Adai Dosa (Lentil Savoury Pancakes)

Adai Dosa often called Adai is a protein rich, Vegan and Gluten Free Savoury pancake made for breakfast or light dinner. Best served with Avial, Chutney or Molgapudi

Weekday mornings see me rise early and make Adai Dosa (Lentil Savoury Pancakes) - perfect for breakfas . Although my kid likes this hot and crisp, she wanted to take 'something different' for lunchbox today ! She loves this dosa with just jaggery and ghee(clarified butter), which I gladly compiled - anything for her to empty the lunchbox 🙂 Adai Dosa goes great with Avial or Molagapudi (fiery spice powder). This is a dish from Tamilnadu although my mom n grandma also (from Karnataka) used to make them for evening snacks for us hungry kids back when back from school.

The best part of this dish is it doesn't need fermenting at all, and can be made instantly after the batter is ground, although I do ferment it for a few hours before making the Adai (the fermentation aids a lot to digest the rather heavy adai) . The high protein content in this adai / pancake also makes it ideal for diabetics (although to be had in moderate quantities). I also often replace the white rice here with Millets / Quinoa / brown rice to make it. See more adai varieties below.  

Other Adai / protein-rich Dosa varieties on the blog you may enjoy:

What can this Adai be served with ?

Any of these chutneys / Condiments / Powders can be served with this adai or most Idli / Dosa varieties

Preparation time : 20 mins (apart from 4 -6 hours of soaking) ; Grinding Time - 15 mins

Fermentation time - 1 hour (optional, see notes for details)

Cooking time : 20 mins Makes : 10~15 Adai(s)

Course : Breakfast, Cuisine - South Indian

1 cup = 200 ml

Ingredients:

• Raw rice - 1 cup ( I used normal Raw rice - which is used for cooking) 
• Channa Dal / Kadalai Paruppu / Kadale bele- ½ cup
• Toovar Dal / Tuvaram Paruppu / Togari bele - ½ cup
• Urad Dal / Ulutham paruppu / Uddina bele - 1 tbsp
• Kashmiri Red chillies - 3 or 4
• Turmeric - 1 tsp
• Hing / Asafoetida - 1 teaspoon (skip for GF)
• Curry leaves and Coriander leaves
• Salt - to taste
• Jaggery - 4 tsp
• Oil - for making pancakes (approx 1 teaspoon per Adai)

PIN FOR LATER

How to make Adai Dosa

• Wash and soak Rice and Dals separately for 4 - 6 hours. Soak the chillies with the dals.
• Grind the Rice first into a fine paste. Then add lentils little by little and grind into a fine paste.
• Add red chillies, turmeric, salt to the above mixture and grind well into a Dosa - like batter.
• Transfer to a vessel and add jaggery, hing, curry leaves, coriander.
• You can make the Adai immediately. I prefer to ferment it for a minumum of one hour (or even overnight in the refrigerator) to aid easy digestion.
• If the batter is stored in the refriegrator, bring it to room temperature one hour before makign the adai.
• Gently mix the adai batter to a uniform pouring consistency.
• Lightly grease a tava (Indian skillet) and pour one ladleful of batter to a thickish (pancake kind of) dosa.
• Do not spread like a nornal dosa . Adais are usually thicker - pancake like.
• Drizzle oil on and around the dosa
• Once done, flip over and cook on the other side too, on a medium flame till golden brown.
• Serve hot with Avial or Molagapudi or just with ghee-jaggery combo !!

Tips:

1) You may add freshly grated coconut or chopped onions to the batter.

2) As I prepared this for the kid, I refrained from adding green chillies or regular red chillies. You may add one or both of these in case you want it spicy.

3) Cooking this Adai on a medium- high flame is important, else on high heat will turn very hard and chewy.

4) Other kid-friendly healthy toppings for this include Grated cheese / carrots/ panner / stir fried greens etc