Dhal Vada ( Paruppu Vada / Masala Vada)

Another week end / festival time recipe...

Ingredients

Channa Dhal - 150 g
Urud Dhal (unbroken) - 150 g
Fennel seeds (sombu) - 1 tea spoon
Onions - 2 medium sized
Green chilies - 3
Red chilies - 3
Ginger - 2 inch (size as per pic)
Baking soda - a pinch
Hing - a pinch
Salt to taste
Oil for frying
Curry leaves and coriander leaves - some


1. Wash and Soak Channa dhal and Urud dhal for 2 hours and drain

2. Take red chilies and ginger (sized as per the picture) and chop it into fine pieces.

3. Grind red chilies, chopped ginger, dhal along with adequate salt. Grind into a coarse paste without adding water.

4. Finely chop green chilies, curry leaves and coriander leaves.

5. Chop the onions too..

6. Add this to the ground paste and add some hing, fennel seeds and pinch of baking soda. (Do not add more baking soda)

7. Apply oil in a non stick cover, make small balls and pat them in your palm to make 1/4 inch circles.

8. Heat oil in kadai and add the vadas one after the other, without over crowding.
Maintain the temperature of the oil evenly throughout the process.

If you are a new cook and find difficult to manage single handed, you can make more circles and put as batches in the oil. And sometimes when I feel too lazy , I make wider circles to finish off  quickly :)

9. Cook well by turning over both sides. Once they turn brown, drain them in a tissue paper.

10. Soft and crispy vada is ready and can be served with any chutney of your choice.

Tip: Adding equal amount of urud dhal makes this vada soft and crispy...

Sweet Potato Vada (Valli kizhangu Vada)

Try this new recipe with sweet potato..

Ingredients

Sweet potato - 150 gm

Gram flour (kadalai maavu) - 3 tea spoon

Corn flour - 1 tea spoon

Baking soda - a pinch

Onion - 1 medium sized

Green chilies - 2

Salt - to taste

1. Boil sweet potatoes and mash them.

2. Cut onions and green chilies into smaller pieces.

3. Mix gram flour, corn flour, baking soda, salt along with the mashed sweet potatoes.

4. Mix onions and green chilies as well. Do not add any water.

5. Heat oil in kadai.

6. Make small sized vadas out of the mix and slowly dip in the oil.

7. Fry both the sides evenly.

8. Drain the vada in a tissue paper.

9. Serve hot with tea.

Tip: While making vadas, the temperature of the oil should be evenly maintained. Adjust the flame accordingly...

Banana Flower Vada (Vazhaipoo Vadai)

Banana flower vada is one of the the tastiest vada..
Preparation is simple but cleaning the banana flower consumes time..
This might be a week end favorite..

Ingredients

Banana flower - 1
Channa dhal - 100 ml
Urud dhal - 50 ml
Garlic - 10 pieces
Ginger - 1 inch
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch piece
Cloves - 1
Onions - 2 medium sized
Green Chilies - 3
Fennel seeds (sombu) - 1/4 tea spoon
Oil - for frying
Baking soda - pinch (optional)
Salt to taste

Cleaning the banana flower

1. Remove the purple skin and take out the flowers.. Repeat this till the center.

2. Peel the stamen part of each flower and also the glassy part in the front.

3. Put this in buttermilk to avoid color change.

Preparation

1. Wash and soak Channa dhal and Urud dhal in water for 2 hrs and drain.

2. Cut ginger into fine pieces,peel the garlic and add cinnamon and cloves to it.

3. Chop the onions and green chilies

4. Grind the banana florets roughly

5. Grind the dhal along with ginger,garlic,cinnamon and cloves. Do not make smooth paste, as vadas always have some pieces of channa dhal left without grinding. Do not add water.

6. Mix banana flower ground paste along with dhal ground paste. Add chopped onions,green chilies,salt and baking powder.

Do not chop green chilies finely , when you are highly indulging in vada you may end up with eating them... :) Chop as a medium size pieces so that we can easily remove them..

7. Heat 400 ml of oil in kadai for deep frying

8. Take a plastic cover and apply little oil, and make small vada with hand as shown. you can make a ball and flatten it with fingers.

9. Put the vada in oil and give a hot oil bath.

10. Repeat this and fill the kadai with as much vada ,until they do not stick with each other.Do not overcrowd.

11. In  medium flame, cook the vadas on both sides and when they are brown, take out and drain in a tissue paper.

12. Serve hot and crispy along with tea.....

Tip: This serves 6 people, adding only required amount of salt is important., taste the batter and keep adding salt until you feel its sufficient.

Spinach Bonda

Ingredients:
Spinach leaves - 1/4 kg
Corn flour - 3 table spoons
Besan flour - 5 table spoons
Rice flour  - 3 table spoons
Baking soda - a pinch
Salt - as required
Onions - 2
Green chilies - 2
Curry leaves and coriander leaves - some

1. Chop the onions, chilies, coriander leaves and curry leaves into small pieces.
2. Wash and chop the Spinach into medium sized pieces.
3. Take a wide bottomed bowl (comfortable to mix) and add besan flour, corn flour, rice flour baking soda and salt & mix well.
4. Now add the chopped spinach,onions,chilies,curry leaves and coriander leaves. Mix well, do not add any water. Spinach's and onion's moisture will be enough for making the dish. Leave this mixture for 5 minutes.
5. Heat oil in a kadai and make small balls out of the mixture, dip the balls into the oil and do a deep fry.Once it is turning brown, remove from flame and place on a tissue paper to remove excess oil.

Ready to serve... Goes well as an evening snack along with tea.