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Adai recipe, How to make adai

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Adai recipe – How to make Adai – Once you try this traditional way, the recipe followed for many years, you will fall for it. Quick video, step wise pictures.

We also call adai as “orappu adai”(spicy-hot  adai). My mom’s sister’s(periyamma) place is very much famous for Adai . That place is famous for guest. I mean, always somebody will be visiting their home 😊. If no body is there,  neighborhood friends/relatives atleast will come over for lunch/dinner. It’s basically a village and almost the area have more of their relatives only. So the house will always be in a festive mood 😀.

And if somebody visits their place, if they come to know, they will soak for Adai.  But trust me they make the best Adais . May be that’s what they call “graamathu kaimanam”. When we were kids, we long to go there for vacation, for those greenery where ever we look, a house by itself is like a marriage hall, innocent people and the most important reason is the ‘bore set’ which gushes water for the garden and we used to go and take bath in it.

Check out side dish for adai:

Aviyal recipe
Coconut chutney recipe

We think that as a mini waterfall and used to enjoy a lot. Used to take bath for hours and hours. I will be mostly accompanied by my cousin Priya, my close friend those days she too is of my same age so we used to be thick friends. All those days are full of laughter,happiness and we never close our mouth😆.
My mom makes equally tasty Adai, which I am still struggling to get. My MIL makes a slightly different version, but somehow, I love this one a lot.

She just makes perfect tasting Adais, crispy and soft too (meaning not hard), with lots of shallots/small onions. She never makes Adai, if there’s no stock of shallots/small onions. And also she makes thick, how an Adai is meant to be. We always grind rice and dal separately, dal being ground coarsely. As far as I know, if we grind rice and dal together and a bit smooth, make it thin then its called adai dosai. But we all like the Adai version better. You can see a beautiful Adai dosai here. 

adai-recipe


adai-recipe
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5 from 1 vote

Adai recipe

Adai recipe - How to make Adai - Once you try this traditional way, the recipe followed for many years, you will fall for it. Quick video, step wise pictures.
Course Main Course
Cuisine Indian
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Soaking time & resting time 5 hours
Total Time 5 hours 45 minutes
Servings 20
Cup measurements

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Raw rice
  • 1 cup Idli rice/ parboiled rice
  • 1/2 cup Chana dal/ Kadalai paruppu
  • 1/4 cup Toor dal/ thuvaram paruppu
  • 1/8 cup Urad dal/ uluntham paruppu
  • 1/8 cup Moong dal/ paasi paruppu -
  • 1 cup Small onions/shallots chopped
  • 4 tbsp Coriander leaves chopped optional
  • 2 sprigs curry leaves
  • 1/4 tsp Asafoetida
  • 15 Red chillies
  • Salt to taste

Instructions

  • Soak rice and dal separately for 3 hrs minimum. First grind the red chillies with salt, asafoetida and then add rice.
  • Grind it to a coarse paste (like rava). Add dal. Use the pulse,inch or juice option to grind this dals coarsely. Make sure to wipe the sides and lids for even grinding.
  • This should be more coarse in texture as shown in the picture. Mix both the ground items well and set aside. You can keep upto 3-4 hours, or even make immediately. But standing time yields better result.
  • Just before making adai, add the onions, coriander, curry leaves and mix well. The batter should be thicker than our idly dosa batter. So adjust water as needed.
  • Heat the tawa and spread little oil and spread one laddle full of batter as thick adais,make a small hole in the middle and again pour little oil around. Let it get cooked for sometime.Turn over the adai and cook the other side too till golden brown. (you can cook covered  with a lid, before flipping )

Video

Notes

  • You can add 2-3 tablespoons of finely chopped carrot as my MIL does. Also you can add chopped spring onions ,if you have any in hand.
  • Remember, small onions tastes best, so use lots of onion and if possible fully small onions, if lazy or don't have in stock, mix both and make. More the onion in the batter, more tasty the adai gets.
  • I soak for minimum 3 hours. Mom soaks just for an hour and gives resting time more. It gives really crispier results.
  • Also can add drumstick leaves to this Adai!
  • Don’t be stingy in asafetida and also adding oil to the adai, once in a while its okie right?
  • We usually grind in early evening and make adai in night for dinner.

