Dahi vada – Curd Vada

Dahi Vada is a savory snack from South India. It can vary in shape and size and are made of lentils, gram flour or potato. We have already discussed about medu vada in our earlier post. Dahi Vada is nothing but medu vada dipped in yogurt mixture and served chill. You can serve it as a snack or alongside a meal. Usually, we eat it at the end of the meal. Here you go…

Ingredients:

For Vada:

• White Lentil/Urad dal – 250 g
• Green chillies – 2
• Ginger (finely chopped) – 1 tsp
• Salt to taste
• Curry leaves – 6 to 7 leaves
• Vegetable Oil or Canola oil for frying – 2 to 3 cups

For the Curd Mixture:

• Yogurt – 4 cups
• Green Chillies – 2
• Grated Coconut – 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

For decoration:

• Carrot – 1
• Cilantro – 1/4 cup

Method of Preparation:

Preparation of the Dip:

Take 4 cups of yogurt and beat it for a minute or two to become a smooth flowing liquid. Do not beat it for a longer time. Now grind the green chillies, cumin, salt and grated coconut into a fine paste and add it to yogurt and mix well. Keep it aside.

Preparation of Vada:

Soak the urad dal for half an hour to forty minutes.Make sure that it is not soaked for more than 40 minutes because the Vada will absorb more oil in that case. Grind it in wet grinder or mixer grinder or food processor along with ginger, green chillies and salt .Do not add more water to the mixture. Add water little by little till it becomes a fine paste. It should be little thicker than the cake batter.You should be able to make round shape vadas. When you grind the batter in wet grinder or mixer grinder, it will rise and become fluffy and this texture helps to make soft Vadas. Even the food processor will give you a good result.

Once the batter becomes a fine paste, transfer it to a container and add chopped curry leaves. Heat oil in a deep bottomed vessel. If you are not concerned about the shape of the Vada and just the taste, it is easy to make it.Just dip your palm in water and take a small portion of batter of lemon size and drop it in the hot oil.Repeat the same procedure and add two to three balls according to the size of the vessel. Turn the other side, deep fry them and remove once they become golden brown in colour. You can see the bubbles settling down in oil once they are ready.

If you would like to get the perfect shape of the Vadas, check here.

Now take the Vadas out and put it in the yogurt mixture. Let it be inside the yogurt mixture till the next set of Vadas are done. Before dropping the next set of Vadas in the yogurt mixture, transfer the dipped Vadas to a tray and arrange them. Repeat the same procedure for the rest of the Vadas. Once you arrange all the Vadas in the tray, shred the carrot and sprinkle some chopped cilantro.

🙂 Serve chill with plain yogurt.