South Indian
Adai (Tamil Nadu Multi-Lentil Dosa)
Adai (Tamil Nadu Multi-Lentil Dosa) is South Indian home cooking, eaten at breakfast and dinner. On the plate it is the dish at the centre. Below is what usually sits beside it, what it does and does not contain, and what else to cook once you have made it.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw rice
- 1/4 cup toor dal
- 1/4 cup chana dal
- 1/4 cup urad dal
- 1/4 cup moong dal
- 4 dried red chilies
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 10 curry leaves, chopped
- 1 tsp grated ginger
- 4 tbsp neutral oil
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp salt
How to cook it
- Soak the rice and all four dals together with the dried red chilies for 3 hours, then drain and grind into a coarse, slightly grainy batter with a little water; no fermentation is needed.
- Stir the salt, onion, curry leaves, and ginger into the batter.
- Heat a flat griddle over medium-high and pour a ladle of batter, spreading it into a thick circle a bit smaller and heartier than a regular dosa.
- Drizzle oil around the edges and poke a small hole in the center to help it cook through, then cook until the underside is golden and crisp, about 4 minutes.
- Flip and cook the other side for 2 minutes, then serve hot.
Serve it with
A South Indian dinner is a plate rather than a single dish. These are the courses that normally sit beside Adai (Tamil Nadu Multi-Lentil Dosa), read from the same composition Dinejot builds a real meal from.
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What it is eaten with
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The sharp little thing
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Something cool and fresh
A course labelled with another kitchen's name comes from a cuisine in the same family, which is where this plate usually borrows it from.
Safe at your table
Dinejot tracks ten allergens and tags every one of them by hand. Adai (Tamil Nadu Multi-Lentil Dosa) carries none of them. That is a checked answer rather than an ingredient list nobody read.
| Allergen | In this dish | Cook this instead |
|---|---|---|
| Peanuts | No | |
| Tree nuts | No | |
| Dairy | No | |
| Gluten | No | |
| Shellfish | No | |
| Eggs | No | |
| Soy | No | |
| Fish | No | |
| Sesame | No | |
| Coconut | No |
These tags are set by a person rather than inferred from an ingredient list, and they describe the recipe as written here. Read the labels on whatever you actually buy.
What it brings to the plate
Bands, not numbers. Dinejot does not weigh anybody's food, so it says light, moderate or hearty and stops there. This dish was read and set by hand.
- Calorie band
- Moderate
- Protein
- Medium
- Protein quality
- Partial
- Food groups it covers
- Pulses, Grains, and Vegetables
- How this was set
- Hand audited
When to cook it
Adai (Tamil Nadu Multi-Lentil Dosa) takes about 30 minutes from a cold stove to the table, and the cooking itself is a fair bit of work. It is eaten at breakfast and dinner. Nothing in the calendar rules it out, so it is a year round dish.
Watch someone make it
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More to cook
Cooked from the same things
Other dishes built on rice, toor dal, and urad dal.
From the same kitchens
More cooking from South India.
Does the same job on the plate
Swap any of these in when you want a meal the same shape.
Cook this with your whole family
Dinejot plans breakfast, lunch and dinner as whole plates, built around the cooking you call home and filtered for the allergies at your table.
Meal suggestions support your goals. They are not medical advice. Please ask your doctor about your family's health needs.