Expectant mothers experience a sudden urge for certain foods or dishes during pregnancy. Sometimes, these cravings can make you long for unhealthy foods - so, get a hold on your portions while you indulge.

Here`s a list of tasty, healthy recipes you might want to try to curb your cravings, which would also help your baby grow better.

Brown Rice Adai

Lentils are a great source of folate which is essential for the baby`s brain development. They are also rich in fibre which prevents constipation in pregnant women.

Ingredients:

For the batter:
1 cup medium brown rice
1 cup mixed beans (chickpea, moong, cow peas, split pea)
1/2 cup urad dal, whole, skinned

Seasoning
2-3 dried red chilli
1-inch ginger, peeled
A large pinch asafoetida
1/2 cup grated fresh coconut (frozen works too)
1-2 green chilies (optional)
A few Curry leaves to taste
A few Cilantro leaves to taste
Salt to taste

Method:

Soak the beans and lentils (dal) together in a bowl and the brown rice in another bowl, overnight.
The next day, drain the water and drop a part of beans mixture to a food processor/mixer.
Add the coconut and other seasoning ingredients and grind it to a coarse paste.
Grind the rest of the beans mixture too and add all the batter to a bowl.
Next drain the brown rice and add it to the same processor (no need to clean the processor before adding the rice)
Grind to a paste.
Add this along with the beans batter.
Mix well until combined.
The batter is a little thicker/coarser than regular dosa batter or idli batter. You can add a little more water to bring it a pourable consistency if too thick.
At this point you can also add some finely chopped onions to the batter.
Heat up a non stick or cast iron skillet.
Remember that a cast iron skillet will need more oil for greasing while non stick you can get away with very little.
On low-medium heat, add a few drops of oil and use a half cut onion to grease the skillet.
Now drop about 1/4 - 1/2 cup batter in the center.
Slowly make a circle with your spatula to make about 8-10-inch adai.
Usually it tends to be a little thicker than regular dosas but you can make it thin too.
The thin ones will be crispier than thicker ones.
Increase the heat to med-high, drizzle some oil on all the sides, and let it cook for about 5-6 minutes or until you find that you can easily lift the dosa using a spatula.
When you see that the bottom looks brownish red, its done.
Flip to the other side and let it cook for another 5 minutes or so. Remove and set aside.
Repeat with rest of the batter.
Serve hot from the tawa.

Recipe & image courtesy: Chefinyou.com