When you visit a South Indian Darshini, the aromas of piping hot Sambar and crispy Medu vadas is something one cannot miss.
Made with soaked Urad dal and a few spices, getting that doughnut shape right is an art by itself which requires practice.
These crispy, spicy Indian doughnuts are yum when dunked in hot mixed veg sambar or that quintessential coconut chutney.
With the lockdown in place for over a month, I've been missing out on restaurant and street food that one normally gets to relish. Plus we wanted to eat something different than the usual parathas, dosa curry at home. So we landed up making these delicious Uddina Vade at home today.
Soaking the Urad dal and blending it into a fine paste with little or no water is the key to getting a super crispy, less oil-absorbing vada at home. Also adding in whole pepper corns, coarsely ground ginger, chopped green chillies give this vada a very restaurant-style taste.
INGREDIENTS:
Urad dal - 250g soaked for 2hours
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp - Coarsely ground, black peppercorn
1/2 tsp - Grated ginger
1 tbsp - Chopped Coriander leaves
1 tbsp - Chopped Curry leaves
Salt to taste
A pinch of Baking soda
PROCEDURE :
1. Transfer the soaked urad dal to a blender and grind to a super-fine paste (just the dal with a little bit of water). Too much water will make the batter runny and soak in more oil.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients listed above and mix well.
3. Heat oil in a Kadai, take a large spoon of the dal mixture and let it fall into the oil to fry, until golden brown. This is the easier way of frying vadas.
4. Else you can make it into a doughnut shape (there are loads of videos on Youtube, I personally follow the method of using an inverted strainer to make them).
5. Once the medu vada is crisp and golden, then remove with a ladle draining the extra oil. Fry the rest of vadas in the same manner.
6. Serve hot with mixed veg sambar or coconut chutney.
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