Adai, Vengaya Adai and Kunukku

Adai or lentil crepes are very famous in Tamil Nadu. It is one of those breakfast that are fuss free. No need to soak over night or let it ferment like the tradition dosa batter. You soak the lentils and rice for 3-4 hrs; grind them to a coarse paste and you are ready to spread the batter on a tawa. I love adais. My favorite breakfast ever! I normally have 2 adais in the mornings and I feel satisfied and full until afternoons without any hunger pangs for brunch and snacks. I make this now a days for lunch as I normally crave for munchies during the afternoons and adai keeps me full and away from these fried snacks. Adais are healthy and a great source of proteins.

One could go as thin and crispy or thick with the spreading of the batter. The thinner the adai , the crispier it is. I like the thin version but many of my family members belonging to the older generations like it thicker and softer.

vengaya dosa is just a yummy variation of adai to all those people who love onions. You cannot mix too much of chopped onions in the batter as it will get difficult to spread the batter evenly on a tawa. Hence, stuffing the crepe with onions is the best other alternative. Due to the addition of the extra chopped onions, we at home call this adai with the name vengaya adai.

Traditionally TamBrams (Tamil Brahmins-all the Iyers and Iyengars) have adai with milagai podi (Red Chilli-lentil powder), fresh butter or nei-vellam (ghee/clarified butter-jaggery mixture). Some have it with avial too, but I personally do not relish it with avial and it is quite a pain making it for breakfast as it involves a lot of chopping.

Ingredients for adai:-

To soak for 4 hrs:-
1 cup raw rice
1 cup idly rice
1 cup toor dal
1/4 cup bengal gram
1 tbl spn of urad dal
****
pinch of hing/asafoedita
4-5 red chillies (depending how spicy you want it to be)
5-6 curry leaves
1/4 onion chopped finely
1 tsp of jeera/cumin seeds
1 tsp of saunf/fennel seeds
salt to taste
****
For vengaya adai,
chop 1 large onion and fry the chopped onion until transparent in 1 tbl spn of oil and keep aside.


Method:-
Grind the lentils-rice mixture a little coarsely with the red chillies,curry leaves, asafoetida, jeera, saunf and salt. The batter should be thick in consistency.Cut finely chopped raw onions and add to the batter

Heat the tawa. Smear 1 tsp of oil on the tawa.

Pour a laddle full of the batter and spread it to make a circle and cook on both sides till the adai becomes golden brown crisp. Make a small hole in the center with a spoon. Add 1 tsp of oil around, in the hole and on the adai as it is being cooked.

Turn the adai when it turns light brown and let it cook on the other side for 1 min.

[For Vengaya adai, once the adai is cooked on both the sides, spread some chopped sauteed onions on the inside surface (lighter surface) of the adai and fold. Serve the folded adai.]

Serve with hot with butter,milagai podi or nei-vellam (check out the prelude for the meaning)

Kunukkus are deep fried fritters that had traditionally served with filter kaapi (filter coffee) in the evenings. Kunukku is made with left over adai batter. 

I used to love these as an after school snack with my milk. I still remember standing near my mom with an empty plate while she was frying the kunukkus in the kitchen. She would constantly ask me to go to the table as it is very dangerous to stand near hot oil. But being the inexorable me, I would not relent and stand near her waiting for her to finish one set of fresh kunukkus.

Ingredients:-
Adai Batter
Extra chopped onions
1/4 cup of chopped coriander leaves
Oil to deep fry

Method:-
Mix all of the above.
Heat oil in a pan and deep fry at medium until the fritters get light brown and cooked inside.
The fritters needn't be in a particular shape. Just be random like fry pakodas.
Test with one fritter and see if you need to decrease or increase the temperature of the oil.
Drain the extra oil using kitchen tissues and relish.

This is my contribution to MLLA-24 hosted by Diana and is the brainchild of Susan.
Also sending this to Healing foods-onion hosted by Priya and is the brainchild of Siri