Vadai
I loooooove Indian food and I love the vadai sold at the corner stall between the Telawi Streets of Bangsar. Even my partner loves Vadai; the occassional times of biting into a hot, green chili hasn’t deterred his caucasian tongue one bit. Such is his love for them and only the ones in Bangsar. Since we came back to Canada, we have been craving for things like roti canai, vadai, idli, dhall, coconut chutney…..So last week, in the midst of craziness, I made Vadai, Dhall and Coconut Chutney! I’ll probably post about the Dhall and Coconut Chutney another day but today…today is all about the Vadai!
The recipe calls for Urad Dhall. Now, urad dhall is naturally a black bean like lentil with a creamy white interior. Buy the white peeled urad dhall. Don’t make the mistake of buying the black unpeeled urad dhall like me. My vadai as you can see in the picture is darker than the usual vadai because I used unpeeled urad dhall. The taste is not compromised however, thankfully!
So I got my vadai recipe from Recipezaar.
Ingredients:
| 1 | cup Urad Dal (See!! they didn’t mention whether I should buy the peeled or unpeeled!) |
| 3 | chopped green chilies |
| 1 | teaspoon whole black peppercorns |
| 1 | teaspoon salt |
| 1-2 | sprig curry leaves |
| oil (for frying) |
1 Onion, finely sliced
Method:
- Soak 1 cup urud dal in sufficient amount of water for 2-4 hours (or 4 hours + if you bought unpeeled urad dhal) and grind into a thick fine flour. I used my blender, it was hell, i wish i had a kitchenaid food processer
- Add 1 tsp salt, 2-3 chopped green chillies, 1 tsp whole black peppers, onions, the curry leaves and mix well.
- Wet your hands and take a ball of thick paste (it should be a cross between play dough and mud) and shape it into a donut of about 6-7 cm diameter wide.
- Deep fry this in oil and turn over until the vadai turns golden brown.
It’s pretty simple actually, the hardest part for me was the blending. But it was alllllll worth it in the end!
every bite was slathered with dhall and coconut chutney!
I’m not sure where to get Urad Dal here in California. Maybe I have go to some Indian supermarket.
Yea I think you should be able to find them in indian supermarket or arab supermarkets. And I checked for you, urad dhal is also called:
urad dal = black lentil = black gram = kali dal
OMG I am sooo gonna try this! Not to mention all the other mouth-watering sinful sinful sinful recipes..
Weee I know what I shall do this long weekend. Splendid 
Hey Shirin,
Thanks for dropping by!
I guess this blog is the result of having too much time and too much love for cooking. Hehehe…
Hi, this is my first visit to your blog, but am relieved to see that someone made the same mistake as I did!
I also made my own vadai with unskinned urad dal, but you’re right, it tastes just as good!
http://khao-piyo-mauj-karo.blogspot.com/2007/02/wff-2-take-my-pulse.html
Cheers!
Hi Shilpa, thanks for dropping by! I thought I was the only one who made that mistake too but phew
best way to eat vadai… alternate the bites with bites off a fresh crunchy green chili
Ouch…must be painfully good!