Name: Medu / Uzhunnu Vada / Lentil Fritters recipe
Prep time: 6 h
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 7 h
Ingredients: 2 cups of urad dal; 1.5-inch piece of ginger, finely chopped; 2-3 green chilies, finely chopped; 1/2 of medium red onion, finely chopped; 1 tsp of freshly ground pepper; 3 sprig of curry leaves, chopped; 1/4 tsp of asafoetida; Salt to taste; Oil to deep fry

Medu / Uzhunnu Vada / Lentil Fritters recipe

Recipe by Neha NairCourse: AppetizersCuisine: Indian, KeralaDifficulty: Medium

Servings

vadas/fritters

Prep time

hours

Cooking time

hour

Medu vada is very popular south Indian deep fried delight which is perfect breakfast in weekends. In this recipe, ground urad dal are mixed with onion, ginger and curry leaves and fried to a golden perfection.

Ingredients

2 cups of urad dal
1.5-inch piece of ginger, finely chopped
2-3 green chilies, finely chopped
1/2 of medium red onion, finely chopped
1 tsp of freshly ground pepper
3 sprig of curry leaves, chopped
1/4 tsp of asafoetida
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Directions

Rinse dal with cold water 2-3 times and soak it in water for minimum 4- 5 hrs to overnight.
Grind urad dal to a smooth and thick paste. Try to use as less water as possible or no water at all. Food processor or grinder will give the best result.
Now add everything listed on ingredients except oil and mix it very well.
Heat oil in a frying pan. Check the temperature by dropping little batter. If it comes right away to the top, oil is ready to fry. (temp should be 350 F)
Wet your hands, take about 2 Tbsp of batter on your wet fingers and flatten it out a ittle bit. Then poke at the center of the batter with your thumb and slide the batter slowly into the oil. Do this very carefully.
It’s better to keep a bowl of water near to the batter because you have to wet your hands every time when you are gonna drop the batter into the oil. Fry the vadas until it is golden brown.
Vadas will be crispy at the outside and fluffy in the inside.
Serve vadas with sambhar or coconut chutney.

Notes

If you have added too much water while grinding dal, it will be difficult or even not possible to make holes in the vada. So you can just fry them like any another vada, just take spoon full of batter and drop it in oil. It will be tasty in that way too.