Lentil Ragi Adai (lentil finger millet crepe)

Lentil Ragi Adai

In my attempt to keep rice intake low, I have been trying to have rice only for one meal a day and eat some other grains for another meal. Easy option usually is chapatti, that way I get some wheat but sometimes I would love a change and fancy things like dosa or upma or kichdi. I used to make adai quite often as well but that was the conventional adai and I wanted something different. This recipe was almost created from the air as I had no idea what I would end up with. I would say it was a bold attempt and a good one. I was pleased with the results. It is also quite nutritious as it has a variety of lentils, to give protein and iron and also ragi and some rice. Ragi as you probably know is a very nutritious grain. It does not have the most appealing colour but has a lot more goodness than most other grains. It constitutes the main source of nutrition for the poor in India. It is quite popular among South Indians, especially among those who are involved in heavy physical labour like farmers. With that background, here is how I made it…


Little less than ¼ cup urd dal
Little less than ¼ cup moong dal
Little more than ¼ cup channa dal
¼ cup rice flour
¼ cup ragi flour
2 sprigs curry leaves
2 green chillies
1 inch piece ginger
Salt to taste
Cooking oil

Soak the dals together for about 3 hours

Grind them to a paste along with ginger, curry leaves and chillies. Keep the paste coarse.

Add the ragi and rice flour to the paste, add required salt and grind to more finer paste (do not make it too fine as it is not best for adai)

While grinding add enough water to maintain consistency slightly thicker than dosa batter

Heat a tava and pour a ladle full of batter and spread to make a crisp thin adai. Drizzle little oil over it. Once brown on one side, turn and cook other side for around a minute.

Serve with nice tangy chutney or aviyal.

I served (and ate) with tomato chutney and that complemented the adai well as the batter is not allowed to ferment thus lending some sour taste to the food. You could also sprinkle chopped onions just after you spread the batter.

Rice and Vegetable Cake

Rice and Vegetable Cake


I am usually not a fan of sneaking vegetables in my child’s plate. I would prefer that he is aware of what he is having and mostly, enjoys it. However I know that is ‘ideal’ and does not always happen with toddlers. Afterall, isn’t that one of the characteristics of toddlers? Here is a recipe which combines a grain, rice, and few vegetables. This way, even if your kid had skipped lunch, this snack can make up for some of the nutrients he did not get. If you have a very young toddler, as you are still trying to build the habit of breakfast, lunch, dinner, this could easily make a meal for your wee one. Here is how I did it...

1 small onion very finely chopped

1 small capsicum/green, yellow or red pepper finely chopped

1 carrot, boiled and grated

1 medium potato, boiled and mashed

2 tablespoons cooked rice

½ teaspoon cumin powder

½ teaspoon coriander powder

½ teaspoon black pepper powder or chilly powder

1-2 tablespoons Rusk crushed or breadcrumbs or coarsely ground oats or gram flour.

Coriander leaves finely chopped

Salt to taste

Cooking oil

Please note that the above measurements were what I used to prepare this recipe for my young toddler. You may need to adjust quantity and spice levels depending on your child’s age and taste.

In a pan, add few drops of oil and add the onions.

Once they are half cooked, add the pepper and turmeric powder and then add the carrot. Cook for a few minutes.

Add the mashed potato and the spice powders and salt.

Mash the rice with your hand or potato masher.

Mix the vegetables, coriander leaves and mashed rice and shape them like cutlets of desired size.

Refrigerate these for about an hour so they can retain the shape

Coat both sides of the cakes in rusk or bread crumbs or oats or gram flour so they get a crispy outer. In a tava, add less than a teaspoon oil and fry the cakes. Cook until brown on one side, turn and brown the other side.

Serve with ketchup or any chutney

This is quite a nice food for toddlers who are learning to eat on their own as it is not too messy and they can hold it.

Tomato Chutney

Tomato Chutney


If you are a regular reader of my blog, you would have noticed my admiration for tomatoes. Especially at this time of the year, they are at their best of looks and taste. They come in such strange shapes and shades of red. Despite getting such a variety I still have not had any luck finding green tomatoes (unripe). Anyway, what I noticed now was that when tomatoes are in season even the cheapest variety tastes good. I say so because in winter most tomatoes expect those on the vine would barely have any juice and flavourless. With bags of ‘red’ in my cupboard, I have a number of recipes I could do – from tomato rasam, rice, pickle, chutney, sauce etc. As I was making a variety of Indian tiffin, chutney was the most recent item. Lack of time and energy meant a very simple chutney but without compromise in taste and flavour. Here it is...

5-6 ripe tomatoes cut into chunks

2 pinches of fenugreek seeds

1 teaspoon cooking oil

½ teaspoon red chilly powder

½ teaspoon sambar powder (optional)

¼ teaspoon turmeric powder

Asafoetida

Salt to taste

In a heavy bottomed pan, add teaspoon cooking oil and fry the fenugreek seeds, add turmeric powder and asafoetida. Add the tomatoes and required salt.

Once the tomatoes have turned mushy add chilly powder and sambar powder. Cook for 3-5 more minutes.

Allow to cool and grind to desired consistency. Great with dosa, idli, adai, roti etc. You could even use it as
a spread in a sandwich.

You could skip sambar powder but I prefer to keep it as it lends more flavour and aroma. If desired you could add a quarter teaspoon tamarind paste depending of your taste, along with the tomatoes. If desired you could temper some mustard seeds and add after grinding.