After starting food blogging I have encountered terms like vegan, gluten free diets etc, and the fact that there are lots of people for whom gluten can cause severe harm. While intently studying the south Indian recipes, I was amazed to find out that the south Indian breakfast menus includes several gluten free dishes like Dosa (rice and lentil pancake/crepe) Idly (steamed rice and lentil cakes), Puttu (steamed rice cakes) which is eaten with mixed vegetables, and Stews making them perfect carbohydrate-protein combo. If I asked mom or grandma (if there were alive today) the origin of these dishes, I am sure they would say we don’t know and that they had been eating this from their childhood days.
Similarly there are several home remedies whose origins are not known including the ones for cough, cold and sore throat such as pepper rasam, karipetti kappi (palm sugar coffee) for stuffiness. If you go to my home state Kerala, you will find that most restaurants will serve boiled herbed water for drinking. Some of the herbs used for boiling water is said to have anti-bacterial properties. Nowadays the culture of bottled water has started even in Kerala. Still I prefer to drink boiled herbed water, as it is safe according to me. Even at home we drink water boiled with herbs (Karingali water) rather than bottled water, this will save our precious planet
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This adai recipe is part of Tamil culture in which I was brought up. In Kerala, ada/Ella ada is the name given to the rice dish stuffed with sweet filling and cooked in banana leaves. Amma used to make it once every week. During Thirkarthika festival, this adai is a must for dinner. My hubby did not know much about this dish until marriage. After marriage I used to make it whenever possible. I like the goodness of this recipe; as it contains rice, toor dal, urad dal, chana dal, red chili, asafetodia and curry leaves which gives it a unique flavor and taste. In my house adai gets a second place after dosa so the latter one is more encountered. For this dish, Amma didn’t add any toppings like onion, coconut etc. However she used to add soaked chana dal as a whole, which gives a crunchy bite to this adai. My Dad and grandma used to enjoy this adai with a piece of jaggery, even if there was accompanying chutney.
The composition of this adai can vary from home to home, as every mom has her own likes and dislikes and make a recipe that they like. If you want more crispiness add more parboiled rice. If you are looking for vegan breakfast recipe, this is the one you can enjoy with spicy or sweet chutney. Here goes the recipe.
Update: In order to make it gluten free you can skip asafetodia powder and add asafetodia gum itself.
Print recipe from here
What you need
Raw rice: 1 cup
Par boiled rice: ⅓ cup
Urad dal/spilt black gram: ¼ cup
Toor dal: ½ cup
Chana dal: ⅓ cup
Red chillies; 3 no
Salt : 1 teaspoon
Asafetodia: ¼ teaspoon
Curry leaves: 2 sprig
Water: 1 ½ cups+ extra for soaking
Gingerly oil: for frying
How I made
Wash and soak two rice together and rest of the dal/lentils separately for 4-5 hours.
First grind urad dal with ¼ cup of water into coarse paste and set aside.
Then grind chana dal (keep aside 2 tablespoon) , toor dal and red chilies with ½ cup water into coarse paste and mix this to urad dal.
Finally grind the rice with ½ cup of water and add to urad dal, toor dal, chana dal mixture. Add chopped curry leaves, and whole soaked chana dal and mix everything and set aside for 4-5 hours. You can make immediately if you want, but I prefer to prepare them after some time.
When you are ready to make the adai dosa add salt to ground rice and lentil mix and mix everything very well so that salt gets incorporated well.
Heat dosa girdle or a non stick pan to medium high heat . When you sprinkle water on hot girdle or pan it makes a sizzling noise, pan is ready to make dosa.
Add one soup ladle full of batter in the center of pan and slowly spread the batter in circular motion towards the rim of the pan.
Drizzle oil along the sides of batter as well as in the center. Let it cook for 2minutes.
Once bottom side of dosa is done (when you able to lift with spatula) turn the other side and cook that side also. It takes about 2 minutes per sides.
When both sides are done take it out of the flame and add the next one and repeat the process.
Serve hot with any chutney.
Preparation time: 8 hours for soaking ,grinding and fermenting +40 minutes
Yield: 20 no
Verdict: Yummy
Will you make it again: yes I will
This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread. All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.
Mamta says
Just wanted to let you know that the asafoetida that you are adding is not Gluten-free. It has wheat flour added to it. You can read the ingredients on the bottle.
Creating Nirvana says
Yum! These crepes look wonderful. Thank you for submitting this to healthy kids meals!
♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥ says
I love Indian Pancakes and though i dont make them too often , i know i should and after reading ur post i crave for them even more:-)
honeybeecooksjackfruit says
I like adai. Its so healthy and filling. Haven't made in a while... thanks for the recipe.
Priya (Yallapantula) Mitharwal says
Looks simply perfect !!!
divya says
How wonderful, they sound lovely. Would love to try them 😀
Usha says
Adai looks just perfect ! Lovely pictures as usual...
El Oteador de los Mercados says
A very interesting explanation, and some very tasty pancakes and interesting with those ingredients.
Sushma Mallya says
simple and healthy adai...
Kairali sisters says
My fav anu ada dosa..That looks perfect swathi...
Sharmilee! :) says
Wow perfect dosas, luv it totally
Faith says
Mmm, delicious and healthy crepes, Swathi! I bet they're delicious with chutney!
Lena Rashmin Raj says
Swathiii.. spent 1hr in ur blog///..baby s sleeping so i was peeping into other kitchens.. im getting aroma of dat dosa.. 🙂
Anncoo says
I love dosa too! Your dosa looks perfect...I can eat more that one piece ;DD
Joanne says
What a beautiful crepe! Mine never turn out looking that good!
MiniBinoy says
healthy dosa recipe,rich in protein,swathy!! looks yummy too..
Adelina says
If I ever have to be left without a single cookbook, I would ask for access to your website: so so informative and your recipes are beautifully explained- even an illiterate can learn cooking just by looking at your shots! But look, I really enjoyed reading through your post- the herb water makes me want to visit Kerala when I come to Chennai next month- and surely I would get myself invited to your amazing addai- great job (as usual:))
Angela says
I have never thought of how many Indian foods are gluten free. I have several friends who cannot eat gluten. I think they would appreciate this.
aipi says
Full of goodness..love these!
US Masala
Ellie (Almost Bourdain) says
Beautiful pancake! Love the exotic flavours.
Mexico in my kitchen says
The crepe looks beautiful. I just need to find out more about some of the ingredients since they are new to me.
I love to learn about the background culture of food.
Thanks for sharing it.
Mely
Marus says
I love crepes for breakfast. It looks delicius. Good weekend
girlichef says
How wonderful, they sound lovely. Would love to try them 😀
Subhie Arun says
protein packed bfast...!!!lov ur adai..looks good!
savitha ramesh says
my fav .......break fast....love ur adai
kitchen queen says
slurrrrrrrrrrp adai is my all time favourite.I am coming over to grab ur adai from the plate.
Victor says
At first glance, it looks hummus from afar. The savory sound delicious. Kudos!
Ameya says
I love adai!! Delicious, and chock full of protein!!
Peggy says
I love savory crepe recipes! This sounds absolutely delicious!
Elsa says
Beautiful!!
G.Pavani says
adai looks crispy n healthy with all dals..
Gayathri Kumar says
Very perfect and tempting adai..
Aruna Manikandan says
we had this last night .....
looks delicious dear 🙂
Priya Sreeram says
looks perfect and yes totally gluten free !
sinfullyspicy says
Very delicious looking plain dosas Swathi.I love them.Didnt knw that these were gluten free.
Padhu says
I love adai with butter .
G says
Beautiful description and presentation of Adai's..Love it with Jaggery..
G
http://ensamayalarangam.blogspot.com
PALATABLE says
Adai looks perfect dear! Thanks for sharing this easy to follow method.....
http://treatntrick.blogspot.com
Pegasuslegend says
I know I would love this! so healthy!!
notyet100 says
thnks for the pictorial,..looks delicious,.
Miriam says
I love pancakes any time of day. I drink boiled herbed water all the time too :). Miriam@Meatless Meals For Meat Eaters
michelangelo in the kitchen says
Wow, I love to eat dosa! I am making your recipe right away! I have a huge cast iron tawah to make a big one. Eating it with chutney is most enjoyable!!!
Rachu says
authentic recipe.. looks like moms ada dosai...
ammaandbaby.blogspot.com/
Soumya says
wow...adipoli adai...Swathi,pls pass that plate with coconut chutney to me...its making me hungry...
alison says
savory pancakes,such a tasty idea!
Priya says
Never say no to this healthy and delicious adais,love it with spicy coconut chutney,makes me hungry..
Panchpakwan says
Healhty and delicious adai. Perfect breakfast.
Pushpa says
Protein packed delicious lentil crepes.Love it.