BM #70 Week 3 Day 3 -
Medhu vadas are perfect for breakfast, brunch, lunch, snack or dinner, right? Also perfect for all ages as well. But making them the right way has always been a mystery to me. First hurdle was the making of the batter itself. Then getting the perfect shape and getting the fluffy and crisp vadas were a challenge as well.
I just managed a few times when it was mandatory for me to make these but the experience always left me disappointed. So when I had a request from my friend to make these for a pot luck party, I took up the challenge and went through some videos online and went ahead with the process.
Sandhya and Nalini of our BM group helped me in getting an estimate as I had to make about 60-70 vadas. I soaked 3 cups of Deskinned Whole Urad Dal which yielded 80 vadas and took me about 80 minutes to fry them. My husband pitched in to fry a few of them.
It took me an hour to grind the batter as the wet grinder I have could not handle more than 1.5 cups of urad dal and I realized it after a few failed attempts to grind the whole dal in a single batch.
But the result for the effort I had put was phenomenal. It made my day to be appreciated for the restaurant grade crispy vadas.
Ingredients -
Urad Dal 1 cup (Whole Urad dal deskinned - also known as Gota)
Salt, Crushed black pepper, Cumin and Asafotida as needed
Oil for deep frying
Method Of Preparation -
Wash the Urad dal in multiple exchanges of water. Soak the Urad Dal for for about 4 hours.
Drain the dal and grind into a thick batter using as little water as needed in a wet grinder. If using other methods of grinding make sure the batter is thick and that the resultant batter is beaten to aerate it sufficiently.
[To test if the batter is sufficiently aerated, drop half a teaspoon of batter in water and observe that the batter should float comfortably instead of half immersing in water]
Add salt, crushed black pepper, cumin and asafotida and mix well.
In a wok / kadai heat oil on medium heat. Keep a bowl of water handy.
With a wet hand scoop about a tablespoon of batter and gently bounce it to make a perfect ball. [Don't attempt to to flatten the ball as it would deflate the vada and make it dense and hard]. With the thumb make a hole in the shaped vada, slide it into the hot oil.
Continue with the batter and frying in batches without crowding the wok/kadai. Make sure the vadas are shaped with wet hand only.
Serve hot with sambar or chutney of your choice.
[If making these for a party, arrange the vadas in a foil tray and preheat the oven to about 170 °F, switch off the oven and place the vada tray in the hot oven. They will remain hot and crisp for a few hours]
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 70.
Sending these to Srivalli's "Kid's Delight - Birthday Party Snacks"
Preparation Time 30 minutes
Makes 18-20
Perfect looking vadas and bet they were a hit at the party.
That's an excellent one harini..enjoyed the conversation we had..
I love all the tips..and excellent vadas..can I pick one from the screen;))
Perfect vadas with helpful tips Harini :)
You have indeed achieved perfect result Harini. The vadas look super inviting..
Perfectly made medu vada Harini. Thank you for the tips on making vada.
Perfecto!!!! looks yumm harini!!
Just prefect, how prefect beautiful they looks, beautiful vadas there.