Aadi Perukku Recipes | Aadi 18 Recipes – Lunch Menu

Aadi 18 recipes | Aadi perukku food recipes with lunch menu. Aadi 18 ( Pathinettam perukku) is a Tamil festival that falls on August 2nd, 2025. Traditionally Aadi perukku vegetarian lunch menu includes South Indian full meals or dishes like variety rice / Chitrannam (Ellu sadam/ Sesame seeds rice, Lemon rice OR Puli sadam/ Tamarind rice, Thengai sadam/Coconut rice, Thayir sadam/ Curd rice), Sakkarai pongal/ Sweet pongal along with Payasam recipes, Sundal recipes, Urad dal vada and Maavilakku.

I have given all the recipe links and few tips on how to cook this aadi 18 lunch menu easily & quickly with some pre-preparations in pressure cooker. Hope beginners would find it useful. Wish you all a very happy Aadi 18 / Aadi perukku.

 Please check THIS LINK to know how to perform aadi 18 pooja ( Pathinettam perukku in Tamil) at home in detail along with celebration pictures.

How we celebrate Aadi 18 at home

Basically Aadi 18 is celebrated to worship river bodies. So we celebrate Aadi 18 / Aadi perukku at home by doing pooja near our house’s water tank in the terrace or by keeping a bowl/ sombu filled with water in our pooja room which is considered as Kaveri water. We offer fruits, flowers, yellow sacred thread, 5 rice varieties along with sweet pongal, maavilakku and sundal. After pooja, married women tie a sacred yellow thread around the neck whereas young girls tie the thread in hand. This is how we celebrate Aadi 18 at home in a simple way.

Some people make Tamil nadu style full meals like rice, dal, sambar, poriyal, kootu, thayir pachadi, vada and payasam instead of rice varieties. But I follow my MIL and make chitrannam on this day. I feel this is much easier than cooking full meals.

Please check THIS LINK to know how to celebrate aadi 18 at home in detail along with celebration pictures.

Aadi 18 Recipes | Aadi Perukku recipes

Every year we prepare Lemon rice or tamarind rice, Coconut rice, sweet pongal, sesame seeds rice, curd rice. Sometimes we make payasam with jaggery instead of sweet pongal and make Ellu sadam or milagu jeeraga sadham to make a count of 5. I have made a video on “How to cook 5 rice varieties for Aadi 18”. I hope beginners would find it helpful. Please scroll through to check the video.
Some people also make kalkandu sadam instead of sweet pongal. My mom used to say we have to make 18 rice dishes for aadi 18.  But I don’t know how far it is true ;).

I have shared the links of all variety rice recipes, sweet pongal, payasam recipes and  vadai ( two versions). Wish you all a very happy Aadi Perukku/Aadi 18.

• SWEET PONGAL/SAKKARAI PONGAL
• PAYASAM RECIPES
• LEMON RICE
• TAMARIND RICE/PULI SADAM
• THENGAI SADAM/COCONUT RICE
• PEPPER PULIOGARE/MILAGU PULI SADAM
• CURD RICE/THAYIR SADAM
• URAD DAL VADA ( PEPPER VERSION)
• MAA VILAKKU  
• MILAGU JEERAGA SADAM/PEPPER CUMIN RICE
• SESAME SEEDS RICE
• AADI THENGAI PAAL PAYASAM OR
• NO ONION NO GARLIC LUNCH MENU
• Please visit THIS PAGE for more aadi recipes. 

How to make Aadi Perukku Lunch Menu

Usually we cook this lunch menu on (Aadi 18) festival day as we are doing the pooja only in the afternoon. We get lots of time in hand to cook this menu. We don’t do any pre-preparations. Some people like working women or busy moms may like to do the pooja in the morning. For this, pre-preparations is essential. So I have shared the same below. 

