Vada/ Urad daal fritters

Vada is grounded urad daal or white daal fritter seasoned with some simple spices and added veggies like onion and curry leaves for flavouring.

It’s a south Indian dish served as breakfast or snack. Basically, it’s an Indian style savoury doughnut very high in proteins and serves as a fulfilling breakfast.

These crispies are best served with any kind of tangy chutney like tamarind groundnut chutney or groundnut chutney or green chutney as per taste.

Print Recipe

Vada/ Urad daal fritters

Course

Side dish

Cuisine

Indian, South Asian

Prep Time

4 hours

Cook Time

20 minutes

Servings

people

Ingredients

• 1.5 cup urad daal/white lentil (de-husked, split or whole)
• 3 teaspoon Rice Flour (optional)
• 3 inch fresh ginger (diced)
• 3 medium sized Fresh green chillies (whole)
• 1 teaspoon Zeera/ cumin seeds
• 2 medium Onions (finely chopped)
• 1 Fistful Curry Leaves (finely chopped)
• 4 tablespoon water
• 3/4 teaspoon Salt (as per taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda / Sodium Bicarbonate
• 300 ml oil (for frying)

Course Side dish Cuisine Indian, South Asian Prep Time 4 hours Cook Time 20 minutes Servings people Ingredients 1.5 cup urad daal/white lentil (de-husked, split or whole) 3 teaspoon Rice Flour (optional) 3 inch fresh ginger (diced) 3 medium sized Fresh green chillies (whole) 1 teaspoon Zeera/ cumin seeds 2 medium Onions (finely chopped) 1 Fistful Curry Leaves (finely chopped) 4 tablespoon water 3/4 teaspoon Salt (as per taste) 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda / Sodium Bicarbonate 300 ml oil (for frying)

Instructions

1. Soak the urad daal for 4 hours and drain the water.

   
2. Add ginger and green chillies to the soaked daal and make a fine paste in a blender.

   
3. If required add water little by a little while blending to form a nice smooth paste.

   
4. In a bowl, add the chopped onion, curry leaves, salt, jeera, rice flour to the ground daal and mix well. At last, add baking soda before frying. Mix well.

   
5. Heat oil in a kadai on medium flame and when the oil is hot, deep fry the vada. The oil temperature can be checked by putting a small ball of batter into the oil. if nice bubbles are formed, then oil is ready to fry. The shape of the vada can be obtained by placing the index finger in the small batter ball while releasing them into the oil, thus forming a hole in the centre.

   
6. Fry until the vadas turn nice golden in colour. This may take around 4-5 minutes for every batch of vadas.

   
7. Remove on a paper towel. That's it. Serve hot.

   

Recipe Notes

1. Always fry the vadas on constant heat, that is on medium flame so that they are thoroughly cooked on the inner side and absorb less oil.
2. The oil temperature should always be monitored thoroughly before adding next batch of vadas, if the oil is not hot up to the mark then you can increase the flame for 2 minutes then add next batch of vadas and then lower the flame again to medium.
3. Adding whole black peppercorns to enhance spiciness is optional and depends on the taste.
4. Adding rice flour makes vadas nice crispy.
5. The batter can be stored in the freezer for up to 15 days and used as and when required just by defrosting it. While freezing the batter keep in mind, do not add baking soda to it, the rest ingredients can be added.
6. The air gets naturally trapped into the frozen batter while it get's thawed over the counter, so no additional soda is required to puff it up while frying.
7. If you are in a hurry and can't wait for the frozen batter to get thawed naturally over the counter, then you can microwave or heat the batter over double boiler. In this case soda can be added while frying, but keep in mind do not overheat the batter while defrosting.