Thursday, January 14, 2010

Adai Dosa

For years, dosa to me only meant sada dosa, paper dosa, mysore dosa and rava dosa. The ones that are available in every Udipi restaurant. The ones that my mom made.
Till I got married, that is. Which is when I realised that there were many other types of dosas that I hadn't even heard of.

Adai quickly went on to become my favourite. For starters, it is a very non - fussy dosa: it doesn't involve a very long soaking period or any elaborate grinding. And most importantly, it is a very wholesome dosa - a lovely combination of carbs and protein.

But I fell in love with adai because of its versatility. Very easy to make and filling, it can be served as lunch or dinner or breakfast or even as an in between meals snack. To me, it is the perfect meal answer for those times when I don't feel like cooking up an elaborate meal and yet want something wholesome made at home.




Ingredients:

Rice (any short grained variety will do) : 2 cups
Black urad dal: 1/2 cup
Toor dal: 1/2 cup
Curry leaves: a handful
Peppercorn: 1/2 tsp
Green chillies: 2
Dried red chillies: 2
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp

Asafoetida: 3/4 tsp (this is the one thing that adds a unique taste to the adai, don't skip it!)
Salt

I make my adais spicy, so adjust the peppercorns and chillies to suit your taste.

optional:
grated coconut: 2 tbsps
grated ginger: 1 tsp


Method:

Soak the rice and lentils for about 4 hours.

Then drain the water, and put the rice and soaked lentils into a blender along with all the other ingredients listed above (till cumin seeds). Add just enough water to get your blades moving and gradually add as much more water as needed to grind to a coarse batter. I normally need just under 1/2 cup of water.

Add salt and asafoetida; also add the grated coconut and ginger to the batter, if using, and mix well.

Heat a frying pan (tava) and smear it with some oil. Then, scoop out the batter in a ladle and pour it into the centre of the pan. Working quickly, spread the batter outwards into concentric circles with the bottom of the ladle. Don't worry about making it thin; adai is slightly thicker than the normal dosa.

Add some oil on the outer edges and cook on medium high heat till the underside turns a deep golden brown. Flip over and cook for half a minute.

Serve hot with some green chutney; Personally, I love to melt a blob of butter on the hot adai and sprinkle some gunpowder on it. Spicy and delicious!!


Adais are making their way to MLLA - 19 hosted by EC, event started by Susan.


23 comments:

  1. My favorite dosa too, looks delicious.

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  2. this dosa looks delicious! method is a bit new to me but I really like the ease of preparation! great recipe.

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  3. Nice presentation..Dosa looks delicious...

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  4. Such a nutritious and protein packed dosa, looks delicious..

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  5. A good recipe and satisfying dish!

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  6. Love Adai, looks so healthy and tasty. Nice to see a savory dish here, been seeing loads of sweets these days including my blog! Hahaha!!

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  7. Hi Aqua, I am also falling in love with the simplicity of this preparation, and yes even I like my adai spicy.

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  8. Indeed a lovely recipe and pic! I love the rest of ur collection too. The flan looked yumm. Thanks for visiting my space.

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  9. So far I have ventured to making the moong dal adai. Now, I am going to try this combo with pepper corns which I did not realize was an option.
    I love the adai for the same reason you do. Easy to prepare, no fermentation, no mess and great taste!

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  10. Adai is always welcome! Healthy and hearty dish!

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  11. Delicious and healthy dish, my favorite. Nice presentation.

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  12. One of my faves, looks really yum!

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  13. thanks for the sharing I did not know dodas !! cheers Pierre

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  14. I learn so much variety through your foodie blog... well done, it looks fabulous, really does.

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  15. Are dosa really that simple to prepare? We have rava, paper and masala here, so this is new to me. Thanks for the education :)

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  16. You've got a pretty nice blog too!! Great job on the Thosai!

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  17. Love the way u have presented it..thanks for participating

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  18. Your photo is beautiful!

    I love dosa but had never even considered that we could make it ourselves. The phrase that really caught my eye on your post is: "it doesn't involve a very long soaking period or any elaborate grinding". Whoohoo!! We MUST try this soon.

    -Elizabeth

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