1.   On the previous day afternoon or night, Soak the chana for making sundal. Wash and soak the urad dal for making vada. Add enough water to soak the dal and refigerate it for soaking. Do not freeze it. Use the same soaked water for grinding the vada batter in mixie. You will get great results. Please check the Urad dal vada link for more details.
2.  Start to make pulikachal paste for puliodharai. You can make this paste even before 2 days as it stays good upto 15 days under refrigeration. Store in an air tight box after the paste cools down and keep in refigerator till use. Do not use it for your regular cooking as its meant for neivedyam. I have shared my MIL’s puliodharai recipe link below. It tastes great just like kovil puliodharai. Do give a try !
3.  After doing the pulikachal paste, prepare the lemon rice paste and store in a box. Its not necessary to make both lemon rice & tamarind rice. Any one is fine as both tastes tangy. 
4.  Prepare ellu podi for sesame seeds rice by dry roasting sesame seeds & red chilli. Grind to a fine powder and store it.
5. You can also make Milagu jeeraga sadam/ Pepper cumin rice instead of sesame seeds rice.  Please check the links for lemon rice & travel lunch recipes for Ellu sadam,  milagu jeeraga sadam.
6. Then you can prepare the coconut rice mix. Don’t worry, it won’t spoil as we are roasting coconut along with the other ingredients. Refrigerate it in a box. Do the tempering for curd rice and refrigerate it.
7. Roast the moong dal in ghee for sweet pongal and keep aside. Melt the jaggery for sweet pongal adding required water, strain it and keep the jaggery syrup in an air tight box. No need to refrigerate it. I use 1:2 ratio of water and jaggery.
8. The next day morning, take bath and remove all the stored boxes. Let it come to room temperature. Start to prepare for neivedyam by cooking the rice. If you are cooking for 2 to 3 people, use 2 pressure cookers. In one cooker, add 1 cup raw rice, 2.5 cups of water. Add few drops of cooking oil in the water and cook in very low flame for 1 whistle. Use this for making lemon rice or tamarind rice, coconut rice, sesame seeds rice. 
9.  In second cooker, take 1 cup raw rice. Keep a small box inside the cooker and add 2 tbsp roasted moong dal with 1/2 cup water. ( If you are making sundal, place the soaked chana in a plate over the rice and cover the cooker). Add 5 cups of water to the rice and pressure cook in low flame for 1 whistle. Use this rice for making sweet pongal and curd rice. Both the rice gets done in 15 minutes simultaneously. 
10. While the rice is cooking, You can decorate the pooja room. 
11. As soon as the steam is released, open cooker 1. Take the rice from cooker 1 using a fork like ladle gently (Do not mash it). Spread it in the plate and add 2 tsp of sesame oil ( Nalla ennai).  Let it cool down. Divide the rice in 3 plates for making rice varieties as per the quantity you need it. For my family, I make more puliodharai or lemon rice. I make very less thengai sadam and ellu sadam just 1/4 cup each. 
12. Open cooker 2 after steam is released. Remove the moong dal box from cooker 2 and mash the rice when hot.Use this rice for making curd rice and sweet pongal. Mash when the rice is hot else it will be difficult. After mashing the rice, divide into equal portions or as per the required quantity. To the curd rice part, add 1/2 cup of  warm milk or water. Add salt and mix well. Add the curd + tempering. Mix well. Add fresh cream or butter if you like. Garnish with fruits like grapes and pomegranate or coriander leaves if desired. 
13. Take the mashed rice for sweet pongal and add the prepared jaggery syrup, cooked moong dal. Mix well and cook for a minute. Add ghee roasted cashews, cloves, cardamom powder, jathikkai/ nutmeg powder and required ghee. Mix well. 
14. Now take the cooled rice and make lemon rice/ tamarind rice, coconut rice and sesame rice adding the prepared paste and powder. 
15. After making all these rice varieties, take the soaking urad dal from the fridge and grind using mixie. Add the soaked water for grinding. Do not add salt. Grind fluffy batter and remove in a bowl. Add coarsely ground pepper, cumin and few torn curry leaves. Add hing. Mix well.
16. Heat oil to deep fry and make the vada. You can also fry some papad in the oil. 
17. Now we have cooked all th 5 rice varieties, sweet pongal, vada and everything is ready for neivedyam. All these hardly takes 45 minutes if you have prepared all the paste on the previous day. If you are making everything on the same day, it takes around 1.5 hours. Make it as per your convenience and celebrate this festival in a grand manner at home. Get the blessings of GOD. Please check the links for the recipes shared above. Watch the video below.

