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Friday, March 15, 2013

Chana Dal Vadai/ Split Chickpeas Fritters


          Vadais/ Lentil Fritters, I make them once in a while, since it's a deep fried snack, and even then, I mostly make the Ulundu Vadai. I very rarely make these Chana Dal Vadais. These vadais are again crispy on the outside, soft on the inside but not spongy, a great tea-time snack. I have added just onions to the batter, though we can add other vegetables like cabbage, spinach and vazhaipoo/ banana flower. These vadais taste best when hot, can have it as such or with some coconut chutney..

Need To Have

  • Chana Dal/ Split Chickpeas/ Bengal Gram - 1 cup
  • Dried Red Chillies - 3
  • Fennel Seeds - 2 teaspoon
  • Onion - 1 big, chopped
  • Chopped Coriander - 1/4 cup
  • Curry Leaves - 15, roughly torn into small pieces
  • Salt - to taste

Method


          Soak the chana dal for an hour and grind it along with the red chillies and fennel seeds, without adding any water, it should be a coarse mixture.


        To this add the chopped onions, curry leaves, chopped coriander and salt. Make small lemon sized balls.


          Heat some oil for deep frying. Wipe your left palm with a little water, take a ball, flatten it slightly, it should be 1/4" to 1/2" thick disc.


          Drop the discs into the hot oil, cook till it turns golden brown on both sides. Remove and drain the excess oil on some paper towels. Serve it hot with some chutney.


Note
The batter should be as coarse as possible, at the same time should be able to hold together, then you'll get really crispy vadas.
You can also add some chopped green chillies for extra spiciness.
The oil should be hot enough, when you drop a small piece of the batter, it should rise slowly to the top, not very fast, then the oil is too hot, only the outer layer will be cooked, the inner portion will be uncooked.
This quantity yields 20 to 25 vadais, depending on the size.

23 comments:

  1. vadai looks crisp and delicious..
    http://foody-buddy.blogspot.com/

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  2. very delicious vadai..looks damn crisp n yumm

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  3. Hema, I love masal vadai. I am having tea now and your vadai's would have been perfect. I make something similar to this one. Made it for the super bowl, but have not done any frying after that.

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  4. Ohhhh yummy tempting fritters..goes great with one cup of coffee

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  5. Wowwwwwwwww... Very delicious and tempting vadai.. looks absolutely amazing.. Beautiful pictures too.. Love it :)

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  6. crispy and great with a cup of cofee

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  7. Beautiful vadas and so inviting they look, love all your clicks Hema

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  8. wow i love parupu vada more than medhu vada, ur vadas are too tempting...liked all ur clicks, pictorials too!

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  9. Seriously I am drooling,looks so yummy

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  10. Vada with tea,nothing beat this combo for snacks,just love these crispies.

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  11. Yummy snack,can have this anytime.

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  12. Hema, I love the touch of fennel; we don't put fennel in our recipe.

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  13. These look awesome...have to try them one day!

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  14. Love it for tea... Crispy and so yummy

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  15. One of my fav snacks and yours look so lovely

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  16. they look so crispy and well made hema :)

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  17. aha...perfect...

    My father used to bring them from his canteen for us. I was very much looking for the daal they used to make since a long time. We used to call it pyazi wada due to lots of onions. Finally, I found the daal to go in the blender :)

    Thanks so much Hema

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