Vada Curry, Lentil Fritters Curry

          As I had said in my set dosa post, here's the Vada Curry that goes extremely well with the dosas. This curry involves two parts, making the vadas and then the curry and then bringing them together to get the Vada Curry. Though, it might sound like a lengthy preparation, it's not very hard to make, and the little effort that goes into making it, is totally worth it. This curry goes well not only with the Set Dosas, it also tastes good with idlis, aappams and I think, next time I would also try it with mixed rice varieties, like lemon and tomato too..

Need To Have

• Chana Dal/Bengal Gram - 3/4 cup
• Dried Red Chillies - 4
• Fennel Seeds - 2 teaspoons
• Cinnamon - 1" piece
• Cloves - 3
• Onions - 2 medium, chopped
• Tomatoes - 3 medium, chopped
• Garlic - 3 cloves
• Ginger - 1" piece
• Green Chilly - 1 slit
• Fennel Seed Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Red Chilly Powder - 3/4 teaspoon
• Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Grated Coconut - 2 to 3 tablespoons
• Curry Leaves - 15
• Mint Leaves - a handful
• Chopped Coriander Leaves - 2 tablespoons
• Salt to taste

Method

          Soak the chana dal for 2 hours, reserve 2 tablespoons of the dal and coarsely grind the rest with the dried red chillies and fennel seeds, don't add water while grinding, remove and mix it with the reserved dal and some salt.

          Heat some oil, drop in small pieces of the ground dal, fry them till golden, remove and drain. Grind the grated coconut into a smooth paste and keep.

          Heat some oil, add the cinnamon and cloves, when the cloves start sizzling, add the onions and green chilly and saute for half a minute , pound the garlic and ginger and add along with the fennel seed powder and saute for 2 minutes.

          Add the chopped tomatoes and saute till it breaks down and turns mushy. Add the turmeric powder, chilly powder and coriander powder and mix for a minute. Add the coconut paste and about 2 cups of water and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

          Add the fried vadas/fritters and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes, add the curry leaves, mint leaves ( tear them roughly ) and coriander leaves and serve it warm with idlis or dosas.

Note
When adding the fried vadas, if they are big pieces, break them and add.
After adding the vadas, the gravy thickens, if it's too thick, add some water.
Don't leave out the mint, that gives a unique flavor to the vada curry.
The final consistency, it should not be a very thick gravy, thin gravy with the broken vada pieces.