Amaranth Pancake

#AmaranthPancake or #AmaranthAdai :
#Amaranth is a leafy vegetable ( greens ) and a seed. Amaranth is nothing but widely used leafy vegetable called Thandu keerai or Mulai keerai in Tamil. The seeds are called amarnath seeds or amaranth in Tamil. It is called Rajkir Kara in Chhattisgarh.
There are many varieties of amaranth. Some are cultivated and some grow in wild. The leaves of some amaranth are in green in color, some are green and red in the middle and fully red in color. The whole plant is edible. The leaves are used as leafy vegetable, the stem is also cooked and the seeds are also used to make dishes. Some amaranth flowers are strikingly beautiful and red in color and which produce lots of seeds. All the seeds are edible whether its cultivated or garden or wild varieties .
To know more about the plant
Amaranth Plant

Amaranth seeds contain lysine, an essential amino acid, limited in other grains or plant sources. Amaranth too is limited in some essential amino acids, such as leucine and threonine. Amaranth seeds are therefore promising complement to common grains such as wheat germ, oats, corn because these common grains are abundant sources of essential amino acids found to be limited in amaranth.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaranth

Yesterday, I came back fully loaded with Palak greens from local market. It would get spoiled in this hot Summer even if I store them in fridge. So I decided to prepare dinner using palak. This is how I made use of a good amount of greens yesterday.

Ingredients :
1/2 cup                                 whole wheat flour
1/2 cup                                 Amaranth flour
1/4 cup                                 Green gram flour
2 Tsp                                   Rice flour
1/2 Tsp                                 Salt
1/4 cup                                 Onion nicely chopped
1 cup                                    Palak nicely chopped
2 Tsp                                   Coriander leaves finely chopped
5 or 6                                   Curry leaves
Oil to make adai.

Method :
Take all the given flours in a wide mouthed vessel.
Mix well by adding a cup of water and prepare a slightly thick batter just like idly batter.
Now add onion and greens. Mix well.
Keep a tawa on a stove over medium flame.
Spread oil over the tawa.
Now place 2 ladle full of batter and spread using the back of the ladle.
Sprinkle oil along the rims of the adai and also over it.
Close with a lid.

When the adai turns to golden color along the rim flip the side to cook.

When both sides are done then transfer on to a plate.

Serve with Ginger chutney or coconut chutney or any chutney of your choice.

Note :
Green gram flour can be replaced with Besan [ Gram flour ].
Spinach or drum stick leaves can also be used instead of palak.



Other recipes you may like to try

Pumpkin Pancake

Amaranth Payasam

Amaranth Payasam 1

Arisi Roti

Kezhvaragu Adai

For other Chutney Recipes

Chutney Varieties

For varieties of tiffins for breakfast and dinner

Tiffin Varieties

Spinach Adai

#SpinachAdai #SpinachPancake #KodiPasalaiAdai : We all must have seen popular Popeye Cartoon show on TV, wherein Popeye used to open a sealed can and swallow Spinach at one go. Immediately after he gains immense strength to fight against the villain. But it is very difficult to eat like him. When it is cooked become viscous and doesn't have any distinct taste. But Spinach is rich in iron.
To learn the health benefits of Spinach click here.
In my back yard I have planted Spinach and this creeper running along the fence.
In order to make it tasty and to consume plenty of it I made many trials. One such trial become successful and that is adai with Spinach.
Generally adai is prepared with either bottle gourd or tender yellow pumpkin.
This one came out very well and tasty too.

Ingredients :

Save 1/3 cup of Rice Batter While grinding for Idli Maavu ( Idly batter ) in the fridge.


Other Ingredients to grind :
1/3  cup           Kadalai Paruppu ( Bengal gram )
1/3  cup           Tuvaram Paruppu ( Pigeon pea  )
1 tsp                Asafoetida
4                      Red chilly
1 tsp                Cumin seeds
1 tsp                Fennel seeds
1/2 inch           Ginger piece
salt                  1 tsp ( adjust )
oil                    to make adai

To add to Batter :

10                 Curry leaves chopped nicely
3 tsp             Coriander leaves chopped nicely
2 tsp             Carrot grated
1 cup            Spinach chopped nicely
1 tblsp          Onion chopped nicely

Method :
I have taken out 1/3 cup of rice batter while grinding for Idli and saved in fridge.

Take all the ingredients to grind in a mixer grinder jar.
Grind coarsely.
Transfer into a vessel.
Add rice batter and mix well.

Now add Spinach, onion,carrot, curry leaves and coriander leaves.
Mix well and adjust salt.
The batter should be slightly thick and able to spread on tawa easily.

Now keep a tawa on medium heat and spread oil over it.
When the tawa becomes hot keep a big ladle full of batter at the centre.
Spread over the hot tawa into a circle of 12 cm diameter and nearly 2 mm thickness.
Add 1/2 tsp of oil over adai and also all around.
Allow to cook till the bottom becomes golden color.
Turn upside down with a flat dosai ladle.
Transfer onto a serving plate after both the sides are cooked well.
I used to relish adai only with jaggary.
It can also be enjoyed with Aviyal or coconut chutny or murungaikai sambar.

Note :

If Idli Maavu ( Idli batter ) is not there then
Soak 1/3 cup   Idli Rice and 1/3 cup   Raw Rice for 2 hours.
Grind coarsely and transfer into a vessel. Then grind all the ingredients coarsely and mix well.




You may also like to try :

Paruppu Adai

Vazhaipoo spinach Adai

Pesarattu

Arisi Roti

Kezhvaragu Adai