Medu Vada (Deep Fried Lentils Donuts)

Medu Vada is a traditional favorite of south india that features as an important part of menu on festivals and puja days .The trick in getting perfect vadas is to grind the batter with very less water and then deep fry on medium flame . Its crispier from outside but very soft inside. Thats sign of a perfect vada. Some people do soak the Urad dal overnight. I would soak for an hour and grind it. Its completely optional to press a hole in the centre of vadas . Its just the way it is prepared by some professional cooks. I am not professional but I can say i got vadas in good shape after practising 2-3 times. So you also make it like small balls.

Medu Vada (Deep fried Lentil Donuts)             

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 Hour 20 minutes

Makes about: 25-30 Vadas

Ingredients

• 1 cup of Left Over Idli Batter
• 2 tsp of Rice flour
• 1 tbsp of Semolina/Suji Rava
• 1 tbsp of Ginger,Grated
• 3-4 Green Chillies,slit
• Oil for Deep frying
• 1-2 tsp of Cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp of Coriander Leaves

Method

• Wash and soak the Urad dal for an hour or until you feel its soft enough to grind . Grind into thick batter in a grinder /blender. Do not add excess water ,Just add very less water
• Later take the batter from grinder and remove it an bowl and set aside.
• Add some chopped onions, green chili-ginger paste and curry leaves (Optional) to the batter and mix well. Add salt to taste too
•  Meanwhile, Heat some oil in pan for deep frying vadas.
• Check the heat of oil by dropping a little amount of batter. If it drops and raises slowly up then its time to fry the vadas. so apply some water in hands and take little batter and make any shape or press hole in centre and drop the vadas into the oil
• Fry them till golden and remove them on bloating paper covered plate 

Serve the vadas hot hot with Sambhar and Coconut chutney. Its so crispy n soft

My Notes

• If grinding the batter in blender and the batter is very watery , Do refrigerate the batter for few hours and use it
• Do not add baking soda . Instead try grinding them in wet grinder. You get a foamy and tight batter .
•  You can add anything to the vada batter like spinach, coriander leaves etc
• Add the salt to the batter just before making vadas