoning the Sambar, Meen Kuzhambu, and for making thuvaiyal.

Other seasonings you may like,

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Onion Vadagam-thalippu vadagam-Oven Method
Onion Vadagam-thalippu vadagam-Oven Method

Onion vadagam/ vaduvom/ thalippu vadagam

Onion vadagam/ vaduvom/ thalippu vadagam are the sundried seasoned onion where chopped onion cured in spices and later sun dried.
4 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 500 grams
Calories: 4kcal

Ingredients

  • 4 kg pearl onion / shallots-chinna vengayam- finely chopped
  • ¼ cup garlic finely chopped
  • 1 cup curry leaves finely chopped
  • ¼ cup cumin seeds
  • ¼ cup mustard seeds
  • ¼ cup fenugreek seeds
  • 2 tablespoon whole black pepper
  • ¼ cup urad dal /skinless black gram
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • ¼ ml caster oil
  • ¼ ml sesame oil

Instructions

  • Using food processor mince onion, garlic and curry leave to fine pieces. If your food processor is not working fine, then chop them manually with the knife.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients together with a wooden ladle.
  • Cover the lid soak for 3 days, by stirring and mixing them once in 8 hours. On the second day, you might be noticing the mixture becomes moisture and little watery.
  • On the third day, Preheat the oven to the minimum setting(my oven has 170°F). Take the baking tray, and line with baking sheet(I found parchment paper was working fine for me, for the lining).
  • Now take a fistful and squeeze tightly and arrange them in the baking tray, and collect the excess spiced water in the same vessel. Repeat the same with the remaining onion mixture.
  • Bake onion balls for 3½-4 hours. Leave the excess spiced water in the vessel, by covering with the lid and keep aside. (This is a DAY-1 pic.)
  • Once baked bring the baked onion balls to the room temperature. Then crumble all the baked onion balls to the kept aside excess onion spiced water. Allow onion to get absorbed with spiced water for another 12-16 hour. (This is a DAY-2 pic).
  • The Next day repeats the earlier step, squeeze the onion mixture, and Bake the onion balls for 3½-4 hours and after baking leave them in the same shape. (On the second day, you may not be getting excess water while squeezing, but if you have, repeat the same process till the onion absorbs all the water content.)
  • On the third day, press the onion balls tightly further more. Now the onion balls should be reduced in their shape. (This is a Day-3 pic).
  • Store Onion Vadagam in the air tight container and it stays good up to a year in the room temperature.

Nutrition

Calories: 4kcal | Potassium: 14mg | Vitamin C: 0.7mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 0.1mg
Course Side Dish
Cuisine Indian
Keyword Onion vadagam
Author Sujatha Muralidhar

Tips and Variations for Onion vadagam:
It can be made with bigger size onions too. But I think it takes longer for drying than usual and cannot be stored for a longer time.

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Comments

  1. Madhavi K

    February 08, 2014 at 12:14 am

    looks very good!

    Reply
  2. Priya Anandakumar

    February 08, 2014 at 4:56 pm

    Love vadagam sis, my mil makes the same way except dry it in the sun... gr8 work...

    Reply
  3. Manjula Bharath

    February 08, 2014 at 9:56 pm

    Wow very arromatic vadagam ., my neighbours used to make them a lot i loved the aroma a lot !!

    Reply
  4. Shree

    February 09, 2014 at 2:00 am

    yum ! I love vadagams ! Lovely clicks !

    Reply
  5. Sangeetha Priya

    February 09, 2014 at 9:57 pm

    very useful post, this time i forget to bring onion vadagam from home, bookmarking, will try sometime later 🙂

    Reply
  6. Sahasra Recipes

    February 11, 2014 at 12:05 am

    Useful post & I am using sun dried method one.

    Reply
  7. Jaishree

    March 21, 2018 at 3:48 am

    Wow very traditional receipe my mil. Use to do 5kg iwhen it dried it comes to 2.5 to 3 kg only please try this for keerai thalipu we do often

    Reply
    • Sujatha Muralidhar

      March 21, 2018 at 7:19 am

      I know this is the family recipe for generations. I just tried to document it and glad you liked Jaishree.

      Reply
  8. Divya

    June 02, 2020 at 2:45 am

    A different method from our traditional one's..but looks a lil easy .. actually u can use white onions for this it has longer shell life say for 2 to 3 years. We hail from andhra and making it this vadagam differs slightly from ours..also I'm glad many still know the existence of this.

    Reply
    • Sujatha Muralidhar

      June 02, 2020 at 5:43 pm

      Thanks Divya, White onion and pearl onion are great for longer shelf life. Authentic and traditional recipes are the values of the culture. Glad you liked it too.

      Reply
  9. Sonal Raghavan

    September 22, 2020 at 11:21 am

    Don't you add pepper to this?

    Reply
    • Sujatha Muralidhar

      September 23, 2020 at 7:27 am

      Yes, Sonal we do. I have added 2 tbsp of whole black pepper. And is mentioned in the recipe as well.

      Reply
  10. Saradha Vakkada

    March 08, 2021 at 7:34 pm

    Hi Suja

    Tried your recipe. It came perfect !
    In these times where travel to Homeland has become that more more difficult your recipe is of utmost help for beings like me that loves vadagam. Thank you very much!

    Reply
    • Sujatha Muralidhar

      March 10, 2021 at 10:05 am

      I’m very glad to hear that this recipe met your expectation, Saradha! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience!

      Reply

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Hi, I'm Suja!  the person behind PEPPER BOWL and based in Pennsylvania. I focus on easy and simple-to-make recipes with the inspiration of rich flavors with a hint of heat. I enjoy simplifying the recipes with minimal ingredients to suit today's busy lifestyle.

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