My recipe for adai, a south Indian dosa that marries the traditional dosa batter made of lentils and rice with vegetables and herbs. My Tamil in-laws love this recipe!
Table of Contents
What is adai?
Adai (pronounced ud-a-yee) is a south Indian dosa with a difference. A traditional south Indian dosa batter is made primarily with rice and urad dal, but an adai batter can include spices, herbs and vegetables along with the rice and lentils.
This is one of the first Tamil recipes my mother in law made for me soon after Desi and I were married. It was crispy, savory and delicious and I fell deeply in love. As a cook, I now enjoy making adai not just for that deliciousness but because you can play around quite a bit with the ingredients to make your own special version suited to your own taste.
I add ginger, curry leaves, green chili peppers and cilantro, along with a few other spices, to the adai batter for mouthwatering flavor. I also add four kinds of lentils to make the adai really, really healthy. You can use just one - urad dal. The rule of thumb is to use a rice to lentil ratio of 1:1.
You can make the adai dosa with white rice or use brown rice, to make it even healthier. This is a very kid-friendly recipe, and it's gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free.
Recipe FAQs
You can add finely chopped cabbage, spinach and onions. You will need to process them with the batter until they are broken down, but not pureed, to ensure you can spread out the adai on the griddle efficiently.
You can. Fermenting the batter makes it probiotic and consequently even healthier for you. Most cooks I know in my Tamil family don't ferment adai, however there's no reason not to do so. If you do decide to ferment your adai batter do so before adding in the veggies. Add half a teaspoon of fenugreek seeds to the lentils and rice when you soak them. Then place the blended lentil and rice batter, covered, in a warm spot overnight. The next day process the herbs and veggies separately until quite fine but not pureed, then stir them into the adai batter before making the crepes.
An adai is traditionally meant to be thick, thicker than a dosa and almost like a pancake. You can make a thicker batter and make thick adais if that is how you like them. However, years ago, when I first posted this recipe in 2008, at a time when there were no adai recipes on the Internet, I started a trend: I made my adais very thin and crepe-like because, as I wrote at the time, Desi, my Tamil husband, loves all dosa crepes thin and crispy. Today, I find most Indian bloggers recommend making thin adais as well. Many of my Tamil relatives tell me that they have begun making thin adais after eating them at my home.
Serve adai with a simple coconut chutney and an authentic south Indian sambar.
Don't make the adai dosas in advance because they will lose their crispy texture. You can, however, make the batter up to three days in advance, or store leftover batter in the fridge for up to three days. Make fresh, hot adais just before you eat.
Would you like to save this recipe?
Enter your email and I'll send this recipe to your inbox!
Recipe card
Adai recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice (any long grain or medium grain white or brown rice is fine. I used brown basmati rice)
- ¼ cup chana dal (bengal gram dal)
- ¼ cup urad dal (black gram dal)
- ¼ cup toor dal (split pigeon peas)
- ¼ cup moong dal (split mung lentils)
- 1 inch knob ginger (chopped)
- 15 curry leaves
- 2 small green chili peppers (use Indian chili peppers or jalapeno or serrano peppers. Use more or less depending on how much heat you can tolerate. The amounts I used just disappear into the adai and don't make it spicy).
- 1 dry red chili pepper (optional, break into smaller pieces if using)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon asafetida or hing (hing, optional)
- ¼ cup cilantro (optional)
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoon oil (or cooking spray, for making the adai)
Instructions
- Place rice and dals in bowl. Cover with two inches water and soak at least three hours or overnight.
- Drain out all the water and place the rice and lentils in a blender. Blend with 2 cups water into a fairly smooth paste. When you rub the batter between your thumb and forefinger you should feel a slight graininess, which will help make the adai crispier.
- Add to the blender the ginger, onion, green chili peppers, red chili pepper, curry leaves, turmeric, asafetida and cilantro, if using, and salt. Process for about a minute or so until the herbs have broken down into small but still discernible specks. The batter should have a runny consistency, slightly thinner than a regular pancake batter, but thick enough to coat a spoon. Add more water if needed and mix it in well.
- Heat a griddle (well-seasoned cast-iron or non-stick) over medium high heat. To test if the griddle is hot enough, sprinkle drops of water on the surface. If they sizzle immediately and evaporate, the griddle is perfectly hot.
- Use a ladle with a rounded bottom (like a soup ladle) to scoop out the batter. Pour the batter into the center of the hot griddle, then, quickly, spread the batter into a round as thinly as you can with the bottom of the ladle, using a spiral motion moving outward. Don't worry if you don't get it right or if there's a gap--you can pour some batter to fill it.
- Pour a few drops of oil around the edges which will help crisp up the adai further. You can also just spray some cooking spray around the edges, carefully, if you'd rather not use the oil.
- You will know when the adai is ready to be flipped when the top of the adai is completely dry and the underside and edges turn golden brown. Flip and cook for a few more seconds on the other side.
Notes
- To learn how to spread dosa batter on a hot griddle correctly, watch my video on how to make dosa.
Nutrition Information
To print recipe card without images, uncheck "instruction images" after clicking the "print recipe" button.
More vegan dosa recipes
Recipe first published May 8, 2008. Updated and reposted on June 1, 2021.
Julie says
I can't locate fresh curry leaves, only dried. Skip it, or...?
Vaishali says
Hi Julie, you can use the dry curry leaves if you already have them, but if you don't, skip them and just use the cilantro.
K says
What would you serve them with? Or are they eaten on their own?
Vaishali says
Hi, I'd serve them with coconut chutney and a south Indian dal called a sambar. See "what to serve with" suggestions in the faqs. 🙂 I'll also add to the recipe card.
Patrizia says
Ooooohhh, this is going to become an addiction!! I had never made adai before and I was very curious about the taste... Well, they are divine!
Vaishali says
Chhaya, no, adai batter doesn't need to be fermented.
Chhaya says
Vaishali, does this batter not need fermentation ? If not, its a god send ! I have to try it very soon !
Ashwini says
adai looks delicious.. golden color aw some..luv it..