Masala Vada/ Paruppu Vadai

Blogging Marathon# 30: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Tea Kadai Menu
Dish: Masala Vada/ Paruppu Vadai

We are starting the last week of Blogging Marathon for this month and my theme for this week is 'Tea Kadai Menu'. Valli gave us a set of typical dishes that feature in the roadside Tea shops in Tamil Nadu. For the first day I made 'Masala Vadai/ Vada'.

I love masala vada, but don't make it often at home because of the deep frying that is involved. BM gave me a chance to try my favorite snack and we thoroughly enjoyed these deep fried goodies.

I found a recipe for masala vada with 3 different dals in Dakshin cookbook and made it instead of the usual chana dal vada. They came out crispy and delicious. I added some ginger and garlic along with garam masala for a spiced up vada. I served them with some peanut-coconut chutney and coffee for an evening snack.

Ingredients:
Toor dal (Red gram dal) - ½cup
Urad dal (Black gram dal) - ½cup
Chana dal (Bengal gram dal) - ½cup
Dry red chilies - 6
Onions - 1 medium, finely chopped
Ginger + garlic paste - 2tsp
Garam Masala - 1tsp
Cilantro - ½cup, finely chopped
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Soak all the dals in water for 2-3 hours. Drain off excess water completely.
• Grind the dals with the red chilies to a coarse batter. I keep some chana dal aside and add it to the batter in the end to get crunchy vadas after frying.
• Heat oil for deep frying. Wet both your hands. Take a small lemon size batter and flatten it on the palm of your hand. Slip it very carefully into the hot oil. Fry till golden bowl and crisp.
• Drain onto paper towel and serve hot with any chutney.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 30.