Medu vada is a quintessential South Indian snack. Along with Idli and Dosa, Vada holds a symbolic status in South Indian variety of foods, lauded all over India. Although I do not have much experience with South Indian cuisine, still I love to prepare different dishes, particularly the ones which are pretty well-known. Vada has been in the queue for long, and I get the best opportunity as I find excess Urad dal, the primary component of Vada, which I soaked for some different purpose. The outcome was fairly satisfying looking at my first attempt and had it in breakfast. I assume Vada is not necessarily a breakfast snack, rather can be prepared anytime of the day you want.

Ingredients for 10 – 12 pieces :

1. Skinless urad dal – ½ cup
2. Finely chopped onion – ½
3. Chopped green chilli – 1 or 2
4. Chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbspoon heaped
5. Chopped curry leaves – 1 tbspoon heaped
6. Asafoetida powder – ¼ teaspoon
7. Cumin seeds – ½ teaspoon
8. Salt to taste
9. Oil for deep frying

Procedure :

Wash and soak the urad dal in water for 8 – 10 hours.

Then drain the excess water from the dal and make a smooth paste of it in a blender. While making the paste try to use as little of water as possible. The paste needs to be very thick.

Now beat the dal paste very well with hand in circular motion to let air go into it. This step is important to get a fluffy vada.

Now mix all other ingredients except oil with the paste.

Heat sufficient amount of oil in a deep frying pan over medium heat.

Take a bowl full of chilled water. Dip your hand in this water and then take a small portion of the batter, make a hole at the centre with your thumb and add to the hot oil.

You can fry more than one vada at a time according to your pan size. Keep the flame on low to medium.

Turn the vadas as they start changing colour and don’t disturb them while frying. Don’t try to turn the vada immediately after adding it to the hot oil, otherwise it will lose its shape.

Fry till vadas turn golden in colour and looks nicely cooked allover.

Dip your hand in water whenever you feel the batter is sticking to your hand.

Transfer them into paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

Serve with sambar and coconut chatney.

For the recipe of Sambar & Coconut chutney look into my post, Masala Dosa with Sambar & Coconut chutney. This time I made Sambar with Masoor dal instead of Chana dal & Mung dal, which also turns out really delicious. To save your time you can also do that. 🙂 I skip the coconut chutnye which you should not emulate. 😉

Note :

1. I have prepared small size vadas, you can choose the size according to your preference.
2. You can add 1 tbspoon rice flour or even plain flour if your batter seems to be runny.