Adai - dosa

I recently stumbled upon Saffron Hut's - 16 Bean Adai. In my constant quest for cooking healthy food, I found this really interesting. While I was disappointed when I couldn't find it in my recent trip to the grocery store, I was still determined to make Adai. Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, this was not one of my favorites growing up. So I never made it myself.  So I searched a few blogs for the measurements of the dals for this recipe, before asking my mom. All the ones I browsed had rice in a good proportion while the one that my mom gave had very less rice. So my mom wins, again... Here is how I made it.

Ingredients:

1 cup channa dal
1/2 cup moong dal
1/4 cup toor dal
1/4 cup urad dal
Half of 1/4th cup rice
4-5 red chillies
1/4 tsp hing
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 inch piece of ginger - grated
Salt

Method:

So all the dals, rice and red chillies together for about 2-4 hours. Then grind it along with water, hing and salt. You  shouldn't grind this into smoothly, it should be coarse. Then add the cumin seeds and grated ginger. My mom said since it is all dals and may be a little hard on some tummies, the cumin and ginger should help. The batter is ready for dosa. Unlike regular dosa, you soak for less time and no time needed for fermenting. So I guess this is the one if you more time than rava dosa and less time than regular dosa, more importantly if you are looking for something healthy and wholesome.

Adai with onion chutney applied inside and allam (ginger) pachadi on the side.

I will still make the 16 bean adai once I find the beans.. soon.

Bisibele bath

This is my husband's favorite dish. I believe my father-in-law used to make this during weekends as they were growing up and he says until today no one could make it like him. There are always some dishes that we can never make as well as our mother or father in this case, or grandparents. Brings nostalgia, isn't it. Well after trying many recipes, I finally asked my sister-in-law and she said this ones is close, but not quiet like their father. 
For me, this is a very healthy dish. It has dal and vegetables, all in one. The other best thing is that I just have to make this one dish, fry some papads and be all done, it can't get any easier than this during the weekends :-)

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup of chopped potato (about 2)
2. 1 cup of chopped beans (about a bunch)
3. 1 cup of chopped carrots (about 2-3)
4. 1/2 cup of chopped bell peppers (1 or 1/2 bell pepper, any color)
5. 1 cup of chopped tomatoes (about 2)
6. 1 cup rice
7. 3/4 cup toor dal
8. 1/4 cup peanuts
9. 1 tspTurmeric
10. Small lemon size tamarind
11. 1 -2 tsp of red chilli powder


For poopu/tadka:

1. 1 tsp mustard seeds
2. 1 tsp cumin seeds
3. Hing/Asafoetida
4. Curry leaves
5. 3 tbsp of oil

For the masala paste:

1. 1 tsp urad dal
2. 2 tbsp channa dal
3. 3 tsp coriander seeds/dania
4. 1 tsp cumin
5. 2 cloves
6. 2-3 cardamon
7. 2 inch cinnamon pieces
8. 3-4 red chillies
9. 3-4 methi seeds
10. 1/4 dry coconut or about less than 1/2 cup pieces


 



Method:

Soak tamarind in hot water, while you are working on the others. Wash and cook the rice, dal and peanuts in pressure cooker with turmeric. The ratio of water will be 3 cups of water for each cup of rice/dal/peanut. For my above mentioned portion, I used 6 cups of water.  While the rice is cooking, prepare the bisibelle bath paste.  Roast the dals first with just a spoon of oil, then add the rest of the ingrediens one after the other. You can also fry them separately. Finally fry the coconut and once they are cool, grind them all into a paste with a little water.

Now in a pan, do tadka. Heat oil, fry mustard seeds and once they splatter add cumin, then hing, then curry leaves. Now first add bell peppers/capsicum. Ater frying them a litle bit, add the other vegetables, add salt and mix well. You can now add the tamarind water and the paste. Mix everything well, close the lid and cook well until the vegetables are cooked. Or you can also add them back to the rice/toor dal in the cooker and cook it for one more whistle. I cooked them all together in the cooker because you will be sure that everything cooked well. Once it is done, optionally you can add one or two spoons of ghee and mix well. I don't usually do that. Serve hot with papads.