How to make adai step by step method:

  1. Soak rice and dal separately for 3 hrs minimum. First grind the red chillies with salt, asafoetida and then add rice.step 1
  2. Grind it to a coarse paste (like rava). Add dal. Use the pulse,inch or juice option to grind this dals coarsely. Make sure to wipe the sides and lids for even grinding.step 2
  3. This should be more coarse in texture as shown in the picture. Mix both the ground items well and set aside. You can keep upto 3-4 hours, or even make immediately. But standing time yields better result.step 3
  4. Just before making adai, add the onions, coriander, curry leaves and mix well. The batter should be thicker than our idly dosa batter. So adjust water as needed.step 4
  5. Heat the tawa and spread little oil and spread one laddle full of batter as thick adais,make a small hole in the middle and again pour little oil around. Let it get cooked for sometime.Turn over the adai and cook the other side too till golden brown. (you can cook covered  with a lid, before flipping )Adai recipe step 5

These adais are crispy outside and soft from inside and has an awesome texture as we grind it coarsely. Enjoy with your favorite chutney or avial which is said to be the perfect combo!
adai-recipe-rakskitchen

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Comments

  4. jeyashrisuresh

    i made it yesterday only. Even my mom never makes if there are no small onions at home.I add a small cup of finely chopped cabbage to it and it also enhances the taste.
    I still remmber my childhood days,my grandma used to make adai,keeping the gas stove on the floor and very took lot of time to make a adai.oops heavenly taste.

    Reply

  18. Sush

    visit to villages during childhood days was a pure bliss. You have written about that village so well that I could visualize it.
    Coming to adai, it is very well explained. I shall try your version for sure.
    Finally, awesome pictures.

    Reply

  29. jayasri

    Now this is too bad, my mouth is really watering, i am feeling hungry all over again, i showed your photo's just now to hubby, he loves them, he just said, thumba divsa aaythu naavu maadona (it's been long time we will also make it ) they are delicious, lovely photos as usual dear, my mom used to grind it smooth but, MIL doesn't like it that way, i mean hubby's whole family want it coarsely done, i use mint, coriander, onion, curry leaves finely chopped with grated coconut sometimes with it.

    Reply

  31. raaji

    hmm never tried this before…
    I have a small doubt raji…i would like to send few recipes for your event…but i dont have a software to create a collage of all the pics…if its fine with you can i send you those individual pics and maybe you can create a grouped pic…

    Reply

  34. கீதா ஆச்சல்

    எங்கள் வீட்டிலும் இதே மாதிரி தான் அடை செய்வோம்…எங்கள் வீட்டில் அனவைருக்கும் இந்த அடை என்றால் மிகவும் விருப்பம்.

    போட்டோஸ் அழகாக எடுத்து இருக்கின்றிங்க…வாழ்த்துகள்..

    Reply

  43. LORANDI

    Strayed into your blog by chance. Wonderful discovery for me !….Urad dal in adai is new to me. I too add carrot,cabbage,onion etc to make adai more tempting.

    Reply

  47. parameswari

    Hi mam….it is yummy. since two days i am browsing only your web site, all the recipes are very very good. The method is like my mom's cooking. i like it very much. Parameswari

    Reply

  53. Salasa Raman

    Your recipes and pics are awesome. We make Adai too. But with toor dal and channa dal proportion reversed.. Also we ferment it like we do the dosa batter. The raw smell of Dals in the Adai won't be there.

    Reply

  58. Sobiya Khan, Nagpur

    Dear Raks nice recipe, I hav a doubt as m bit unfamiliar with South Indian food, Do tell me what is the difference between raw rice and idli rice? Can I make ths recipe using the plain raw rice we use for our day to day cooking? Awaiting ur suggestion..Thx in advance…:-)

    Reply

  59. Raks anand

    Raw rice is what we cook for eating. Idli rice will be more short and parboiled rice which cannot be cooked for our lunch. Only used to make batter for idli and dosa. Uncanny sure replace it with any eating rice like raw rice or parboiled rice. You can ask for idli rice in any South Indian shops.

    Reply

  70. Unknown

    This proportion is fine. I also tried idli rava in the place of boiled and normal rice , used only idli rava with dal, and added maize ,the adai tasted awesome

    Reply

  72. Ms Zyed

    Hi Raks, tried this adai n came out perfect n tasty. May I know you're using mixie for grinding batters like the one in picture. Is it good for dosa / idli batter? May I know which brand model mixie are you using?

    Reply

  74. Unknown

    Made this today for bfast. My only complaint is nobody would stop eating. I did soak it much longer than specified but still came out crisp and tasty. Thank you

    Reply

    • Raks Anand

      With this much dal, it wont become hard crisp (if you mean kadak means hard?) Did you grind coarsely or smoothly? Please refer my video for more details of the consistency 🙂 Keep for more time aside for fermentation. let me know if you need further clarifications.

      Reply

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