Uddina Vada/Medu Vada Recipe
Idly vada is a combo breakfast dish available in all Udupi hotels. Here vada refers to Uddina vada/medu vada, a crispy, fluffy fritter tasting heavenly with chutney and udupi sambar. Uddina vada is one of the authentic snack of south India which is comfortable and royal food for people of these places. Given a chance to eat south Indian food any one would like to have either Idly, Vada or Dosa for sure. My father had a hotel business in north karnataka and I used to see how these vadas are dropped in to hot oil by chef. I recalled the same process while preparing these vadas. Take a look at this recipe and try at least once. Giving shape to the vada is a real challenge!!!!!
Ingredients
Urad dal/Split black gram- 1 cup
Green chillies- 2 (can vary according to taste)
Ginger- 1" piece
Ginger- 1" piece
Salt- 1 tbsp or to taste
Curry leaves- 3 strands
Coriander leaves- Handful
Coconut pieces- handful(optional)
Preparation
- Wash and Soak urad daal/Black gram seeds for 3 to 4 hours or overnight.
- Chop ginger, green chillies, curry leaves, coriander leaves in to very small pieces.
Method
- Drain all the water from soaked urad dal and grind it along with salt, green chilly in to smooth fluffy mixture. It is better to use wet grinder for grinding which helps to obtain soft and fluffy batter. Use very less water. For a cup of urad dal approximately 1/4 cup of water is enough.
- If you are using mixer to grind, then add only little ( 3 to 4 tea spoons) water. You have to grind until the batter becomes light and fluffy. Sprinkle water if the mixer is making lot of noise.
- Take out the batter in a wide bowl and start beating it with hand for 5 minutes. It will make batter more light.Check if the batter is ready by dropping a small ball of batter in to bowl of water. If the batter floats then it is ready to use. If it sinks then you have to beat it with hand for a minute more. This step is important if you are using mixer for grinding.
- Add chopped ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and coconut pieces to the ground urad dal batter. Mix it well.
- Heat oil in a frying pan. Wetting your hand with water, take a small ball sized batter, make a hole in the middle with your thumb and drop it in to hot oil.
- Fry these uddina vadas/medu vadas until they turn brown in medium flame. Turn over and fry until another side gets golden brown.
- Keep these fried uddina vada/medu vadas on kitchen tissue paper and repeat the process for remaining batter.
- Medu vada/uddina vada is ready to be served with chutney and sambar. This is a fantastic breakfast or evening snack. Try and enjoy.........
- Chopped green chillies can be added to the batter instead of adding them while grinding. You will get green chilly to chew while eating Uddina vada/medu vada.
- Grinding urad dal properly is very important step, If the batter is not fluffy and thick the vadas will not be soft.
- The quality of urad dal also matters a lot.
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