Medhu Vadai | மெது வடை | Ulundu Vadai | உளுந்து வடை | Urad-dal Vada

Ulundu Vadai is a famous South-Indian snack prepared during festivals. It is also served as a popular breakfast recipe, paired with chutney, sambar and hot idlis. The consistency of the batter plays important role in shaping the vada and its texture. Also getting the perfect shape, with the hole in the middle, requires a little practice. I have given tips in the notes section, so read the notes before you start trying the recipe. I always follow my mom's recipe and I am sharing it today.


Ingredients :-
------------------

Urad dal	1 cups
Onions (finely chopped)	1
Cumin	1 tsp
Pepper	1 tsp
Ginger (mince)	1" piece
Curry leaves	few
Coriander leaves	few
Oil	for deep frying
Hing	pinch
Salt	to taste

Method :-
--------------
1). Soak the urad dal for 2-3 hours, wash and drain the water completely. Start grinding the urad dal in a running grinder. Keep sprinkling water little by little and wipe the sides every now and then to avoid urad dal getting stuck to the base of the grinder. Grind it to a smooth batter till it become fluffy.

2). To check the right consistency of the batter, drop a scoop of batter in a bowl of water. Batter should form a pointed tip and if the batter floats without dissolving, then it is in the right consistency. If you are not making vada immediately, keep the batter covered in refrigerator till use. Before frying, bring it to room temperature and beat the batter to provide aeration. 

3). Do this step just before frying :- In a mixer, coarsely powder cumin and pepper. In a wide mixing bowl, add cumin-pepper powder, grounded batter, hing, curry leaves, ginger, corainder leaves and salt. Combine everything together then finally add chopped onions. Whip the batter to make it light and fluffy. The texture of the batter should be fluffy, not too sticky. 

4). In a medium flame, heat oil in a pan for deep frying. Wet your palm, scoop up a small portion of batter and flatten to round shape. Make a small hole in the center using your thumb. When the oil is hot, slowly slide the vada. 

5). Fry the vadas on both sides, till they turn crisp and golden brown. Using a slotted spoon carefully remove the vadas and drain it on tissue paper to remove excess oil. 

Crispy Vadas are ready !! Serve hot with chutney and sambar. 

Notes :- 
-----------
# If you are grinding the batter in the mixie, add a tsp of oil near the blade so that it helps to grind it.
# If you add more water while grinding the batter, vada will absorb more oil while deep frying.  
# Soaking the urad dal in icewater and using ice water while grinding gives more volume and helps to get fluffy batter and soft vada. 
# Mix salt only just before using. Batter leaves water after mixing salt. Also never ever grind the batter with salt. 
# You can also add spinach, carrots or beets and make it colorful for serving kids. 
# You can also add a tsp of rice flour to the batter, for crispy restaurant style vadas. 
# You can also use ziplock bags or banana leaf for shaping the vadas. 
# Skip onions, if you are planning to prepare it for offering to the God.



If you enjoy reading my blog, Join my page on Facebook |  follow me on Twitter  | add me on Google+ 

Related Posts :-
--------------------- 
Click here for more :- Appetizer / Snacks Recipes
Click here for more :- Vadai Recipes
  
     Cheers,