Ready for Adai ?

Dear Foodies,

The recipes are back again on this blog, Yayyyy !! So before my blog gets branded as another no-recipe food blog ;), lets get cooking, shall we ?

I really love dosa's and idli's, they are so easy to make and you can either go ahead with the whole side dishes charade or make do with some pickles and podi's in your pantry. Either way, they are a great breakfast, lunch or dinner. And our love for this is more than evident with the number of recipe variations that we get to see on the blogs.

Since I started cooking here, I've never tried making my own dosa batter from scratch. One main reason being I am scared to even try fermenting it, and another equally strong reason is I don't have a good blender :D So whenever I want to get the satisfaction of making dosa's from scratch I jump over to Vaishali's instant recipe, otherwise its the pesarattu and rava dosa that are my go-to dishes.

The other favorite of mine is the Adai....

Ingredients:

• 1 cup - Rice
• 1 cup - mixed dals -- more of chana dal & toor dal and a little moong/urad dal
• 3 nos - dried Red chillies or to taste
• A pinch of hing/asafoetida
• A sprig of curry leaves
• Salt to taste
• Oil for cooking the dosa - approx 2 Tbsp
  

Optional additions: 1" inch - ginger piece, a cup of drumstick leaves, Cilantro

Method:

1. Soak the rice, dals and red chillies in water for about 3 - 4 hrs. If I want it quicker I just microwave them for a few minutes to warm the water and reduce the soaking time to 1 -2 hrs.
2. Grind the soaking ingredients with the curry leaves and any or all of the optional ingredients to a coarse paste. The coarseness is what gives the adai the crisp texture.
3. Add salt to taste and the asafoetida and mix well. Heat a shallow, wide pan for making the dosa's and spread a little oil on the pan and get started with the adai's. (check here for pics )
4. The adai should be a little thicker than the normal dosa. To make it cook uniformly and also to make them extra crispy, make 1 or 2 holes at the center of the adai and add a drop of oil, this gives it the signature adai look.
5. Serve hot with red chilli pickle, kara podi (gunpowder ;) ), jaggery and yogurt to make a perfect meal. For some extra touch, my mom would also add a small dollop of home made butter on the warm adai, the white colored one...yummmm

In our house we were totally spoilt. There were always more than 2 accompaniments to any of these tiffin items. I would have this queue system to optimize the dosa/idli between all the side dishes :)) So if you ask me, all those items mentioned are compulsory not optional :D

You could also add some chopped onions while making the adai and sprinkle some kara podi and grated jaggery...(yup, you cannot have just one thing)


and roll them up for the to-go person :)

I also tried my hand at my mom's Sponge dosa recipe. Since my blender did not give me a very smooth paste, I had trouble getting it to ferment well, and ya its the ~hand~ too :( So I added a tiny pinch of baking soda create the sponge effect :))


And most of you would have figured it out, this one is for Srivalli's dosa mela.

Sponge Dosa/ Rice Pancake and Tomato Chutney

Dear Foodies,

Mom's Special breakfast

My Mother's entry to Nandita's 'Weekend Breakfast Blogging'

Here's a recipe from my mom. Its one of my favourite breakfasts. I havent eaten this dosa anywhere else except at home. These dosas look like a idli-dosa hybrid variety, fluffy like the idlis and nice and crisp like dosa's, it just cant get any better !! My mom generally serves it with tomato chutney or plain pickle and idli-karam podi + oil ( I like a pinch of sugar in the idli karam podi ;-) ) . Its a perfect breakfast or also good for a light dinner.

So here goes the recipe from Mom:

~ SPONGE DOSA ~

Ingredients:

• 2 cups - Rice (preferably 1 cup - raw rice; 1 cup - parboiled rice/uppidi bhiyam)

• 1/2 cup - Poha (atukulu) or tapioca seeds (sabudana)

• Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Soak the rice in water for 2 hours and soak the atukulu or sabudhana in a little sour curd.
2. Grind them together with salt and let the batter rest overnight to ferment just like dosa batter. You will see that the batter nearly doubles itself in volume by morning.
3. Heat a pan, once its ready put a ladle full of the batter in the center, pour a little oil around the edges and cover the dosa with a lid. After a min check on the dosa, it would have fluffed up and ready to eat :-). The dosa should be cooked in low flame.
4. Serve hot with chutney or sambar.

