Whole Wheat Adai

I was extremely pleased with my whole wheat dosa, that I decided to do one more variety, but this time packed with protein in the form of an adai. I have been an absolute fan of adais – especially the ones that my mom makes, speckled with fresh tender drumstick leaves from our tree. I miss using drumstick leaves in my adai, but I go with cilantro, and it still works great. These adais were not only crisp, but also very filling. The quantity of the batter given below would atleast serve 6 people, and I ended having adai for several days in a row, but I am not complaining. 🙂

The adai is spiced with ginger, cumin, red chillies and fennel seeds, and doesnt really need a condiment such as chutney. I would have it by itself. Traditionally it is had with home made butter or a piece of jaggery. My DH likes to have it with a sweet mango relish made with jaggery. I will post a recipe for this very soon.

Now on to the recipe…
Ingredients:
1/2 cup whole wheat(wheat berries)
1/4 cup brown rice
1/4 cup white rice(I used sona masoori)
1/4 cup barley
1/4 cup channa dal
1/4 cup toor dal
1/4 cup moong dal
1/4 cup urad dal
1/4 cup masoor dal
1 tsp methi seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 inch piece of ginger, chopped
6 red chillies
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped cilantro
oil, for making adais

Method:
Wash the dals, rice and wheat in several changes of water. Soak it in sufficient water for 6-8 hours. An hour before grinding the batter, soak the cumin seeds, fennel seeds and broken red chillies in a small bowl with about 1/4 cup of water. This is optional, but ensures that the seeds and the red chilly are ground well. Place the rice, dals and wheat along with the contents of the small bowl in a wet grinder and grind until you get a nice fluffy batter. The batter should still have some grit, and should not quite be a paste.Remove the batter and set aside. The consistency would be slightly thicker than idly/dosa batter. Unlike idly/dosa batter, this doesn’t have to ferment and can be used to make adais as soon as it has been grounded.

When ready to make the adais, take the portion of the batter that you estimate you would use up and add salt, onions and cilantro. Adding these to the entirety of your batter, would make the batter give out water and you would end up with runny and not so crispy adais.

Heat a griddle over medium high heat and make a thick dosa, drizzle with oil. Let cook on one side until browned. Flip and cook the other side. Enjoy hot crispy adais!

Verdict: The adais were super scrumptious thanks to the addition of a combination of dals. It also browned really well and was very crispy. Laden with protein and fiber, these adais were guilt free pancakes, that you dont have to worry when reaching out for one more 🙂

Sending these crisp adais to ‘MLLA – 38’ event series by Susan and to ‘Lets cook – Scrumptious Breakfasts’. Also sending it to ‘Flavors of South India’ event.

Related posts:

Barley Adai 16 bean Multi grain adai Bulgur Cauliflower Stems Adai Whole wheat(wheat berry) dosa BRANana bread(Whole Wheat, Wheat Bran and Flax meal Banana bread) Carrot Oats Dosa