Aadi Perukku Recipes Video

Aadi perukku recipes | Aadi 18 lunch menu

Recipe Card

Aadi Perukku Recipes | Aadi 18 Recipes – Lunch Menu

Chitra

Aadi perukku recipes | Aadi 18 lunch menu preparation steps easily in a pressure cooker.

No ratings yet

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Indian, South Indian, Tamil nadu

Servings 3 people

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

For Sweet Pongal & Curd rice

• 1 cup Raw rice
• 5 cups Water
• a pinch Salt
• Curd
• Jaggery
• Cardamom
• Cashews
• Cloves, Nutmeg, Edible camphor
• Milk (optional)

For Lemon rice, Tamarind rice, Coconut rice

• 1 cup Raw rice
• 2.5 cups Water
• Lemon
• Tamarind paste
• Coconut
• Tempering ingredients
• Salt, Cooking oil

For Urad dal vada, Sundal, Maavilakku

• ½ cup Urad dal
• Salt & water as needed
• ½ cup Rice flour
• ¼ cup Powdered jaggery
• 2 tbsp Ghee
• ½ tsp Cardamom powder
• ½ cup White chana or brown chana
• ¼ cup Grated coconut
• Tempering ingredients
• Salt & water as needed

Instructions

 

• Wash and soak chana in required water overnight if making sundal.
• Wash and soak urad dal for vada for 30 to 45 minutes.
• In the mean time, take pressure cooker 1 and add 1 cup of raw rice for pongal and curd rice.
• Add 5 cups of water to it.
• Take a small bowl and keep roasted moong dal along with required water.
• Pressure cook in low flame for one whistle. Set aside.
• Open the cooker, remove the moong dal bowl and mash the rice.
• Take a small portion of cooked rice and mix cooked moong dal to it. This is for sweet pongal.
• Take another pressure cooker 2 and keep 1 cup of raw rice along with 2.5 cups water for variety rice.
• Pressure cook in low flame for 1 whistle and set aside to release the pressure naturally.
• Open the cooker and spread the rice in a plate. Cool down.
• Take pressure cooker 3 and add the soaked chana with required water, salt.
• Pressure cook in low flame for one whistle.
• In the mean time, temper for lemon rice, coconut rice and curd rice.
• Make lemon rice mix and set aside.
• Add grated coconut to the tempering ingredients, roasted cashews. Lastly add coconut oil and mix well.
• Coconut rice mix is ready.
• Make Pulikachal for tamarind rice and set aside.
• Now take the cooled rice and divide the portions according to the quantity of rice you need.
• I make less coconut rice and more tamarind rice, lemon rice.
• Add the tempering to curd rice, curd and salt. Mix well. Curd rice is ready.
• For sweet pongal, melt jaggery and strain it. Add the mashed rice + moong dal.
• Mix well and let it boil till thick. Add cardamom powder, roasted cashews, raisins, a pinch of nutmeg powder, edible camphor.
• Lastly add some ghee and switch off the flame. Temple style Sweet pongal is ready.
• After making all the rice varieties, grind soaked urad dal along with green chilli, ginger.
• Add pepper and cumin seeds, curry leaves, hing. Mix well.
• Heat oil to deep fry and make vada. Set aside.
• Lastly make sundal and maavilakku.
• Serve in banana leaf and offer to god.

Video

Keyword aadi 18 lunch menu, Aadi 18 recipes, aadi perukku lunch, aadi perukku lunch menu, aadi perukku recipes, aadi perukku recipes vegetarian, how to make aadi 18 lunch menu

Tried this recipe?Please comment how it was!

Tried this recipe?Mention @chitrasfoodbook or tag #chitrasfoodbook!

Interested in Short videos?Please Subscribe Chitra’s Food Book!

Sharing is caring

Thanks for visiting this page. Wish you all a very happy Aadi 18.