Spiced Lentil Fritters ,Paruppu vadai or Aama vadai as it is called in Southern regions and in Tamil is a definite must on the menu during festival lunch and offered as Prasadam /Neivediyam to God along with sakkarai Pongal. Popularly known as Dal Vadas to the rest of the nation this has so many avataars.

Spiced with green chillies ,ginger,subtle taste of fennel,hint of garlic and the freshness of the coriander and mint leaves leaves and the succulent pink onions leaves you wanting more.

Another name this fritter goes by popularly is Masal Vadas, Masala Vadai which has so many takers in all the nook and cranny tea shops that abound any street in India and a cup of hot spicy masala chai and a masala vada is to die for.

Coming to the recipe here which is for the simpler version of the dal vadas where no onions are added and so also garlic as it is offering to God.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Bengal gram dal,Chana Dal, Kadalai Paruppu

• 3 tbsp Tuvar dal \ split red gram\ Thuvaram paruppu\ Pigeon peas

• 2 red dry chillis

• salt to taste

• pinch of asafoetida powder\hing

• sprigs of curry leaves

• oil for deep frying.

Method:

Soak the dals \lentils for 2 hours.

Drain well without water and grind along with 2 red chillis,salt,asafoetida to a almost dry coarse paste.

Some pieces of lentils may remain whole which is fine as it adds to the taste.

Add sprigs of curry leaves to the paste and start making the fritters\vadas.

Coarsely grind the dals with red chillis,asafoetida and salt.

Take a ziploc bag or a plastc sheet or even a plantan leaf , and lightly grease it on one side. Thoe who are comfortable , can use the palm for parrng the vadai .
Take a small ball of the ground paste and flatten it lightly on the greased cover. Make four or five vadas that you will deep fry immediately.

When the oil has heated well , ease out the vadas gently from the greased ziploc cover and slide carefully into the hot oil.

Turn the vadas in the oil ,with a ladle and deep fry well to a golden colour.

Drain in a colander and place on paper towels to drain oil.

Serve hot while it is crispy on the outside and little soft inside. Enjoy !

Masal Vadai:

I am not posting a separate post about Masal vadai as the basic ingredient is the same. The recipe is very easy .All you got to do is to add finely chopped onions,chopped coriander leaves,little chopped mint leaves,1 tsp of fennel seeds\saunf, piece of ginger and a little piece of garlic if you want.

After you coarsely grind the lentils as in the previous recipe for dal Vadas, simply add the ingredients mentioned here and shape into vadas. Do not add too much water to the batter, you need a thick batter so that the vadas come out cripsy. and deep fry.

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