Paripu Vada - Lentil Fritters

You all must be wondering where did I abscond? I have been in and out of Dubai for the past two months.  Finally I have come back with sweet memories after my several short holidays, enjoyed my time with my lovely daughter, family and friends.  Missing everyone one again and hoping to grab an opportunity to visit them soon again.

Is there anyone who don’t like this. I don’t think so. Its such an amazing tea time snack loved from the young to the old. As you go towards  different parts of India you can see lot many variations to this lentil fritter/paripu Vada,  some of them add fresh greens to make it more healthy. You can try making this vada with different dals like channa dal, soya bean etc. Each dal has their own crunchy effect.

Today here I am posting a very basic and simple, crunchy and yummy paripu vada. Taking my memories back to my childhood days, during the monsoon times and when we return from school, my mom would surprise  us with this tea time snack as its much easy to make with the ingredients at home. A cup of tea and a bite of this vada…yummy J my day was made.

To get the crunchy effect just stick to the proportion of the dals I have specified. When you bite you should feel the crunchy sound of the vada which means its perfect. I made this  last evening for my tea, as these days we are off early from work – due to Ramadan. Sorry I missed to greet  many of you on  this wonderful occasion of Ramadan.

Ramadan Kareem!!

 More than all of us  guess who enjoyed the most my Kooky. He ate almost ¾ of a  vada. He loved  it so much.  

 

Ingredients

Toor dal  -  ¾  cup

Channa dal – ¼  cup

Dry red chillies - 7 nos

Onion – 1 medium size finely chopped

Green chillies finely chopped – 3 nos.

Curry leaves chopped- 2 sprig **

Shallots  5 nos and ginger – 1 inch (Crushed)

Asafetida powder  - a pinch

Coriander leaves – 2 sprigs**

Fennel seeds – a pinch

Oil  to deep fry

Salt to your taste

** Crush and break it with your hand to enhance the flavor out. Use more of the stem part of the coriander leaves as this gives more flavor to the vada.

Method

·         Wash the dals well and then soak it in enough water for about 3 hours. Then drain using a colander and let it drain completely.

·         Soak dry red chillies in water for 15 minutes and crush that too

·         Then coarsely grind soaked dal and dry red chillies in a food processor/mixer  for just 3-5 pulses without adding any water. Do make sure not to make it to a fine paste.

·         Removed the  ground dals to a bowl, throw in the crushed shallots and ginger, green chillies, curry and coriander leaves, onion, asafetida powder and enough salt to the ground dal mixture and mix it nicely. Let it rest for 10 minutes.

·         Make small balls of the dal mixture and keep it in a plate. Use each ball and carefully flatten it using your palms and slowly add to hot oil and deep fry it. Turn it in between till both sides becomes golden brown in color. It might take about 3-4 minutes and then transfer the fried vada to a paper towel. 

Notes:

·         People who use food processor, once you grind dal it will be too dry, just add about 2 -3 tbsp of besan powder to get a good binding and to get the perfect shape.

·         People using the mixer if your mix turns soggy then add 2 or 3 tbsp of besan powder

·         Keep the oil temperature  as much as u fry the papad like do not over heat the oil and put the vadas as it may get cooked outside and will be raw inside.

All time favorites of my family and probably yours too. Enjoy with a hot cup of tea or coffeeJ.

Latha