Dahi Vada an Indian Dish. It’s either eaten as snacks or as an accompaniment with the meals.
Dahi means Yoghurt/Curd and Vada is Vada 🙂 Vadas (in daha vada) are made of a lentil – urad dal without its skin. Ideally the urad daal is soaked in water for 4-5hrs or overnight and then grinded to a thick batter. This batter is then made in shapes mostly doughnut shape or even round and deep fried in oil.
I got some readymade urad dal flour from the grocery store. And could prepare good vadas with that too. I would say making vadas is simple…
Here are some of my tips to get it right:
-While making the batter use less water. A thin batter will be difficult to mould in shapes and for frying.
-Aerate the batter before frying. I have used a balloon whisk or you can also aerate it quickly using a food processor..my mom would use the food processor, while she would be juggling with many other things in kitchen along with her office mind and still lay the perfect meal for us on the dining table 🙂
Another thing about Aerating, it makes them soft and by doing this one can avoid adding soda bi-carbonate to the batter. I always prefer not to add it.
Here’s the recipe for Dahi Vada.
Recipe
Ingredients Used?
Urad Dal Flour OR Urad Dal Lentils
Oil for frying
Curd
Sugar & Salt
For Decoration-
Red Chilli Powder
Cumin Seed Powder
Chaat Masala Powder
How I Prepared It?
With Urad Dal Lentil – Soak them overnight in water .Then grind it to make a batter.
With Urad Dal flour(that’s what I have used to make here and it’s much simpler) – Mix the flour with water, mix it well so that there are no lumps in it. I used a balloon whisk to avoid the lumps. Cover this mixture and keep it overnight or at least for 3-4 hours.
Now aerate this batter. I used the balloon whisk and kept on whisking till I could see some air bubbles.
In the meantime heat oil. Add this batter to the oil and deep fry them. You can either make them into doughnut shape or in round shapes. Use an ice cream scoop to make the round shaped vadas and to add it in oil.
In the meantime in a deep sauce pan boil sufficient quantity of water with some salt in it (If you have already added salt in the batter then avoid it here). After the water has boiled turn off the heat. After frying all the vadas keep them in this hot water and cover it. Keep it for around 1-2 hours. By keeping the vadas in hot water after frying, we get rid off the excess oil in it.
The Vadas at this stage i.e. after squeezing out half of the water. Can be kept in an airtight container and in the deep freezer for a week. Later when needed just microwave it and proceed with the next steps of adding yoghurt and all…I usually do this when I have invited many guests and have planned to prepare this dish for the meal.
After the Vadas are squeezed out of water-
In a serving pot take yoghurt season it with some salt and cumin seed powder. If it’s a bit sour add sugar.(A very sour and watery yoghurt will spoil the dish, even sugar won’t be able to help it)
Add vadas in it. Decorate it by sprinkling the cumin seed powder, red chilli powder, chaat masala powder and with some drops or spoons of the Sweet ‘N’ Sour Chutney. (Click to see my recipe of this chutney)
Enjoy the Dahi Vada.
As you cut through the soft vada gathering it along with the creamy yoghurt the flavours of the spices, the tangy chutney and the chaat masala just mellows in your mouth… Hmm..It’s always yummy… No one can eat just one..;)
