Medhu vada | Ulunthu vadai

Medhu vada or uzhunthu vadai is a traditional south Indian recipe. This vada is prepared for every South Indian festivals and marriages, without vada it is not a complete food in festival or marriages. When comes to vada, I prefer medhu vada. When soaked in sambhar,rasam and yogurt it is called sambhar vadai, rasam vadai and thayir vadai. I love this vadai in all form. Try this and enjoy in any way....

 

Ingredients:

• Urad dal - 1 cup
• Raw rice - 1 tbsp
• Green chilly - 1
• Red chilly - 2 
• Ginger - 1 tsp, grated
• Curry leaves - 5, chopped finely
• Cilantro - 1 tbsp, chopped
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - to deep fry

Method:

Soak the urad dal and rice together for 1 hour. Grind it in a blender or wet grinder with red chilly, green chilly and ginger. Add water little by little and grind to a thick batter.

Transfer the batter in a bowl, add curry leaves cilantro, asafoetida and salt. Keep water in a  separate bowl to wet the hands for preparing vadas. Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan.

Wet the hands and take a medium size batter and place it in the ziploc cover. Pat the batter and make a hole in the center. Slip gently in the hot oil. Fry vada in batches over moderate heat till golden brown.

Serve with sambhar or/and chutney.

Note:

• Do not soak urad dal for more than one and half hours. Do not add salt while grinding, otherwise the batter will become watery.
• If grinding in a mixie(blender), grind to a smooth batter and pulse for few minutes. Add ice water while grinding.
• If the batter is watery, add a tsp of rice flour. You can add finely chopped onions in the batter and fry it.
• The shape comes only in practice, if you don't get shapes drop in spoon, that also taste good.