I’ve had success using barley in several dosa recipes before and this time I used barley in combination of lentils to make a healthy crepe called adai. This is a very easy recipe to make, and very nutritious too. This recipe does not use any rice at all. Still the adai turns out crispy just like adai made with rice. Now, barley is not very different from rice, if you are counting carbs. It has pretty much the same carbs as rice – approx. 40g to 45g carbs per 1 cup serving, barley has 6g of fiber whereas rice only 1/10th of the same amount, i.e. 0.6g of fiber. It is with regards to this aspect that barley is considered a better grain choice for diabetics and those counting carbs as opposed to rice.

Now onto the recipe..
Ingredients:
1 cup pearled barley
1/2 cup channa dal
1/4 cup toor dal
1/4 cup moong dal
1 tsp methi seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
5 red chillies
1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 medium onion chopped fine
1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 tbsp chopped curry leaves
oil as needed, to grease the griddle

Method:
Soak the barley, dals and methi together for 4-6 hours. Grind it to a grainy batter, adding the fennel seeds, red chillies and ginger. This batter need not be fermented, and you can start making the adais immediately. Add the chopped onions, chopped cilantro and chopped curry leaves if using.

Heat the griddle to medium high heat. Take a ladleful of batter and swirl it around to make a dosa. Drizzle with oil. Let cook on one side, flip and cook the other side. Remove and serve hot with chutney of choice. I served it with red chilly coconut chutney.

Notes:

• Keeping the pearl barley and channa dal constant, feel free to vary the mixture of dals used. It yields the same crispy adai.
• Adding chopped onions and cilantro is completely optional. I always add it to adais because it adds a great taste and aroma.
• You can also add chopped greens such as spinach to the batter to make it more nutritious.

Verdict: Crispy adais – spicy, flavorful and healthy too. Makes for a great dinner or breakfast item. These adais are very filling due to the fiber content. 2 adais make a serving easily.

Sending this to:
– MLLA 58, an event originally by Susan of the Well Seasoned cook, now taken over by Lisa and
– ‘Only Legumes’ , event series by Pari.
– Jagruti’s Gain Popularity event
– Spotlight: Show your Best Creation, event series by Ria
– Healthy me Healthy US event @ Mharo Rajasthan Recipes

The post Barley Adai first appeared on Denny's Recipes.

I received a bag of ’16 bean soup mix’ as part of my MLLA win earlier this year. I have been wanting to use this rich mixture of beans in an innovative Indian recipe. I decided to make adai using this, and instead of using just rice, I combined quinoa, barley and brown rice, hence making this a multi bean, multi grain adai. I paired this with an oat coconut chutney(recipe coming soon) and it made it a super wholesome meal.

For those of you who don’t have the soup mix. Here is the list of beans that are in the packet: Northern, Pinto, Large Lima, Blackeye, Garbanzo, Baby Lima, Green Split, Kidney, Cranberry, Small White, Pink, Small Red, Yellow Split, Lentil, Navy, White Kidney, Black Bean. You can substitute 1 tbsp of each kind of beans for the soup mix, such that it makes up a cup of beans. Feel free to use any and all kinds of beans you have on hand.

Ingredients
1 cup of 16 bean soup mix
1/2 cup long grain brown rice
1/4 cup of quinoa
1/4 cup pearled barley
2 green chilly
6 red chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp chopped ginger
1/2 tsp asafoetida
Salt, to taste
oil, to drizzle on top of adai

Method
Soak the beans, rice, quinoa and barley with sufficient water to cover, 6-8 hours. Drain it well and grind along with the green chillies, red chillies, cumin, fennel, ginger and asafoetida. You are looking to have a batter that is thick, not watery, still is very slightly gritty. This adai batter requires no fermentation. You can make adais as soon as you grind the batter. However, the batter may be stored up to a week in the fridge and used as needed.

Heat the griddle until hot and swirl a ladleful of adai batter to form a thick dosa. Drizzle with oil. Let it get golden brown on one side. Flip and cook the other side. Serve with chutney of choice.

Verdict: The adais turned out really crispy and golden brown. Made for a very filling and protein rich meal.

Notes:
– The adai is spicy and the spices are intended to mask the beany flavor of the adai, feel free to reduce the amount of chillies as desired.
– You can add some chopped onions, cilantro, spinach, murunga keerai(drumstick leaves), grated carrots etc. to make the adai more nutritious, and for added flavor.
– If you dont have quinoa or barley on hand, substiture with 1 cup of rice along with 1 cup of bean mix.
– The adais need to be cooked over medium flame , a little bit longer than what dosas take. Be patient to get that crispy crust.

Sending this to:
– Our very own: Serve it – Griddled event, hosted by me and Krithi.
– Show me your HITS: Rice, event series by Sangee
– Anu’s South India Kitchen Series
– ‘My Legume Love affair #50’
– JCO – SuperFoods event by Jagruti.
– Desi – Videsi Food event

The post 16 bean Multi grain adai first appeared on Denny's Recipes.

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.

The post Whole Wheat Adai first appeared on Denny's Recipes.

I always stumble upon healthy ingredients in the bulk bins of the grocery store. I found whole wheat kernels – labled as hardened winter wheat berries there and picked up some. I had no clue what I was going to make with it, but I was sure to find something in the ingenious food blogs I follow to put good and healthy use of this whole grain. A couple of recipes came to mind – one was to make dosa and the other to make godhumai halwa – a sweet made by extracting the milk of whole wheat. I decided upon dosa and started looking for recipes. I found a great recipe here at Aayi’s Recipes.

