Fried doughnut shaped dumplings made out of lentils. It is usually served as a snack alongwith tea. It is an India street food and is part of many festive menus. This recipe is slightly different than the usual dahi vadas or thayir vadas.
Ingredients
Split Urad dal-1 cup
Besan or Gram flour – 3 tbsp
Raw Rice – 2 tbsp
Curds – 1/2 cup
Green chillies – 2
Onions – 1 big chopped fine
Whole pepper corns – 10
Salt – as needed
Black salt- as required
Spices- Chat masala, kashmiri red chilli powder, jeera powder
Seasoning:
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Green Chillies – 2
Ginger – 1 inch piece chopped
Curry leaf – 1 sprig
Asafoetida – a pinch
Cashews and Ompudi (Sev) for garnish
Preparation:
Wash and soak dal for 5 hours. Grind it to a smooth batter in a mixer or grinder. Sprinkle very little water. Continue to grind until the batter looks fluffy and white. Add only a tbsp of cold water again, if required to grind. Add required salt. To check if the batter is ground to the correct consistency, drop 1/2 tsp of batter into the water. It should float on top of the water. Now, transfer it to a bowl. Add chopped onions, green chillies cut and whole pepper (you can skip if you do not like it). Lastly, add besan to the ground udad dal batter and mix well.
Heat oil in a kadai. Dip your fingers in water to moisten your fingers. Take small portions of the batter and shape it like a ball and make a hole in the center. Gently slide the vadas in the hot oil and deep fry the vadas. Once the oil is really hot, reduce the heat to medium and fry the vadas. Take it out when both the sides turn golden brown.
When the vadas becomes slightly cold, drop them in a bowl of warm water once, dip it and squeeze it well .Beat the curd well add little salt to it and add the seasonings and keep it ready. Now pour the beaten curd mixture on each of the vadas which have been arranged in a serving plate or bowl. Sprinkle Chat, jeera powder, red chilli powder, black salt. Garnish with sev and coriander leaves. Enjoy!
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