Carrot adai (Rice-Lentil Pancakes)

I would like to share my memories with you of how the idea of making this nourishing and naturally colourful adai struck me. I had been to my mother's place at Shimoga (Karnataka State) for the birth of my first baby. I still remember the  pleasant, cool and mist-loaded day. My brother was grinding the "adai" batter and adding carrots to it. I savored the adai which was not only deliciously colorful but also loaded with all the goodness of the carrots. When my daughters grew up, I wanted to give them this nutritional and tasty adai instead of the regular one. Children always like colorful food on their plates. That's why I am always  concerned about food presentation, both the way it looks while cooking and also during serving. Because individual tastes are different, I included tips for making different varieties of adai according to the  requirement of your dear ones. Also, don't forget to check the other general tips for this recipe ;)

CARROT ADAI

INGREDIENTS:

Rice - 2 ½ glass
Toor dal - ½ glass  
Gram dal - ½ glass  
Moong dal - ¼ glass  
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tsp       
Broken urid dal - ¼ glass – soak separately
Red chilly - 10 pcs
Carrot - 2, medium size, peel and cut into pcs
Ginger - 3 tps, cut into small pcs 
Spring onion, Curry leaves, Coriander leaves and Asafoetida

PREPARATION and GRINDING:

1. Wash and soak rice, toor dal, gram dal, moong dal and fenugreek seeds for 2 hours.
2. Grind the carrots, red chilly and salt. Add the soaked rice and dal mix and grind coarsely.  
3. Add the broken urid dal and mix with the adai batter along with curry leaves, asafoetida.

METHOD:
1. Apply a drop of oil on the frying pan/"tawa" and allow to heat up.
2. Put 1 ladle of adai batter to the centre of the pan and spread it in a circular manner. Immediately put a small quantity of spring onions, ginger pieces, grated carrots (optional), coriander leaves on top.
3. Make small holes in the centre and four sides of the adai. Put some sesame oil drops in the holes. These will help the adai cook better, since its lentil-loaded. Allow to cook on medium flame.
4. Once the adai is cooked and turns golden brown, flip to the other side. Cook by dousing 1 tsp sesame oil on the sides or top. Flip once or twice. Serve with butter and jaggery.

TIPS:

1. Just adding broken urid dal w/o grinding adds to the taste and look.
2. We can make different varieties of adai by adding onions, fresh mint leaves, drumstick leaves, grated cabbage or very thin pieces of capsicum.
3. Adai batter should be a bit thicker than dosai batter (coming soon).
4. I don't grind the ginger pcs along with the other ingredients because it dominates the entire batter. By adding ginger on the top, we can relish the mild flavor of ginger.
5. Adai batter can be kept for a week in the refrigerator.  The adai tastes wonderful even when the batter ferments

My daughters always like to have adai with butter and milagaipodi (chilli-lentil powder). Also curd/yoghurt goes very well with this.


Dont forget to say how you liked this recipe. Do you make any other variations of adai in your kitchen? Let us know and do come back soon for my wheat adai recipe :)


Lets meet soon with my next post,

happy cooking!

-Jay