Note:

• The dosa should not be shaped/spread while pouring it on the pan. Just pour a laddle full on the pan and leave it to cook.
• A pan that has a slight dip in the center is perfect for making this dosa.
• Poha should be prefered over the use of tapioca seeds/ sabudana.

~ GREEN (unripe) TOMATO CHUTNEY ~

Ingredients :

• 10 nos - Unripe tomatoes (greenish red colored ones)

• 1 Tbsp - Chana dal

• 1 Tbsp - Urad dal

• 1 Tbsp - Peanuts

• 5 nos - Dried red chillies

• 3 nos - Green chilies

• 1 Tbsp - Oil

• 1 pinch of asafoetida

• Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Roast the dals and red chillies in a little oil till the dal turns a slight red in color and let them cool down.
2. Slice tomatoes into quarters and saute them too in little oil till they cook a bit and then reserve till they reach room temperature.
3. Grind all the ingredients with some salt. Fresh coriander leaves can also be added while grinding. Onions too can be fried & added along with tomatoes.

MLA Pesarattu

Dear Foodies,
Pesarattu-Upma or MLA pesarattu is a Andhra delicacy. It is a tiffin item and is very filling. It is similar to Masala Dosa where a dollop of aloo curry is hidden right at the center of the dosa. The Upma served with pesarattu is also very deliciously made and generous amounts of ghee are added to it for that comforting aroma and taste. The MLA pesarattu genearally pairs with coconut chutney,sambhar and ginger chutney :-)

I just googled for pesarattu on the net and found that the Andhra Pradesh govt has been trying to put our MLA pesarattu on the culinary map of India. Read more..

"The nomenclature comes from the unique brunch that combines a pesarattu dosai with uppma and a potato curry. This, I am told, was the invention of a chef in Hyderabad, who wished to eliminate mealtime delays that would eat into the busy schedule of law-makers!" >>

Unlike idli-sambar or masala-dosa or Uttappams, which also follow the same 'soak dal-make batter' rule the main difference with pesarattu is the batter does not need to ferment. That makes it a very easy breakfast. All it needs is a little planning to soak the lentils in water the previous night.

Ingredients:

For the batter:

• 4 cups - Pesalu/Green gram/Moong Dal (whole)

• 4-5 nos - Green Chillies

• 1 inch piece of Ginger

• 1 sprig - Curry leaves

• Salt to taste

Extra additions to the batter:

• Coriander leaves

• Finely chopped onions

Procedure:

1. Wash and soak the pesalu in water overnight or for around 6-8 hrs.
2. Grind all the batter ingredients to a smooth paste. The batter shud not be runny, it should be of the same consistency like dosa or idli batter.
3. You can add finely chopped onions and coriander leaves to the batter to add to the taste of the pesarattu.
4. Heat a flat pan, and add few drops of oil. *Spread the oil using a wedge of potato or half onion. This seasons the pan and makes the dosa leave the pan easily when cooked, without clinging onto the pan. *
5. To check if the pan is ready, sprinkle a few drops pf water, if you hear a sizzling sound the pan is ready for the batter.
6. Nicely spread the batter on the pan moving from center to the corners in either clockwise/counter clockwise movement. Oil the corners and let the pesarattu cook for 1-2 mins. When you see the sides leaving the pan, flip the pesarattu and cook for a 1 min.
7. serve with a dollop of upma neatly rolled inside the pesarattu with some ginger chutney and sambar on the side. :-)

MLA Pesarattu is my entry for Sailu's Jihva for DAL and Nandita's 'Weekend Breakfast Blogging'

Note:

• *For crisp pesarattu, add some atukulu (poha) soaked in water for a few minutes, to the dal while making the batter.*
• The Pesarattu combo was a team event in my apartment with me taking care of the pesarattu and my roommates came up with upma and tomato pappu (both of them are experts in their dishes and recipes will be coming soon :D )

Other Entries for Jihva for DAL:

• Kakarakaya Pitla/Bitter Gourd and Lentil medley My ~MOTHER's Entry ~ to the event and the blog world :-)
• Kandipappu oorupindi/Toor dal chutney
• Green beans usili

*Tips from Mom