Multi grain adai

I was recently into a "mode" where I was thinking about how to expand the nutritional spectrum to achieve a balanced diet every single day, if possible without the use of vitamin supplements, deriving what we need from what we eat. That resulted in formulating new recipes, modifications and adding new twists to the age old dishes our mom and grand-moms made. This is one such recipe.

Ingredients

Oats                                                                - 1/2 cup
Bajra (Kambu) flour                                      - 1/2 cup
Ragi flour                                                       - 1/2 cup
Wheat flour                                                    - 1/2 cup
Channa dhal ( Kadalai paruppu)                    - 1 handful
Mung  dhal ( Payathamparuppu)                   -  1/2 cup
Toor dal ( Thuvaram paruppu)                       -  1 cup
Green whole mung beans (Paasi payaru)      -   1 cup
Ginger                                                            -   2.5 inch piece
Curry leaves                                                   - 2 sprigs
Asafoetida powder                                         - 1/4 tsp
Red chillies                                                    - 10 nos (depending on your spice level)
Salt                                                                 - To taste

Method

1.  Soak channa dhal, mung dhal, toor dhal, green whole mung beans together for 3-4 hrs.
2. Simultaneously, mix bajra (Kambu) flour, ragi flour, wheat flour together to a thick batter . It should be of dosa batter consistency.  Let this batter remain like this for about 3-4 hours.
3. Soak oats separately for 10 mins.
4. Grind oats and the soaked dhals together with ginger, salt, red chillies, curry leaves to a coarse batter.
5. Mix this with the flour batter that has been left aside for 3-4 hours, add asafoetida and give it a good mix.  Adai batter is done.
6. Heat  tawa and make delicious multi grain adais.

If using whole grains instead of flout  (bajra/kambu, ragi ), soak it along with dhals and grind into a coarse batter.

Multi grain adais are delicious and superior in taste compared to the normal adais and very light on the tummy. They can be had with ghee, jaggery, avial, plain yogurt, butter, honey or anything you prefer to have it with. 

Ragi adai / Finger millet adai

Ragi adai is slurrrrppyyy and yummy like all adais are. Adai is my favorite tiffen . So adai and any version of it gets full marks from me all the time. I do not like ragi in sweets and as in kanji maavu as I generally don't like sweets and I wanted to infuse it in salty sour-ey form owing to its rich nutritional spectrum and for it being so rich in calcium. I came up with a few ideas and one such was to make adais.

Recipe 1 using wholegrain

Ingredients:

Ragi/ Finger millet (wholegrain)                                 - 1 cup
Thuvaramparuppu/Toor dhal                                         - 1 and 1/4 cup
Kadalai paruppu/Chana dhal                                         - 1/4 cup
Pachaipayaru/Whole mung beans                                 -  1 cup
Payathamparuppu/ Mung dhal                                      -  1/2 cup
Ginger                                                                           -  2 inch piece
Red chillies                                                                   -  12 - 15 nos depending on one's spice level
Asafoetida                                                                    - 1/2 tsp
Salt                                                                               - As needed
Curry leaves                                                                 - 2 sprigs

Method:

1. Soak Ragi/ Finger millet, thuvaramparuppu, kadalai paruppu, pachaipayaru, payathamparuppu together for 2-3 hrs
2. Grind the soaked dhals and finger millet along with ginger, red chillies, salt, curry leaves and asafoetida powder with water to a coarse batter like the one we grind for adai.
3. Heat tawa/griddle on stove and when the griddle is hot, pour a tsp of oil, coat it fully and then pour a ladle full of batter and  spread it to make adais.

Recipe 2 to make with ragi flour/ finger millet flour

Ingredients:

Ragi/ Finger millet (flour)                                            - 1 cup
Thuvaramparuppu/Toor dhal                                       - 1 and 1/4 cup

Kadalai paruppu/Chana dhal                                         - 1/4 cup

Pachaipayaru/Whole mung beans                                 -  1 cup

Payathamparuppu/ Mung dhal                                      -  1/2 cup

Ginger                                                                           -  2 inch piece

Red chillies                                                                   -  12 - 15 nos depending on one's spice level

Asafoetida                                                                    - 1/2 tsp

Salt                                                                               - As needed

Curry leaves                                                                 - 2 sprigs

Method:

1. Soak  thuvaramparuppu, kadalai paruppu, pachaipayaru, payathamparuppu together for 2-3 hrs.
2. Mix 1 cup Ragi flour/ finger millet flour with water to make it to a thick batter. Let it rest like that for 2 -3 hrs.
3. Grind the soaked dhals along with ginger, red chillies, salt, curry leaves and asafoetida powder with water to a coarse batter like the one we grind for adai.
4. Mix the ragi/finger millet batter with the ground mixture and let it rest for 30 mins. Mix well. 
5. Heat tawa/griddle on stove and when the griddle is hot, pour a tsp spoon of oil, coat it fully and then pour a ladle full of batter and  spread it to make adais.

Ragi adai is ready to be served hot with avial, morekozhambu, morekootu, vethakozhambhu, sambhar or whichever combination that one may like.  It is deadly when cut  onion is added to the batter while making adais. There can be various versions to it by adding different veggies. 

Kambu adai / Pearl millet adai / Bajra adai

Kambu/ Pearl millet/ Bajra is very rich in calcium and has a lot of protein too. My father always and always recommends me to use kambu in my kitchen often.  It helps in intestinal transit, it is rich in phosphorus and B vitamins , has a wider nutrient spectrum, obviously. I have always loved kambu/bajra a lot because of its unique taste and flavor. My grand-mom left many recipes of kambu to posterity. This is one among them.

