MEDU VADA

 

 

Medu vada is a traditional and delicious South Indian tiffin item normally eaten for breakfast or any time. Medu vada is a urad dal based fried snack is one of the delights from the South Indian cuisine. The urad dal is soaked ground together with spices and deep fried. Medu vada is best served with sambar and coconut chutney as breakfast, snack or meal dish.

 

It’s a complete balanced diet. Normally dishes like these have become delicacy from the regular kitchen dishes. As many people have become quite health conscious and do not prefer eating deep fried stuff. Hence quite a lot of people prepare this dish during the festivals. It takes a little time and practice to make a perfect medu vada but you won’t regret it, I’m sure. Black gram originated in India where it has been in cultivation from ancient times and is one of the most highly prized pulses of India. It has also been introduced to other tropical areas mainly by Indian immigrants.

 

The bean is boiled and eaten whole or, after splitting, made into dal; prepared like this it has an unusual mucilaginous texture. Ground into flour or paste, it is also extensively used in South Indian culinary preparation like dosa, idli, vada, and papadum. When used this way, the white lentils are usually used. It is very nutritious and is recommended for diabetics, as are other pulses. It is very popular in the Punjabi cuisine of India and Pakistan where it is known as "sabit maash" an ingredient of dal makhani.

 

The medu vadas are really delicious when the outer casings are crispy crackling and soft spongy inside with hardly any traces of oil smell or greasy taste. Eating the medu vada combined with sambar and coconut chutney is a match made in heaven and the taste is simply divine. You can also prepare delicious Dahi vadas which the medu vadas.

 

For preparing the Medu vada you need the whole skinned black lentils (whole urad dal). Soak the urad dal in water for about 6 hours or overnight. Blend it to a coarse paste. Heat oil in a frying pan. Take a bowl add blended urad dal mixture, chopped onion, cumin seeds,  crushes pepper, chopped coriander leaves, hing and salt and mix all these ingredients well. Take a small dumpling of the urad dal mixture, form like a doughnut and deep fry till it turns golden color. Remember that the batter has to be buttery soft and fluffy. Normally, one can form the traditional doughnut shapes, with some skill and perhaps a plastic sheet to form the shape on.

 

The idea of the doughnut shape, of course, is to increase the proportion of crispy surface relative to the inside of the vada. Some important tips to have the medu vadas crispy: Add less water while making the batter. Grind until the batter become fluffy and you see some bubbles on the top. Keep the urad dal batter aside for some time and let it ferment a bit. Make sure to deep fry the oil in the right temperature. Take small amounts of batter while deep frying.

Recipe: Medu Vada

Summary: lentil savoury doughnuts ,a south indian breackfast

Cooking time (duration): 25

Diet type: Vegetarian

Number of servings (yield): 4

Meal type: breakfast

My rating: 5 stars:  ★★★★★ 1 review(s)