I made a few changes by using brown rice for the rice called for in the recipe and omitted the cumin and green chillies – because my toddler kid would prefer it without the spice. I also doubled the recipe and ended up with enough batter for a week. A couple of things I noticed in this recipe – is that it doesnt take a lot of time to ferment unlike regular dosa batter. Even in cold Seattle weather, it took half the regular time it would take for regular dosa. And, it is way way crispier than regular dosa. If you are skeptical of whether you would be able to grind the whole wheat, dont be. It is as easy as grinding rice.

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat berries
1 cup brown rice
1 cup masoor dal
1 cup urad dal
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
salt to taste

Method:
Soak all the ingredients together in a bowl with enough water to cover, overnight. Drain the excess water and grind to a fine batter in the morning. Add salt and mix with your hands(essential for it to ferment, dont use a spoon). Set aside for about 6 hours. It was ready to make into dosas by dinner.

Heat a griddle over medium heat. Take a ladleful of batter and swirl to make dosa. Drizzle with a few drops of oil and let cook. Flip and cook the other side. Serve hot with chutney. I served mine with Roasted Zucchini and Cilantro chutney.

Verdict: This is by far the crispiest dosas I had ever made – and healthiest too. Chock full of fiber from the whole grains. The batter itself is speckled with the outer bran of the wheat. Please note that we have really used ‘whole grain’ in this recipe – bran, endosperm and kernel – all in one good tasty dosa. Now, what can beat that! Thanks to AayisRecipes for this wonderful recipe.

Sending this to Healing foods – Whole grains, event by Siri.
Also sending to Anu’s ‘Healthy Fiber and Protein Rich Whole grains’ and to ‘Show me your Dosa’ event.

The post Whole wheat(wheat berry) dosa first appeared on Denny's Recipes.

I had some leftover dosa batter left from last week, which had turned slightly sour. I usualy add some onions and make onion dosa out of this, but it was too little to make enough dosa for the both of us. I then remembered seeing this recipe on Krithis kitchen to make Ragi dosa that uses leftover idly/dosa batter. Krithi and I went to college together and have been BFF for nearly 10 years now. Her husband Karthi, is also a good friend of mine and is probably the best ‘dosa connoisseur’ I know and has a lot of ideas of making dosas.

I stuck to the ingredients that Krithi has on her blog, except that I changed the proportions to make just enough batter for 2 people, plus I had about 1 cup of batter leftover, but what sets this dosa apart is the special spice paste she has made and added to the batter, which makes it a ‘kaara dosa’ or spicy dosa.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups leftover idly/dosa batter
1 cup ragi flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 of alarge onion, chopped
1 tsp oil
salt to taste
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 green chillies
2 garlic cloves
non stick cooking spray for making the dosas

Method:Make a paste out of the fennel seeds, green chillies and garlic cloves, adding enough water. Also heat the 1 tsp oil and saute the onion until it becomes translucent, not too soft. Add the onions, the ground spice paste into the leftover batter. Mix in the ragi flour and the rice flour. Rinse the blender jar with enough water and use this to make the batter into a pouring consistency.

Heat the griddle, and pour the batter from the outside in, like for rava dosa, spread it to form a thin dosa, or let it be thick like an adai. Spray with the cooking spray. Let it cook on one side, before flipping and cooking on the other side. Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Verdict: This ragi kara dosa was awesome, and I didnt even need the chutney, I could eat it all by itself. The secret is the spice paste, with the aroma of the fennel and garlic. I couldn’t get nice paper thin dosas like Krithi did, but it still tasted awesome. Thanks to Kiri(Krithi) for a great recipe.

Sending this to:
1. Bookmarked Recipes Every Tuesday event volume 41
2. WWC – Ragi for Breakfast , event series by Sanjeeta and
3. Breakfast Mela.

The post Ragi Kaara Dosa first appeared on Denny's Recipes.

Quinoa is a very versatile grain, and the fact that it can be substituted in place of rice, makes it so much easy to incorporate it into Indian cuisine. Having said that, the first thought that came to my mind was to make dosa with quinoa. I have already tried it in my Multi grain oothappam, and wanted to try a variation of that. Made a quick alterations and ended up with this recipe.

Quinoa does have about 5% fat in a 1 cup serving, which aids in this dosa being crisp and like a paper roast, even when you don’t add any oil. Although I have let it ferment, you may make it as soon as you grind too. Plus, it goes sour quite easily, due to the fat and protein content- which is 15% of your daily value. So, let it ferment only half the time you would, for regular dosa batter. To me, it works out great, cause it is still pretty cold here in Seattle, and this makes a quick and easy dosa batter for winter time, when I actually have to wait almost 24 hours for my idli/dosa batter to ferment.

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cup short grain brown rice
1/2 cup idly rice
1/2 cup urad dal
1 tsp methi seeds
pinch of salt

Method:
Soak all the ingredients for about 4 hours or upto 6 hours. Drain the soaked water and grind it together to form a fine paste. Add salt and allow to ferment for 6 to 8 hours.

When the batter has risen, mix with a ladle and pour onto a medium heat griddle to form dosas. No need to add any oil, but if you find it sticky, use a non stick cooking spray. Let it cook until crisp on one side, flip and cook the other side. Serve hot with coconut chutney or sambar.

Verdict: This dosa was super crisp and delicious, not to mention healthy – rich in protein, fiber and good fats. The only caveat here is to not have the griddle on too high heat, or it would durn a shade too dark, and have a bitter after taste. Enjoyed it for a nice dinner this week.

Goes to ‘WWC – Quinoa for dinner’ event hosted here @ OhTastenSee series by Sanjeeta.

Also to ‘Only – Fusion Recipes‘ event, series by Pari.

The post Quinoa dosa first appeared on Denny's Recipes.