Adai Dosai

Adai is a thick pan cake made of fermented dal (lentils) batter usually, and some times made just out of rice ("verum arisi adai"). Dosai is usually thinner crepe type dish made with rice and urad dal. Adai-Dosai is sort of a combination of the two - uses dals like for adai, but is a thinner batter and hence ends up more like a dosai.

My wee one started liking dosai a lot since she turned one. So, I try to make dosai or adai-dosai batter once a week; this way she gets enough protein and fiber. The fermented batter from this recipe is usually about 1.5-2 gallons in volume and lasts a whole week for me. I save the unused batter in the fridge and use it on and off over the course of the week.

I try to make different shapes of adai-dosai rather than the traditional round form just to entertain my little one - picture above shows my attempt at a bear :-) It was quite rewarding to hear Ms.Little Tiny saying, "Doh-say- bay" (dosai bear) when I set the above plate in front of her this morning.

This recipe here is sort of made up - I wanted to incorporate as many ingredients as I have handy and I feel is healthy. Each time I make the batter, I vary the proportions a bit just to get a slightly different mix.

Also, in winter, I prefer to use yeast to make the batter rise and ferment well overnight; alternately, the batter can be left for a few days to gather the natural yeast from its environment and take its own sweet time to ferment...

Ingredients:
1 cup urad dal
1 cup whole green moong dal
1 cup chana dal
1 cup par-boiled rice(puzhungal arisi, or idlee arisi)
2 cups toor dal
3 Tbsp fenugreek seeds
3 Tbsp flax seeds
3 Tbsp poppy seeds - optional
6-8 dry red chilies
1 tsp rapid rise yeast
--------------------
some water
some oil
salt to taste
1 medium onion diced finely (optional)

Preparation:

1. soak all the above adai batter ingredients, except yeast, in enough water for 4-6 hours; grind into a fine batter; add the yeast and leave it in a warm place to rise overnight or up to 16 hrs.
2. the batter usually gets fluffy and rises well as in picture above
3. scoop 4-6 ladleful of the fermented batter into a bowl, add the onions, some salt, and a little water at a time to make a pourble batter of sorts - like the consistency of a medium-thin pancake batter
4. heat a non-stick pan or griddle; use a touch of oil to ensure that the adai-dosai lifts off the pan without struggle
5. scoop a ladleful of the prepared batter and spread/draw it into desired shape on the hot pan; or just spread them into simple circular form
6. leave pan in uniform medium-high heat; when underside seems done, flip carefully and cook the other side
7. serve warm with mint chutney or ridge gourd peel chutney or sambar or paruppurundai kozhambu
8. traditionally, my mom used to serve this with sugar & ghee, or jaggery or both:)

Fermented Adai batter is quite a sight - and smell - a pleasant sour smell when perfect, can turn to putrid if left too long :)