Vadakari – Lentil Curry
When I was in India Vadakari used to be in our breakfast menu atleast twice in a month. It is one of my favorite sides with idli . But I never got a chance to get the recipe and live demo from my mom. After I got married I came to know it is my hubby’s favorite too. I tried it a few times but it wasn’t even anywhere close to my moms recipe. My mother-in-law is in town and now she made this last month for us and I was like this is it! It was just my moms recipe and the same restaurant style taste that I used to crave for. And now I got the recipe and tried it last week by myself and it came out really good.
It is again one of the famous breakfast dishes in South India. There wouldn’t be a vegetarian restaurant in Tamilnadu without this in their menu. It’s a must have dish. My mouth is watering even as I am writing this recipe. Maybe I’ll make some tomorrow. 😉
Ingredients:
- Channa dal : 1 cup
- Onion : 3
- Tomatoes : 2
- Whole red chili : 6
- Ginger and garlic paste : 1 tsp
- Turmeric Powder : 1 tsp
- Coriander powder : 1/2 tbsp
- Red chili powder : 2 tbsp
- Coconut milk : 1/4 cup (optional)
- Curry Leaves : 8 to 9 springs
- Bay leaves : 2
- Cloves : 3
- Cinnamon sticks : 1 small
- Mint leaves : 1 tsp ( chopped)
- Coriander leaves : 1 tsp(chopped)
- Fennel seeds : 1tsp
- Salt : required to taste
For seasonings:
- Oil : 2tsp
- Mustard seeds : 1 tsp
- Fennel seeds : 1 tsp
- Cinnamon stick : 1/4 inch
- Curry leaves : few ( nos mentioned above)
Method of preparation :
- Soak the channa dal for 3 to 4 hours and grind them coarsely with fennel seeds and whole red chilies into a thick coarse paste. (make sure its not a fine paste).
- After that add half an onion (chopped) and curry leaves into the coarse paste, make small vadas (flattened lemon sized balls) out of it and fry it in oil (no need to deep fry it).
- Heat oil in a kadai/pan, add cloves, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves, remaining chopped onions and sautee it for few minutes till the onions become translucent.
- After that add ginger & garlic paste and fry them until the raw smell goes off.
- Now add the chopped tomatoes with coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, a glass of water and little salt. Then mix it all together and let it cook for 5 to 10 minutes under closed lid.
- When its come to a full boil and cooked well, crush the fried vadas with your hands and add it into the gravy.
- And add mint leaves and a tsp of coriander leaves, close the lid and let it cook for another 5 minutes in medium heat.
- Finally add the coconut milk and boil it for another 3 minutes and remove from heat.
- Heat oil in a pan, add the seasonings and when its sputter remove it from heat and put it into the curry as garnish.
Note:
Its best to add the vadas in to the curry when its hot so try to make the vadas when you have the curry going and ready to add the vadas.
28 Comments
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Delicious and yummy curry……Its new for me…Will try soon…
guess ur posts not coming in toi,,,will add u in my blogroll…:-)
Looks so delicious. love the pic..inviting…
Your description makes me crave this! It certainly looks awesome!
Hmm reminds Saidapet Vadai curry 🙂 Looks heaven with idlis…
Wow lentil curry never heard of it. Looks tempting.
looks very yummy
adding coconut milk is something that i got to try..we both love vadacurry..we prefer to eat it along with chapathi:)
I had this 8 yrs ago with some uthappam and absolutely loved it. Your picture is absolutely mouthwatering… hope to try the recipe some day.
That curry looks so fantastic!! Thanks for sharing.
love the pic with the idlis… bet it tasted delicious too!
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Vadakari looks awesome! My all time favorite for idlis and dosas.. I have the recipe posted in my blog too… Great recipe, Shriya!
what a delicious lentil curry! Looks beautiful.
hey priya…. vada curry reminds me of chennai too…….i shall surely try ur version soon!
Sounds (and looks) yum! But…it’s a bit of an effort, isn’t it…can I just pop over for breakfast instead ? 🙂
Delicious curry…! Exact combo for idli’s.. Am drooling over the idli and curry. Do visit my blog:)
Shriya….Yummy recipe….I tried it last week and it came out really very well…My hubby liked it very much…Thanx for the recipe 🙂
Thank you very much shriya.I have been cravin for the recipe.
Have made this many times, changing it up a little always, and it is fantastic! Thank you for the post!!
wow really superb and my favourite dish also thanku shirya
Just love ur site . al spicy dishes esp .. extremely helpful for new cooks:) hope to c more of ur recipes.
i tried today. it became very delicious. thanx for sharing.
My Favorite dish 😉
When making the vadas do you need to add salt to it or only to the curry? I love vadakari – the taste of Madras!
hi shreiya!!!!!!!!!!
i was prepare vadakari but its not tasty…. so i dropped to prepare after that… i search in google i got ur receipe… ur ingredients & pic is nice it makes me to do again…. thanks for ur yummy receipe………
Vadakari looks great and I’m going to try it out. I was browsing and saw this post that looks like a copy of your recipe. Please take a look: http://indian-recipes4all.blogspot.com/2011/03/vada-kari-recipe-south-indian-lentil.html
When do you add the mustard seeds?