Uradh Dhal Vada / Medhu Vadai / Ulundhu Vadai

Uradh dhal vada / Ulundhu vadai is my all-time favourite. This vada is a popular southindian snack recipe and it is also offered as naivedhyam to god during festivals. Here the uradh dhal batter is spiced up with very few ingredients and then deep fried to get a delicious vada. This vadai can also be served as an sidedish with pongal  varieties (Refer Venpongal and Foxtail millet pongal recipes) along with sambar and coconut chutney.

Do check the links for other uradh dhal recipes:

• Ulundhu kali
• Sweet uradh dhal porridge

Ingredients:

Uradh dhal – 200 gms

Rice flour – 2 tbsp

Onion – 1 big

Green chilli – 2 nos

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Coriander leaves – 2 tbsp

Salt – to taste

Water – 1 cup (approx)

Oil – for deep frying

Method:

1. Rinse and soak Uradh dhal for 2 hrs.
2. Grind the uradh dhal into a fluffy batter using a grinder or mixie. Add water little by little when grinding the dhal. Adding too much water makes the vadai oily. Use ice cold water to grind the dhal to get a fluffy batter (It takes about 15 to 20 mins to get a fluffy batter)
3. Now add the chopped onion, greenchilli, curry leaves, coriander leaves, salt, rice flour to the uradh dhal batter and mix well and keep aside.
4. Heat oil in a pan for deep frying (add generous amount of oil in kadai for frying or else, the vada may stick to the bottom).
5. Wet your hands in water and take a lump of batter, make a hole in the middle with your thumb and drop it in the hot oil.
6. Fry the vadas in a medium high flame till it turns crispy and golden brown on both sides.
7. Prepare the vadas with the remaining batter in the same way and drain excess oil with paper towel.
8. Crispy uradh dhal vada is ready to be served with a cup of tea.

Refer other Appetizers / Vada recipes here: Vazhaipoo Vadai/Banana flower patties and Onion bajji

Note:

• Grinding the soaked uradh dhal in wet grinder gives you soft vadas than using mixie  and the volume and fluffiness of the batter is also more when using wet grinder
• Using Ice cold water for grinding dhal is recommended to get a fluffy batter.
• The batter leaves little water after mixing salt along with onion, so add salt to the batter just before making the vadas.
• If the vada drinks so much oil (this means more water is added while grinding the urad dhal batter), then u can add little more rice flour