Vadai / Medhu Vadai - Urad Dhal Fritters

Vadai / Medhu Vadai

Any festival is not complete without the vadai or medhu vadai. We three in our house love this medhu vadai and my folks love the way I make. The blend of the smell of vadai being deep fried, agarbathi and camphor brings you completely to the festival mood. Every one at home.. lots of talking.. lot of work as well.. fasting.. little tiresome.. still excited about festivals. Proud being a part of this culture.
Lets me take you to the recipe of this polite, tempting and yummy vadai/medhu vadai.

For more - Festival Foods, Vaazhaippu Vadai, Deepavali,

Ingredients:

• Urad dhal - 1 cup
• Raw rice - 1 tablespoon
• Onion - 1 big
• Ginger - 1 inch piece
• Green chillies - 2 
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Coriander leaves 
• Salt - as required
• Water - few tablespoons to grind

Procedure:

• Wash and soak the rice and urad dhal for at least 2 hours.
• Chop the onions and keep ready.
• Today I am using mixer to grind. But wet grinders are always best for grinding for vadai as they make the batter light and fluffy.
• Transfer the soaked urad dhal, raw rice and green chillies and ginger to the mixer. 

• Add as little water as possible and grind the vadai batter.. just enough for the mixer or grinder to be comfortable other wise the vadais will drink the oil while frying.
• Do not make the batter too fine like butter. 
• Once the batter is ready add the finely chopped oinions, curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt. Mix well.
• Take small portion of the batter, and drop it in hot oil to deep fry them. 
• Fry them till they are golden brown and crunchy.

Tips:

1. Try to add as little water as possible while grinding. Too much water will make runny batter and the vadais will drink lots of oil while frying.
2. Once you add the onions to the vadai batter.. do not wait any longer.. start making vadais right away. Otherwise the water content from the onion will make the batter runny.
3. If, in case the batter becomes little loose and runny, do not panic, instead add little rice flour. Mix and make vadais.
4. If you are planning to save little vadai batter in fridge, do that before adding the onion. Store the vadai batter before adding onion.
5. Every time you take vadai batter in your hand, dip your finger tips alone in water and try to wet your palm. Do not put your whole hand in water every time and touch the batter, as this too will make the batter runny.
6. Grinding vadai batter in grinder always gives soft and fluffy vadais. But, grinding in blender or mixer makes denser vadais. To check whether the batter is light and well aerated, take a small dollop of batter and drop it in water. If you have ground it in grinder, the batter will float. And if it was ground in mixer, it will NOT float.
7. Some how, I feel that adding onions make the vadai soft. Vadais with onion are softer than vadais without onions.

Delicious and tempting vadais.. with lot of onions and ginger flavour.. crunchy on the out side and soft inside.. heaven !

Happy cooking !!