Adai – Incredible Lentil Crepes

Let’s talk about Adai.  It is a healthy, nutritious and delicious way to eat lentils! If you like crepes, and you like dal, you’ll love this! 

This is a dish you’ve probably never heard of, but the concept is so universally familiar that I really think everyone who tries it will love it! It’s made from a batter of soaked lentils & rice, along with a combination of herbs & aromatics. Two types of lentils are used; channa dal which is yellow split peas and toor dal which is split yellow pigeon peas.

What is Adai

Adai is what we call “tiffin” which is a unique category of food that is somewhere between a snack and a meal. They’re light enough for tea time, but also hearty enough to be breakfast or dinner. There are thousands of tiffin dishes spanning Indian cuisine; and adai comes from southern India, Tamilnadu specifically.

It is made from a batter of soaked & ground lentils and rice. What makes it Adai? It’s the combination of lentils along with the herbs and spices added. It uses channa dal (split gram), toor dal (split pigeon peas) dal, and rice (or any ancient grain).

Adai is often called a crepe, or a pancake, although it is neither. It is very crispy, yet soft and fluffy. It’s texture does not fall under the category of ethnocentric naming. So, we’ll call it what it is, Adai. Not a lentil crepe or lentil pancake.

Adai has several versions all over various regions of India. This is Tamil-style from Southern India. Its the easy weeknight supper of millions of homes because there is no fermentation of batter involved, unlike its cousin the dosa, which is also a technically made from a lentil and rice batter, but made from urad dal (black gram) instead.

Adai is commonly served with chutney as its gone from homes to restaurants, but truly home style is to serve it with molaga podi (or chilli powder, that is a spiced lentil and chilli mixed flavored powder) that is mixed with extra virgin gingely oil. Like a south asian chilli oil. It is also served with crumbs of jaggery, which is a native brown palm sugar.

What you need to make Adai

White rice: A long grained non fragrant variety
Channa dal: also known as yellow split peas or began gram
Toor dal: also known as split yellow pigeon peas or red gram
 Urad dal: also known as split black gram
Ginger: fresh ginger preferably, but ginger powder works too.
15 dried red chillies: use 5 for mild and 10 for medium spice
Asafoetida
Garlic: this is optional, not traditional
Red onions and fresh cilantro

It’s optional but you could also load this up with veggies. Some ideas to add:
shredded Cabbage
Spinach or any leafy veg
Grated carrots

How to make Adai batter:

Soaking for Adai:

Add all the lentils together in a bowl. Rinse them thoroughly at least a couple of times. Soak them with enough water.

In a separate bowl, measure rice and wash thoroughly. Soak with enough water to cover it.

Allow to soak for at least 4 hours, ideally 5 hours.

Grinding the batter:

Add the soaked rice into a blender along with ginger and 1 tsp salt. Add 1/2 cup water and blend to a smooth batter. Pour into a large mixing bowl and set aside.

 

Next, add soaked lentils to the blender, along with garlic, asafoetida, remaining tsp of salt, dried red chillies. Grind without adding any water to a coarse paste. I would recommended “pulsing” rather than blending.

Add this ground lentil mixture along with the rice batter. Mix everything together thoroughly using your hands or a whisk.
This is the basic batter which is perfect as is. You could also add veggies and herbs to it. Commonly used are onions and cilantro

Set the batter aside for 5 minutes.

Making Adai:

Heat your cast iron tava (or flat pan) over medium heat. Preheat for 5 minutes ( Yes, you could use a non stick pan as well)

Ladle in the batter on to it. Use the back of the ladle to evenly spread the batter in a circle. If the batter sticks too much to your tava, it means the heat is too high.

Create a little hole in the center of the adai. This is done to enable more even cooking. Drizzle a little oil all around the adai, and in the center.

Let it crisp for about a minute or two. Once you see golden crispy edges, flip it over and press down gently all over.

 

Continue cooking the other side for 5 minutes.

Repeat for how many ever adais you want, and serve piping hot.

This meal is crispy, crunchy, fluffy, salty, sweet, spicy, savory, hearty and oh, and naturally vegan.

Notes:
I’ve used just regular long grained rice. Ideally the rice is non fragrant.You could also use millets, or broken wheat, or quinoa instead of rice to make it more whole grain, but note that the rice creates that crispy crunchy texture. Alternate grains will still taste great, but yield a softer and spongier adai rather than a crisp one.

If you like this, also check out

Awesome Cauliflower Curry with Sweet Potatoes

The Best Vegan Chilli Tofu Indo Chinese Style

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