Saturday, January 2, 2010

Sambhar Vadai

Ingredients
  1. Urad Dhal - 1 cup
  2. Green Chilli - 1
  3. Curry Leaves - 1 branch
  4. Asafoetida - One small pinch
  5. Salt - To Taste
  6. Oil - To deep fry


Procedure - For Vadai
  1. Soak urad dal overnight for atleast 8 hours. Finely (I mean, very finely) chop Green Chillis & Curry Leaves
  2. In a grinder, finely grind the soaked urad dal. Don't add too much water, just add as much as it needs to keep the grinder working. (Yes, you can use a mixie too, but if you grind it, you'll get more for your buck!)
  3. When its done, add the above finely chopped items to the ground mixture with salt and asafoetida
  4. Now, take a ping-pong sized ball of this mixture, place it on your four fingers, make a small hole in the center of the vadai and slowly drop it in boiling oil
  5. Keep the stove in medium flame so that you'll let the vadai cook properly and turn golden brown as well
  6. In an electric stove with medium flame, it takes about 8-12 minutes for the vadai to come out properly. When its done, keep the fried vadai's on a tissue paper and you'll have a "Oh! My God! See how much oil!" moment, and that's perfectly Okay! No need to call 911...
  7. Now, drop these vadai's (that is, after they've cooled down a bit) in some yummy sambhar and let it soak for atleast 6 hours. Don't worry, it won't become soggy
Procedure - For Sambhar
  • Come on, now don't tell me you don't know how to make a Sambhar! Are you flipping kidding me?
Oh btw, one free advice - The best consistency (பதம்) for the ground mixture is, when you take it in your hand/spoon and keep it upside down, it shouldn't fall down.