Adai: A Foolproof Recipe for a Beloved Tamil Classic
Adai, made from a heady combination of lentils, rice and spices, has carved a unique space for itself in many Tamil homes.
Adai is served on special occasions in south Indian homes, especially in the Thanjavur region of Tamil Nadu. Visually similar to its more popular cousin, dosa, the shallow fried adai is thicker, crisper and more nutritious, thanks to a generous amount of lentils, grain and spices. Typically made with toor dal, urad dal (black or white), channa dal and rice, the batter is flavoured with red chillies, black pepper, curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida. In some homes, finely chopped onions are also added to the batter.
A variation of adai, along with pori and adhirasam/peiappam, is offered to Lord Shiva as neivedhyam during the festival of Karthigai Deepam. In its avatar as a divine offering, Thirukarthigai adai is made without onions, and red chillies are replaced with black pepper. Adding to that auspicious feeling — induced by gently swaying flames in clay diyas along the verandahs and porticos — is the delightful aroma of neivedyams.
In my home, adai is a welcome choice for breakfast or dinner. Its popularity lies in the ease of preparation: you simply soak the lentils and rice for a couple of hours, and grind it to a thick, coarse batter. There is no fermentation required, but it is filling, delicious and nutritious. And an added incentive is the variety of sides it can be paired with — jaggery, honey, mulagapodi, pickles or coconut chutney. My mother would serve us piping hot adai, topped with homemade white butter. Adai with avial, another delicious pairing, is now listed on the menu of several five-star hotels and well-known restaurants, a dish guaranteed to carve out a spot in your list of favourite foods.
Each house has its own unique recipe for adai. This is my family recipe.
Recipe: Adai
Serves 4
Ingredients
½ cup raw rice
1 cup idli rice (ukhada chawal)
½ cup Bengal gram (channa dal)
¼ cup black urad
¼ cup toor dal (pigeon pea)
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp cumin seeds
2-3 red chillies
1 large sprig curry leaves
1 pinch asafoetida
2 tsp coconut, grated or finely sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
Salt, to taste
Oil, for shallow frying
Method
Soak the rice along with the dals in water for 1 ½ to 2 hours. Drain the water. Transfer to a mixer, add the red chillies, pepper, cumin, asafoetida, and grind to a coarse paste.
Saute the curry leaves, coconut slices (or grated coconut), and chopped onions.
Add this to the ground paste. Mix well. Your adai batter is ready. No fermentation required, but it is best to let the batter sit for ½ hour.
Heat the tawa.
Pour a ladle of the thick adai batter and spread evenly.
Make a hole in the centre and add a spoon of oil here as well as on the edges of the adai. Do this on a low flame.
When one side is cooked completely, turn it over to cook the other side. The crisp, delicious adai is ready to serve.
Variations: Add ginger, green chillies or even different leafy vegetables to adai batter and the results are delicious.
Note: When adai is offered to Lord Shiva during the Karthigai Deepam festival, only raw rice is soaked along with the lentils and spices used are only black pepper and cumin and finely sliced coconut is added to the batter. This is generally served with butter or jaggery.
Lalitha Balasubramanian is a freelance writer based in Mumbai. and the author of Kerala – The Divine Destination and Temples in Maharashtra.
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