Lentil Crepes/ Adai

There was this day when I was badly craving for some dosa. I felt quite helpless because making white dosas (urad dal and rice) is such a big process. I kept on thinking as to what to do and this thought came to mind – “Can I make dosas out of our regular chana dal/ toor dal?” I looked up the internet to see if anything like that exists. And Voila..! It does. I checked quite a few recipes and came up with the following one. My husband loves “Adai” and so do I. It’s perfect for breakfast or a light and delicious dinner.

Ingredients

To Soak:

Toor Dal – ½ cup

Chana Dal – ¾ cup

Fenugreek Seeds – 1/8 tsp.

For Grinding:

Dried Red Chilies – 4 to 5, whole

Coriander/ Cilantro – ½ cup, chopped

Mint Leaves – 7 to 8

Curry Leaves – 12 to 13

Garlic – 2 pods, cut in to large pieces

Black pepper Corns – 1 tsp.

Salt – to taste

Water – ¾ cup to 1 cup/ as per the required consistency

Ghee/ Oil – for frying the adai

Yield – 7 to 8

Method

1. Soak chana dal and toor dal along with fenugreek seeds for 3 – 4 hours.

                            

2. In a grinder, put all the ingredients except for oil and grind until a paste is formed. The batter need not be completely smooth. The adai tastes very good if the batter is a little coarse (not too much though).

Note: Be careful of the amount of water you add. Add water in installments until you get the desired consistency.

3. Heat a skillet and drizzle little oil/ghee on it. Take a laddle full of the batter, pour it in the center of the skillet and spread it in circular motion and make dosas. Add some more oil/ ghee to fry the dosa/ adai if required.

4. Flip the dosa and let it cook for a few seconds. Take it off the pan and place it on a plate.

5. Serve these mouthwatering hot dosas/ adais/ crepes right out of the pan with coconut chutney or tomato chutney.