Medu Vada

 Medu vadas are a donut shaped breakfast fritters made using urad dal. Medu means soft and vada means fritters. The crust of these vadas are crisp and its soft and fluffy inside. Most the the recipes use rice flour or fine suji/rava for crispiness. But in this recipe, with just urad dal, we can make perfect crispy crust and soft centered medu vadas if you follow the recipe properly. Vadas remain crispy even when cooled.

To enhance the flavor, we add chopped coconut, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves, a pinch of hing and coriander leaves. Some add onions and peppercorns also.

Let's start the recipe..

Recipe Video :

Recipe Card :

Medu Vada

Yield: 15-20 vadas

Author: Namitha Shenoy

Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 10 Mininactive time: 8 HourTotal time: 8 H & 30 M

A perfect South-Indian breakfast recipe made using skinned urad dal and flavored with ginger, green chillies and coconut

Ingredients

• Urad Dal - 1 cup
• Coconut (finely chopped) - 2 tbsp
• Ginger (finely chopped) - 1 tbsp
• Green Chillies (chopped) - 2 nos
• Curry leaves (finely chopped) - 1 tbsp
• Coriander leaves (chopped) - 1 tbsp
• Asafoetida/Hing - a pinch
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Oil for deep frying (I used cold pressed Canola oil)

Instructions

1. Wash thoroughly and soak urad dal in enough water for a minimum of 4-5 hrs or overnight.
2. Next day, drain off the water using a strainer.
3. Grind to a smooth batter using a wet grinder (for best results) without adding water for 5 minutes.  (You can use blender also. But make sure you pulse and grind for 5 minutes.)
4. Scrape using a spatula.
5. Once the urad dal is crushed properly, add 1/4th cup of water and continue grinding until you get a smooth batter. Sprinkle little water if required. (It takes 20-25 minutes for the perfect batter on wet grinder and approx 1/2 cup of water) 
6. Once the batter is smooth, add 1 tsp of salt and grind for 2 minutes. 
7. Now transfer the batter to a large bowl.
8. Beat the batter well with hands in one direction continuously for 5 minutes. This is to incorporate air and make the batter fluffy. (The secret behind crisp and fluffy medu vadas)
9. To check if the batter is done, take a bowl of water. Drop little bit of batter in it. If it floats, the batter is perfectly ready.
10. Once done, add finely chopped coconut, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves and hing. Fold in very gently until all the ingredients are well combined. (Don't mix fast.)
11. Heat oil for frying. Check if the oil is hot enough by dropping little bit of batter. If it comes up instantly, then the oil is perfectly hot.
12. Now wet your hands. Take a portion of batter from the sides. Continuously roll over your hands to form a ball. Then make a hole in the center and gently drop into the oil. 
13. Similarly continue with the remaining batter. Remember to wet your hands every time you make vadas.
14. Fry on high flame for 5 minutes. Flip went the top of the vada is cooked.
15. After 5 minutes, fry on low flame until you get a perfect golden crisp crust and the oil bubbles stop. (Keep flipping every now and then for the even golden color)
16. The frying takes up to 10 minutes. 
17. Once the vadas are done, drain off the oil and transfer to a plate.
18. Serve immediately with chutney or sambhar.

Notes:

For the perfect vadas, make sure you don't add too much water while grinding the batter.

You can add onions and crushed pepper also.

Don't keep the batter for more than 1 hr. Your vadas will be very oily.

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @namiscookbook on instagram and hashtag it #namiscookbook