Masala vada, a deep fried preparation made with chana dal is a great tea-time snack. It is a coarsely ground lentil paste with some spices flattened into patties and fried until golden brown and perfectly crispy. This is a very ease recipe if one follows a couple of tips to get the perfect results every single time.

Ingredients

• Chana dal – 1 cup, soaked for 2 hours
• Chillis – 3, based on spice level
• Ginger – 1 inch knob
• Saunf – 1/2 tsp
• Jeera – 1 tsp
• Pudina – 1 tbsp
• Onion – 1/4 cup finely chopped
• Salt – to taste
• Oil – for deep frying

Recipe

• Without adding any water, grind the chana dal, chillis, ginger, saunf and salt to a coarse paste.
• Now add in the chopped onions and jeera.

• Heat up oil to medium heat
• Wet the non-dominant hand’s palm and take a lime sized ball with the dominant hand. Flatten it to a disc on the non-dominant hand palm.
• Lift it carefully and drop it into the oil once hot enough. Similarly drop a few more discs.

• Fry all the remaining batter similarly to make masala vadas
• Serve them with coconut chutney or putana dal chutney

Tips

• DO NOT add any water while grinding the batter. This would make it runny and difficult to shape into discs.
• DO NOT make a smooth paste of it either. Should be coarse. Else will be difficult to form any discs
• If for any reason, the batter still looks runny, add a teaspoon of rice flour and may be two – not more. This would make the vadas crispy and also a bit hard.

Hope you enjoy these vadas!

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