Recipe 1 using wholegrain

Ingredients:

Kambu/ Pearl millet (wholegrain)                                 - 1 cup
Thuvaramparuppu/Toor dhal                                         - 1 and 1/4 cup
Kadalai paruppu/Chana dhal                                         - 1/4 cup
Pachaipayaru/Whole mung beans                                 -  1 cup
Payathamparuppu/ Mung dhal                                      -  1/2 cup
Ginger                                                                           -  2 inch piece
Red chillies                                                                   -  12 - 15 nos depending on one's spice level
Asafoetida                                                                    - 1/2 tsp
Salt                                                                               - As needed
Curry leaves                                                                 - 2 sprigs

Method:

1. Soak kambu/pearl millet, thuvaramparuppu, kadalai paruppu, pachaipayaru, payathamparuppu together for 2-3 hrs
2. Grind the soaked dhals and pearl millet along with ginger, red chillies, salt, curry leaves and asafoetida powder with water to a coarse batter like the one we grind for adai.
3. Heat tawa/griddle on stove and when the griddle is hot, pour a tsp spoon of oil, coat it fully and then pour a ladle full of batter and  spread it to make adais.

Recipe 2 to make with kambu flour/ pearl millet flour

Ingredients:

Kambu/ Pearl millet (flour)                                            - 1 cup

Thuvaramparuppu/Toor dhal                                         - 1 and 1/4 cup
Kadalai paruppu/Chana dhal                                         - 1/4 cup
Pachaipayaru/Whole mung beans                                 -  1 cup
Payathamparuppu/ Mung dhal                                      -  1/2 cup
Ginger                                                                           -  2 inch piece
Red chillies                                                                   -  12 - 15 nos depending on one's spice level
Asafoetida                                                                    - 1/2 tsp
Salt                                                                               - As needed
Curry leaves                                                                 - 2 sprigs

Method:

1. Soak  thuvaramparuppu, kadalai paruppu, pachaipayaru, payathamparuppu together for 2-3 hrs.
2. Mix 1 cup kambu maavu/flour/ pearl millet flour with water to make it to a thick batter. Let it rest like that for 2 -3 hrs.
3. Grind the soaked dhals along with ginger, red chillies, salt, curry leaves and asafoetida powder with water to a coarse batter like the one we grind for adai.
4. Mix the kambu/pearl millet batter with the ground mixture and let it rest for 30 mins. Mix well. 
5. Heat tawa/griddle on stove and when the griddle is hot, pour a tsp spoon of oil, coat it fully and then pour a ladle full of batter and  spread it to make adais.

Very tasty kambu adai is ready to be had with ghee/butter/plain natural yogurt/vethakozhambhu/aviyal /morkozhambhu/anything you would want to have adai with.

For a variation , dice onions as small as you can and add it to the adai batter and make adais for the mouth watering kambu vengaya adai/ Pearl millet onion adai. Pearl millet goes very well with onions. 

Oats adai

Serves: 5-6

Ingredients:

Oats                                                       - 1 cup
Mung dhal split yellow                            - 1/2 cup
Green mung beans whole/ Pachai payaru - 1/2 cup
Toor dal/ Thuvaram paruppu                   - 1 cup
Chana dal/Kadalai paruppu                     - 2 tbsps
Masoor dal                                              - 1/4 cup
Red Chillies                                             - 10- 12 nos
Asafoetida powder                                  - 1/2 tsp
Ginger                                                     - 3 inch piece
Curry leaves                                            - 2 sprigs
Salt                                                         - 2 tsps or to taste
Oil                                                          - 50ml

Method:

1.) Soak Items 2-6  for 2-3 hrs.
2.) Soak oats for 10 mins
3.) Grind all of them together with red chillies, ginger, curry leaves and salt to the consistency of a dosa batter.
4.) Add asafoetida powder and mix well and rest for 5-10 mins to let the flavors infuse.
5.) Place a tawa/griddle on the stove and heat with a medium heat setting.
6.) When the tawa/griddle is hot, add a tsp of oil to make it on non-stick and spread.
7.) Take a ladle full of batter and make adais.

Oats adai is very very light on the tummy when compared to the normal rice adai. It has the added nutritional benefits of oats.

Variations in oats adai:

There can be as many variations in oats adai as your creativity can reach. I am listing some.
Add a bunch of rougly cut coriander leaves including the stem to the batter and make adais.  The most yummy and flavorful coriander leaves oats adai.

Add a cup of cut and cleaned banana blossom/ banana flower/ vazhaipoo florets to make it the mesmerising vazhaipoo oats adai. Imagine the double dhamaka health benefits of oats and vazhaipoo in one single mouth-watering item!

Adai aaga maariya paruppu usili!

This is a small story. This happened when I was 'deep' into the first year of my marriage! My mother-in-law was not there with us at that time. She is the one who cooks for when we comfortably leave to our repective offices. We call her 'Annapoorni' as she never used to crib and makes everything ready and hot-hot before we leave for the office.


I was trying my hand in the kitchen department during her absence. I wanted to make beans paruppu usili and soaked kadalai paruppu(Chana dal) and Thuvaram paruppu (thoor dal) for 20 mins. I ground both with ginger, red chillies, karuvepilai(curry leaves), after soaking and in a hurry mixed a little excess water by mistake. Instead of being a thick crumble it was like a paste! One moment I thought of it to be a sheer waste of material and felt very bad. Then an idea struck like a lightning! I had some arisi maavu (rice flour) at home. I mixed some rice floor along with water and salt to the paruppu (dhal) paste to make it like a batter of adai and left it till we returned back from the office( I made beans kari instead for us!). I made adai in that batter and everyone liked it!