There are many names for this famous South Indian delicacy. These crispy vadas are loved by all. I remember while growing up, my brother used to pester aayi to make these often. She would serve it with coconut chutney . I have remained a fan over the years. I like to order these whenever we go to any Indian restaurant here or any restaurant in India. I love mine dipped in sambar.
Everyone likes to flavor their vadas differently. I add curry leaves, green chillies and/or pepper, coconut pieces to mine. One of the basic requirements to get these perfect is to grind with very less water. I use my ultra grinder to make the batter. Ever since I bought this, I am making the perfect, crispy vadas at home.
Ingredients: 2 cups urad dal Oil Salt 2 tbl spns coconut pieces 5-6 curry leaves 1 tea spn black pepper or 4 green chillies cut into pieces
Method: Soak urad dal in water for few hours. Grind it to a smooth batter without adding too much water. Now add coconut, curry leaves and pepper(or green chillies), salt. Apply some water to your palm. Take a small ball of the batter and give it a round shape. Make a hole ( thootu ) in the center. (Below I have used a parchment paper to help in taking picture. But palm of your hand works best in my opinion). Heat oil and slide these vadas very carefully. Fry till they are crispy. Serve while they are still hot with sambar and/or chutney.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 30mins
Pictorial:
Hope you all had a happy Ganesha Chaturthi. We had a small pooja at home this year too. We got a beautiful 10 inch Ganesha from local Indian store here. Ishaan also enjoyed looking at the decorations. We could not do much decorations this year as V did everything at the last moment, but still it was lovely pooja.
I made a small spread for the offering. It had idlis, dali thoy , muga randayi , tandla paays, baje , taushe hulel , modak . I wanted to make some paays/kheer with jaggery. So I called up aayi and she suggested this. It was a nice change from the usual sugar based paays/kheer I usually make.
Some other versions of this – paal payasam , kheer , tandla-chane dali paays
Ingredients: 1/2 cup rice (I used basmati rice, any rice can be used) 1 cup thick coconut milk 1/2 cup (approx) jaggery 1 tbl spn raisins 1 tbl spn cashews 1/4 tea spn cardamom powder
Method: Cook rice in enough water along with cashews and raisins, till it is done, take care not to make it too mushy. Add jaggery and cook till it is all melted. Now add coconut milk and bring it to boil. Switch off the heat and add cardamom powder. Serve hot or cold.
PS: – Sugar can be used in place of jaggery. – If you do not like coconut milk, use normal milk. – Depending on the color of jaggery, the color of paays changes. I had very light colored jaggery, so it came out very light.
Home made coconut milk: Grind fresh/frozen coconut with a cup of water to a coarse paste. Sieve the paste and squeeze all the liquid off the particles. Again add little more water and repeat.
