Dahi vada / Mosaru vade / Perugu vadalu

Dahi/perugu vada is one of the famous South Indian snack which is served along with lunch in any function,marriage and festival.I love the combination of this cool dahi vada which complements well with a full fledged spicy meal and it can be even served as a evening snack.When I generally make vada's for breakfast I prepare one extra batch to make dahi vada's which are generally savored later in the day.This will be a wonderful food in summer's as we do not like eating hot and spicy food in that hot weather.Even though it is deep fried,as it is soaked in dahi it will be a perfect soothing snack on those hot days.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup grated carrot
2-3 tbsp chopped coriander
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder

To make Vada's:

1 Cup whole Urad dal(white)
1 tbsp finely chopped coconut pieces
1/2 tsp finely chopped green chillies
1 tsp finely chopped ginger
1 tsp Jeera/Cumin seeds
1/2 tsp slightly crushed pepper(optional)
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
2 tbsp finely chopped curry leaves
salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

For making Curd/dahi mixture:

3-4 cups curd/yogurt(preferably one day old)
1 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp green chilli paste
salt to taste

For Tadka:

1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
3 red chillies,broken
5-6 curry leaves
a pinch of hing


Method:

• Soak urad dal overnight or atleast for 1 hr.Use the round white variety urad dal for this.
  
• Strain the soaked urad dal and grind it to a fluffy mixture in the grinder(even a mixie also does the same job,but in grinder you get more fluffy batter which is apt for making vada's).Add water only if needed,do not add much water while grinding this.Try to beat this mixture with hands for two mins continuously which helps in yielding fluffier vada's.
• Now add chopped coconut pieces,green chillies,ginger,coriander leaves,curry leaves,jeera,crushed pepper,salt to it and mix well.
• Whisk yogurt with salt properly.Add grate ginger and green chilli paste to it and mix well.
• Heat a tsp of oil in a small tadka pan and crackle mustard seeds and add urad dal,broken red chillies,curry leaves and fry for a minute and add hing and remove it from the stove.Add the tadka to the beaten curd mixture and reserve some for the garnish.
• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed kadai on medium heat and mean while grease your left palm(or wet your hands) and place little vada mixture and flatten it and make a hole in it and slowly transfer to the right hand and slip it to the hot oil carefully.(You can do this with right hand if you are expertized in it or you can even try patting it on a greased banana leaf or greased milk cover)
• Repeat the same process for the remaining mixture.Drop 4-5 at a time,do not drop in more or else they will stick to each other.
• Let them fry on medium flame until crisp and deep golden brown in color on both sides and drop them into the curd mixture and let it soak in it for 30-45 mins .Check for detailed pics for Vade here.
• Now remove the soaked vada's and arrange them on a plate and pour over the left over curd mixture and sprinkle red chilli powder and roasted jeera powder all over the vada's.
• Garnish with chopped coriander and grated carrot.
• Chill them and serve.Note:
  

• You can make vada's just out of urad dal mixture (mixed with salt) by avoiding adding all the ingredients under the "To make vada's" section.I generally make vada's for breakfast and I use the same vada's for the perugu vada also.There is no difference except that it will be slightly spicy when u bite into green chillies.So try to adjust the green chillies according to your taste.
• It can be refrigerated upto next day but will slightly turn soar.

Check my earlier version for Medu Vada/Uddine Vade here.