Dahi vada (Thayir vadai)

After a long battle with myself regarding what I should make for the JFI#5 - Milk and Milk Products event I decided to make dahi vada (fried lentil dumplings in spiced yogurt mixture). This is thayir vadai in tamil and is made on festival days. It tastes yummy when served a little chilled.

Dahi Vada:

Ingredients:

For vada:
Urad dal (whole) - 2 cups
Green chillies (finely chopped) - 2
Whole pepper corns (optional) - 1 tsp
Salt - as needed
Curry leaves (chopped) - 2 sprigs
Coriander leaves (chopped) - 2 tbsp
Oil - for deep frying

For dahi:
Curd - 1 cup
Water - 1/2 cup
Butter milk - 1/2 cup
Black salt - 1 tsp
Cumin (jeera) powder - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp

For garnishing:
Tamarind chutney - 1 tbsp
Green chutney - 1 tbsp
Coriander leaves - a bunch

Method:

Soak urad dal for 1hr. Grind to a fine paste adding as little water as possible. This will help absorb less oil while frying. Add salt, green chillies, pepper corns, curry leaves and coriander leaves and beat with a wooden laddle to incorporate some air into the mixture. Heat oil is a kadai and add small balls of the mixture and deep fry the vada's. Remove after they turn golden brown and add to bowl containing warm water for 1 min. Then arrange them on a flat bowl. As the vada's are getting cooked, whip the curd, buttermilk, water and black salt in a seperate bowl. Once all the vada's are cooked pour the whipped curd on top of the vadas covering them completely. Spinkle cumin powder and chilli powder and chill for atleast an hr. When ready transfer vada to serving dishes and drizzle both tamarind chutney and green chutney as required and garnish with coriander leaves. This can be served as an evening snack or even as an appetizer. It can easily be made in bulk so it is a good dish for potluck meals.

Note: If the urad dal is ground in a wet grinder the batter comes out thick but with a blender/mixer it has to be ground in small batches to obtain the thick consistency.