Masala Vada

The last few months of every year come strung with festivals knit together one after another. I made these masala vadas for Dussera and we're already well into Diwali! We're all surrounded with lots of good food and festivities. Crunchy munchies and sweet delicacies adorn the counter-top of ever kitchen in an Indian household around this time of the year.

Sorry about the sad quality of the pictures here, it was raining outside and clouds barely allowed any light indoors.

These are not only made during festivals. Think about the number of times you would've stopped by the corner shop to pick up a newspaper cone filled with fresh, hot masala vadas. Yum! This one is an ode to all the delicious street food we have in India.

I have explained making these vadas using a mixer/blender. Traditionally they are stone ground and the resultant texture is simply mouthwatering. This method yields something to that effect.

Make these this Diwali along with your festive spread and watch them disappear. (Psst...Instead, keep a couple of them in the kitchen and away from the grabbing hands. Don't complain if you have nothing left for yourself in the end!)





Ingredients
1.5 Cups Channa Dal/Split Chickpeas/Split Bengal Gram Dal) - Soaked for about 6 hours
Couple sprigs of Coriander, washed and finely chopped
Couple sprigs of Dill, washed and finely chopped
2 Large Red Onions, finely chopped
5 Green chillies, finely chopped
1 inch piece of Ginger, washed, peeled and grated
Oil, for deep frying
And, of course, some salt to taste!

Method
- Place chopped coriander, dill, red onions, green chillies and grated ginger in a large mixing bowl
- Drain away the water used to soak the channa dal and divide dal into three portions
- In the mixer/blender, place one of the three portions and use the grind option to grind the dal into a smooth paste with minimum (about 2 tablespoons or so) of water. You will have to open and stir the dal often to get a smooth mixture
- Add the smooth ground dal to the other ingredients
- Next, toss in another of the three portions of dal into the mixer and grind to a coarse texture, opening and stirring every few times you run the blender. Use lesser water this time. Don't loose patience. The vadas are almost done!
- Add the coarse ground dal to the bowl of ingredients
- Roughly grind the last portion of dal. It's ok even if you can see chunks of dal. If you're tired of the mixer/blender by now, go ahead and simply roughly chop up the soaked dal and add it to the bowl of ingredients
- Add salt and combine all ingredients
- Heat oil in a kadai/deep pan/wok
- Make 1 inch wide vadas and fry on a medium flame
- Serve hot with coriander chutney

Makes about 25 vadas