Sunday, August 5, 2012

Weekend comfort food - Ada Dosa


Ada Dosa is a type of Dosa that is made by mixing Dosa batter with pureed toor dhal, pulsed onion, ginger, curry leaves, and paste of red chilli. Gingelly oil is used while preparing the dosa which adds a unique taste and imparts an amazing aroma while cooking this Ada Dosa. The chutney that goes with this Ada Dosa is made by grinding grated Coconut  with garlic, curry leaves, and red chilli paste. Every time I make this at home, it takes me  back to my childhood days when my mom made this  pretty much every Sunday for breakfast. Just the aroma wafting from the kitchen while this Dosa was getting made was mouth-watering, to say the least. So here I am, finally sharing the recipe of one of my favorite Dosas....the Ada Dosa.

INGREDIENTS:

Dosa batter:
Idli rice/Ponni rice - 3 cups
Urad dhal  - 1 cup

Toor dhal mixture:
Toor dhal - 1 cup
Whole dried red chillies - 15
Roughly chopped Onion - 1
Roughly chopped Ginger - 1" piece
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

Chutney:
Grated coconut - 1 - 2 cups
Garlic cloves - 2
Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Gingelly oil for frying
Salt for taste


PREPARATION:

Dosa batter:

Soak the rice and urad dhal separately in water overnight. Next morning, drain the water from rice and urad dhal. First, grind the urad dhal to a fine paste by adding little water if necessary. Remove this from the grinder and transfer it to a big bowl. Now grind the rice to a fine paste by adding small amounts of water when needed. Now remove this also from the grinder and transfer it to the bowl. Mix the urad dhal and rice batter well by adding some salt and a little water to get a pancake consistency.




Ada Dosa batter:

Soak the toor dhal and the red chillies with some water overnight. 



 
Next morning, drain the water from toor dhal, separate the red chillies to a bowl. Grind the toor dhal to a fine paste in a blender by adding some water. Add the chopped onions, ginger, and curry leaves to this and pulse them till they get incorporated well with the toor dhal paste.




Transfer this ground paste to a bowl. Grind the red chillies in a cleaned blender  with a little water to a fine paste.



 
Keep this aside. Add some of this red chilli paste depending on your spice level to the toor dhal mixture. 



 
Now mix the dosa batter little by little to the thoor dhal and red chilli  mixture. You might need only a few laddles of dosa batter for this Ada dosa preparation. Add some salt to this batter. Let the remaining dosa batter ferment by keeping it  near a window where it gets enough sunlight to ferment. You can use this left-over batter for other dosa preparations.


  
  Now the Ada Dosa batter is ready. 

Red chilli Chutney:

Pulse the grated coconut along with garlic cloves and curry leaves. Mix the remaining chilli paste to this. Add salt for taste.



Making Ada Dosas:

On medium heat, place a non stick pan. Once it is heated, add some gingely oil and spread it evenly. Take a laddle full of batter and pour it in the center of the pan and spread it in a clockwise circle by using the back of the laddle. Pour some oil around the dosa. 




 Once you see it turning golden brown around the edges, flip it carefully. Let it cook on the other side. Serve this with the red chilli chutney. Enjoy!