Vadas / Garelu

Ummm!! That’s what any one will say, when the word “vada” is heard. Crisp and yummy, they are a perfect rainy season delicacy. Served for breakfast, lunch or even as snacks, they make every eye drool! Popular on all refined cooking oil promoting advertisements, vadas do consume quite a bit of oil. So they are preferably once in a while for the calorie conscious and diet strict ones. But do indulge in them to make life feel crisp and beautiful.

Preparation time: 20-30 mins

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

Black gram (minapappu/ urad dal) 1 cup (200 gms)
Refined cooking oil 1cup
Salt to taste

Method:

Wash and soak the black gram for around half an hour. (Half an hour is maximum time, the more the soaking time, the more the oil that the vadas will absorb.)

Add to the blender, the soaked black gram, a pinch of salt and grind into a batter. The batter has to be smooth and slightly coarse. It has to be of semi-liquid consistency.

Heat oil in a deep pan/kadai (bandli/mookudu) (If possible, it is preferable not re-use used oil for making vadas, it is not healthy and the vadas will absorb the old oil taste and aroma.)

Apply oil to the left palm or onto a plastic cover/badam leaf/banana leaf and pat small lumps of the batter in circular motion into circular vadas. Make a small hole with the finger in the centre of the circle. Now deep fry the circles in pre heated oil till golden brown.

This process of patting the dough and making exact shaped vadas might feel cumbersome and difficult for learners like us. So just take lumps of the batter and drop into the pre-heated oil, or slightly press the batter in between fists to give a roll-shaped look and fry in pre-heated oil. This is more for people who are not particular about the shapes and are more interested in the taste and crispiness.

Whatever the shape, fry the vadas till golden brown on medium heat. This will ensure they are crisp as well. Remove onto tissues or clean napkins to remove excess oil.

Serve with any of the chutneys/pickles, or even the mango coconut chutney posted below. Vadas do taste good with sauces too, but chutneys are the traditional, ideal and the best combo. If kept for too long, sometimes the vadas become hard (when oil absorbed is less) and sometimes soggy (when oil absorbed is more), so it is advisable to serve fresh, hot and crisp. So get into the kitchen and enjoy the rain with crispy hot vadas and hot filter coffee in typical South Indian style.