Dahi vada

Dahi vada is a Popular snack all over India. Here, deep fried Vadas are soaked in Chilled Curd garnishing with Chaat chutneys and Spice powders makes a wonderful mouthwatering recipe.

 I have already made South Indian verion of Dahi vada, called as Thayir Vadai (Tamil) in which Chaat chutneys are skipped and Ground Coconut mixture is added along with Curd. Apart from Curd Vada, Rasam vadas and Sambar Vadas grabs equal popularity in South India.

Ingredients: Serves 8-10 medium size vadas

• 3-4 Cups Curd
• As needed Sweet Chutney
• As needed Green chutney
• For Sprinkling Red chilli powder
• For Sprinkling Roasted Cumin powder
• For Sprinkling Chaat Masala
• For Sprinkling Black Salt
• 2 cups Sev
• 2-3 tbsp Coriander leaves (Finley chopped)

For Vada:

• 1 Cup Urad dal
• A pinch Asafoetida
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• For Frying Oil

Method:

1) Wash and soak Urad dal for 1 hour.

2) Drain water and grind it with salt and Hing to smooth fluffy batter.  When you are adding water, just sprinkle water now and then. Adding too much of water will spoil the consistency and vadas will drink more oil.

3) Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan/kadai. Check the temperature by dropping a small drop of batter. If vada comes to surface with bubbles, perfect time for more vadas.

4) Make round shaped vadas and slide it to oil. If you feel difficult to drop the batter with hands, you can use a spoon. After one side is cooked, flip it around.

5) In the mean time, boil water in a bowl. After both sides of vada is done with golden brown colour, take the vada out of oil and drop it in water. Leave it to get boiled for 2-3 mins.

8) After 2-3 mins, take the vadas with a flat ladle, be careful at this part as vada might break easily. Vada should be soft, check it by touching on top of vada and it should get pressed softly. Take another flat ladle, with backside of the ladle gently press to release extra water.

9) Drop these vadas in a bowl. I have arranged 3 in a bowl, alternatively you can arrange all vadas in a big serving plate and add curd.

10) Whisk the curd and pour generously on top of vadas. Next pour Sweet Chutney, Green chutney. Now sprinkle few Red chilli powder, Roasted Cumin powder, Chaat masala and Black salt. 

11) Sprinkle generous sev and garnish with Coriander leaves. 

Yummy Curd Vada is ready to be served.

Tips:

1) I always prefer using Grinder for grinding Urad dal as it always gives me excellent results while frying. In case you don't have small grinder, you can use mixer too.

2) If you are doing this Curd Vada for a party, you can arrange all curd vadas in a big serving plate and add Curd, chutneys and other garnishing. While serving, use a flat ladle to take take the curd vadas one by one.