Skip to main content

Uzhunnu Vada / Medu Vada

Vada is a generic, common name given across India, to a round shaped fritter fried in oil. Vada's can be made of either different lentils, gram flour or even potatoes. It differs in size too according to different cuisines. Its a perfect savoury tiffin enjoyed & relished by everyone. Its crispy on the outside and soft & fluffy inside...mmmm...

I made "Uzhunnu Vada" today for my breakfast. Uzhunnu in malayalam is Urad Dal/ Black gram. Uzhunnu Vada is the Indian cousin of the Western DOUGH NUTS! Probably because of its similar looks!! Medhu Vada has become so popular now that it is now treated as a street food in India. I was missing my "Annapoorna Sambar Vada" of Coimbatore that today I ended up making some. My Vadas have not come out perfectly round but who cares, taste is all that matters. :)

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups urad dal (split black gram)
  • 1 large onion (finely chopped)
  • 3-4 green chillies (finely chopped)
  • 15-20 peppercorns
  • 2 inch ginger (optional, finely chopped)
  • few curry leaves (optional, finely chopped)
  • salt to taste
  • oil for deep frying
Method:
  1. Soak the urad dal in water for at least 5-6 hours. I soak the dal overnight to make the vadas for breakfast.
  2. Drain it and grind the dal to make a paste. Use very little water to grind the dal. The paste should not be watery but so thick that when you take a spoonful of the dal paste and invert the spoon, the paste should fall off with a plop sound!
  3. Now add the chopped onion, green chillies, peppercorns, curry leaves, chopped ginger and salt to the paste and mix everything together with your hand. Use your hand instead of the spoon so that the air traps inside the dal paste to make the vadas fluffy and soft.
  4. Heat oil in a Kadhai for deep frying the vadas.
  5. Now is the tricky part. Dab your fingers in a little oil and take a portion of the dal paste with your four fingers as shown in the picture below.
  6. Now with your thumb make a hole in the middle of the paste and invert the paste in the hot oil. (MIND THE HOT OIL)
  7. Fry the vadas until they turn light golden on all sides.
  8. Serve the hot Vadas with some hot Sambar. You can immerse the Vadas inside the sambar and oh...I can't even explain what the feeling is when you put those hot Vadas in your mouth!

PS: To see the recipe of "Sambar", please click on to the "Kerala Sadya" category of this blog!! ENJOY!!
Labels:

Comments

  1. Nik10 May 2011 at 20:47

    Ooh la la! Mouth watering!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Loveandcalories11 May 2011 at 09:42

    Thanks Nik!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amila10 June 2011 at 14:28

    oh yummy!!! I tried to make this once few mths ago.But couldnt get the nice appearence.Now I want to try again...
    (Amy from Food corner)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hundred Thousand Dollar worth Rava Upma (Indian Semolina Polenta)

Now you must be thinking, who doesn't know to make Rava Upma? What is so special about it? Every 5th person residing in India knows to make it and is a common breakfast item in almost all the Indian household. We Indians take this dish for granted. Well up until a week back, even I thought the same about this dish and looked down on Rava Upma. Not anymore. Last week I read a news about an Indian born, New York Chef Floyd Cardoz who won the top prize of £100,000 in an American show called "Top Chef Masters". No prize for guessing, he made RAVA UPMA!! After reading the article, I immediately decided that the recipe of a basic version of Upma must be on my blog. And here I am sharing the if not a "million dollar", then atleast a "hundred thousand dollar worth Upma Recipe". :) Upma is a popular South Indian Breakfast dish, mainly prepared by Semolina. It has a great resemblance with the Italian Polenta. It can be made with many variations by adding vegeta...
13 comments
Read more

Anniversary & Pouring Awards with Pista Kulfi

Took a break from blog & cooking for a couple of days as I was in a mood to celebrate!! That's right, Arun and I celebrated our 4 years of married life on 10th June. Phew, time truly flies in just a snap!! (Below is our wedding snap, a perfect South Indian Wedding shot...please don't laugh at it.;). So I was in no mood to cook that day & told Arun that the meals of the day will be either frozen, take away or a dine out. He preferred the third one. ;) So we went to one of our favourite food joints {Did I tell you, that we live in a place called Chesterfield, a Historic Market Town in UK & don't have much choices around here ;)}, "Frankie & Benny's."My god, we both die for those thin crust Italian Pizzas & the cheesy gar(lick)y bread which melts in your mouth like a candy floss...Aah! Now, I have to tell you what we ordered, because it was that good. ;) For starters, we ordered their famous garlic bread with crispy coated chicken ...
24 comments
Read more

Light Lunch - Vegetable Soup

My last few days at Chesterfield, home alone, cherishing all the happy memories of the last 4 years. Spent whole day flipping through the photographs with a hot mug of Coffee relaxing on my recliner. I was in no mood to cook but then getting hungry is human, so I had to visit my kitchen to see what could be made. I decided to go light today so made use of all the remaining veggies (to clear off the fridge) to make a healthy Vegetable Soup. I finished off making a warm, healthy, filling soup for my lunch just within half an hour & went back to my couch only to get more lazy. Sometimes its good when you do nothing at all!! ;) Ingredients: 1/2 of medium cauliflower (cut into florets) 2 medium carrots (peeled & finely diced) 1 cup of fresh or frozen peas 1 medium potato (finely diced) 1 medium onion (finely chopped) 2-3 cloves of garlic (crushed) 25 gm butter salt & pepper to season Method: Melt the butter in a pressure cooker. Now add the crushed garlic & the chopped ...
22 comments
Read more