1) Wash broken wheat, drain, and soak in ½ cup of water.
2) Wash and soak red gram dal and Bengal gram dal together in water at least for an hour. Drain all the water.
3) Grind fresh ginger with green chillies, curry leaves, red chillies, asafoetifda and salt well.
4) Add the soaked dals, broken wheat and grind coarsely.
5) Add small quantities of water at intervals while grinding if necessary to get the consistency loose enough to be spread easily on the griddle with a ladle. Thicker batter can be quickly and carefully spread on the griddle with the hand as well, sprinkling cold water on it to spread it easily.
6) Heat a flat iron griddle on medium fire. Smear a little oil over it.
7) Pour one and a half to two medium sized ladlefuls of batter in the centre and quickly spread it with the ladle to form an even, round, flat pancake as thick as the tip of the little finger.
8) Pour two to three teaspoonfuls of oil along the edge of the Adai and a little over the central portion.
9) When done, turn it over and cook the other side similarly, till it assumes brownish colour, with one or two teaspoons of oil poured along the edge of it.
10) Make four or five holes or slots on the surface and pour a tsp of oil in each.
11) Serve it preferably hot with any dry or wet chutney, curd, pickles, sambar, morekuzhambu, Aviyal or rasam. It tastes especially delicious with freshly prepared clarified butter, home made butter or even jaggery.
:- While turning, if the Adai does not come off the griddle easily, try to detach it around the edges with the flat ladle. When the edges are free separate the central portion carefully and turn it over. In case of further difficulty in doing so cover it with a lid, place a wet cloth on the cover and cook on a low fire. In about a minute remove the lid; the Adai then comes off the griddle easily.
Notes:
Adai can be made on the same day the batter is made or on the next day when it turns a little sour. The batter can be preserved in the refrigerator for nearly a week.