Adai Dosa

Story: I should change the name of this blog to - 'Chefs that inspired me'... I have realized that I almost always end up writing about someone special that shared their recipe with me and/or inspired me to cook.. Today's post is definitely about such a 'chef next door' - literally - : ) -it's my ex-neighbor and a really good friend, Smita Amdekar.

Ever since we moved to our new home I have known Smita as an unlimited source of energy, sheer enthusiasm, and most importantly - delicious food! Something as simple as salsa, paav bhaji, kayras, to anything as complicated as malai pedha, every single preparation by Smita is OUTSTANDING in taste. With her skill Smita should have been a pro chef..

It's been about a year and a half ..... Me, Shank and Manasi went over at Smita's for brunch and she had made Adai dosas with coconut chutney, tomatoe chutney, chutney pudi and sambhar... Smita is a purist especially when it comes to Telugu cooking - so she made Adai on a thick cast iron tawaa with lots of ghee.. The nutty taste of the daals in the adai batter with the khushboo of ghee .... man - Smita - we officially miss you!!! Until next time we have the pleasure of eating one of your delicacies - we will have to survive on my efforts to follow the adai recipe..

I will end by describing an incidence that speaks for Smita's enthusiasm and skill -

Smita & company were about to move to India for good.. on something like the Thursday of that week.. so I insisted that they come over for dinner on Wednesday. So Smita din't have to think about cooking etc. While we were talking to Smita about Wednesday - she could not help but ask - " Tumhi mazya haatchi paav bhaji khalli aahe ka?" - "Have you had the paav bhaji that I make?" - we said - "not yet".. :-) and that was it - Smita made professional quality paav bhaji and blew us away with her skill one more time - that too - one day before leaving for India...

oh - and did I mention Smita is a successful techie professional and a mother of two lovely kids -

hats off to you Smita : )

P.S. - Let me say something before someone else points it out - Smita might have insisted on cooking because of her knowledge of my cooking skills at that time ;-)

Source: Smita Amdekar

Time: 2-3 hrs - Needs 1.5 days for preparation of the batter

Ingredients:

For 25-30 Adai dosa

• 1 katori (1/2 cup) White Urad Daal
  
• 1 katori Chana Daal
• 1 katori Toor Daal
• 1 katori Moong Daal
• 4 katori Rice
  

For 2-3 cups of chutney pudi

• 2 katori Chana Daal
  
• 1/2 katori Dry red chillies (Smita recommends 1 katori - but I find it too hot)
• 1/4 katori White Urad Daal
  

Recipe:

For Adai batter - Soak rice and daals in water for 5-6 hrs. Then remove extra water and grind daal and rice to a paste. Cover this paste and let it ferment overnight.

The batter is ready the next morning - add water as needed before making Adai dosas on a hot tawa. Refer to this post or any other suitable online resource for instructions on how to spread the batter on the tawa.

Once Adai dosa is almost ready - add potato sabji or chutneypudi and serve with steaming hot sambhar and coconut chutney...



For Chutney pudi - Dry roast the ingredients on low-medium heat for about 5 minutes. Then grind with a pinch of hing/asafoetida and salt as needed.