Adai recipe with step by step pics. Adai is a delicious protein-rich rice and lentils pancake from the South Indian cuisine. A vegan dish.
The recipe shared here is a basic adai recipe that I make. Each household has its own proportions and the types of lentils they use. Also, the spices and seasonings added can vary from family to family.
So there are many variations possible and various greens or veggies can be added in adai to make it more healthy and nutritious.
Tips for making adai
- Making adai is very easy. rice and lentils are soaked and then ground to a slightly coarse batter. Also unlike making dosa you don’t need to ferment the batter. However, allow the batter to rest for about 1 to 2 hours as this helps in giving the adai a better taste and texture.
- If you ferment the batter like dosa, then what you get is adai dosa, which also tastes delicious. If you want to make adai dosa, then ferment the batter for 4 to 7 hours and then make healthy adai dosa.
- For soaking lentils you can soak them for 2 to 3 hours or even overnight.
- Herbs and spices can be added less or more as per your requirements.
- For the rice you can use either regular variety of rice or parboiled rice.
It is usually served with jaggery, white unsalted butter, idli-dosa podi or avial. Even a tomato chutney or coconut chutney accompanies an adai well.
How to make adai or adai dosa
1. Rinse and then soak ½ cup regular rice (or idli rice), ¼ cup chana dal, ¼ cup urad dal, ¼ cup tuvar dal and 2 dry red chilies (byadagi or Kashmiri) in 1.5 cups water for 2 to 3 hours. You can also keep overnight.
2. Later drain all the water and add the rice, lentils and red chilies in a grinder jar. Also add 1.5 teaspoon chopped ginger and 1 generous pinch hing. At this step you can also add 1 green chili and ½ teaspoon cumin seeds.
3. Add ⅔ to ¾ cup water and grind to a semi coarse batter. Do not make the batter fine.
4. Take all the batter in a mixing bowl. Cover and keep aside for minimum 20 minutes or till 1 to 2 hours. However, if you want to make adai dosa, then you have to ferment the batter for 4 to 7 hours and then you can make the adai dosa.
5. Now add ⅓ cup finely chopped pearl onions (or onions or shallots), ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves and 2 teaspoons chopped curry leaves or 8 to 10 curry leaves (chopped). You can also add ¼ cup grated fresh coconut.
6. Add salt as required.
7. Mix very well.
Making adai
8. Heat a tawa and spread a bit of oil on it.
9. Take a ladle full of the adai batter and pour the batter on tawa.
10. Quickly spread the batter to a round circle.
11. Make a neat round adai.
12. With a back of a spoon make a small dent or hole in the center. This helps in cooking the adai evenly.
13. Drizzle some oil in the center as well as on the sides.
14. Cook on medium-low to medium flame till it is crisp and golden from the base. You can also cover with a lid and then cook.
15. Then flip the adai.
16. Cook the adai on the second side till its cooked well and has golden brown spots.
17. Flip and then serve.
18. You can serve protein rich adai with some white unsalted butter, jaggery, idli podi or avial. You can also pair it with coconut chutney or kara chutney or tomato-onion chutney.
More Dosa recipes
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Adai Recipe | Adai Dosa
Ingredients
for soaking
- ½ cup regular rice or idli rice or parboiled rice
- ¼ cup chana dal (split and husked bengal gram)
- ¼ cup urad dal (split and husked black gram)
- ¼ cup tuvar dal (arhar dal, pigeon pea lentils)
- 2 dry red chilies - byadagi or kashmiri
- 1.5 cups water for soaking
for making adai batter
- 1.5 teaspoons chopped ginger
- 1 generous pinch hing
- 1 chopped green chili - optional
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds - optional
- ⅔ to ¾ cup water for grinding or add as required
- ⅓ cup finely chopped onions or pearl onions or shallots
- 2 teaspoons chopped curry leaves or 8 to 10 curry leaves - chopped
- ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
- ¼ cups grated coconut - optional
other ingredients
- salt as required
- oil as required
Instructions
for soaking
- Rinse and then soak regular rice or idli rice, chana dal, urad dal and tuvar dal and 2 dry red chilies (byadagi or kashmiri) in 1.5 cups water for 2 to 3 hours. You can also keep overnight.
making adai batter
- Later drain all the water and add the rice, lentils and red chilies in a grinder jar.
- Also add chopped ginger and hing. At this step you can also add 1 green chili and ½ teaspoon cumin seeds.
- Add ⅔ to ¾ cup water and grind to a semi coarse batter. Do not make the batter fine.
- Take all the batter in a mixing bowl. Cover and keep aside for minimum 20 minutes or till 1 to 2 hours.
- Now add finely chopped onions (or pearl onions or shallots), chopped coriander leaves and chopped curry leave. You can also add ¼ cup grated coconut.
- Add salt as required. mix very well.
making adai
- Heat a tawa and spread a bit of oil on it.
- Take a ladle full of the batter and pour the batter on tawa. quickly spread the batter to a round circle.
- With a back of a spoon make a small dent or hole in the center. This helps in cooking the adai evenly.
- Drizzle some oil in the center as well as on the sides.
- Cook on medium-low to medium flame till the adai is crisp and golden. then flip them. you can also cover it with a lid and then cook.
- Cook the adai on the second side till it is cooked well and has golden brown spots. flip and then serve.
- You can serve protein-rich adai with some white butter, jaggery, idli-dosa podi or avial. You can also pair it with coconut chutney or tomato chutney or tomato-onion chutney.
Notes
- If you want to make adai dosa, then ferment the batter for 4 to 7 hours.
the adai dosa i couldn’t spread it like dosa. reason i could not make out i keep medium flame while doing adai. proportion is the same
Try adding some more water to the batter. A thick or very thick batter won’t be easy to spread on the pan.
Liked this recipe. Your blog is really very helpful. And thanks for all the wonderful recipes. Tried many of them.
Thanks a lot Deepthy and most welcome.
Made this for breakfast today.all if us loved it with coconut chutney.
thanks winnie for the review and rating. happy cooking.
Hi Dassana,
With this adai is it possible to decrease the amount of rice and increase the amount of one of the dals to make up the difference? (Is this also possible in other things like roti or dosa?) My husband has health concerns so I try to serve more complex carbohydrates like pulses.
Thanks so much.
hi sarah, you can definitely decrease the amount of rice and increase the amount of any of the dals. in dosa also you can decrease the rice proportion. in roti, rice flour is not added, but you can certainly add lentil flours. welcome and i hope these suggestions help.
Thank you so much. That’s good to know. 🙂
welcome sarah.
Thanks for your wonderful and easy to follow recipes. I am your loyal follower.
I experimented with this recipe with foxtail millet instead of rice. It came out quite good. Just wanted to let you know.
thank you mahua ????. yes, millets can be used and easily substituted with rice in most recipes. thanks for sharing the variation.
Thanks for the recipe…. We all liked it
Welcome Charitha
All of us liked it… Thank you
Welcome Charitha
Liked it. Thanks
Welcome Vijaya