Dahi Vada

Last Saturday was a cooking marathon in my house as we were having guests for tea. As any Indian would know, having guests for tea time in India is big work. You see, you cannot offer them just tea and biscuits and have polite chit chat. There is major work involved here which means laborious time spent in the kitchen and cleaning the house top to bottom. Especially if these are first time visitors. The same thing happened here and I was dead by the end of the night. Thankfully my mom was there to help me and we shared the work between us. She made the Gajar Ka Halwa and Masala Aloo, while I made the Chicken Patties and Dahi Vada. Everything turned out good and I was ready for my guests at 4 p.m only to learn that would not  be arriving until 7 pm!! Grrr...

Making Dahi vada at home is very easy.. It may look like too much work but its done quickly and you have a big quantity of food for a little time and effort.

Recipe - From Everybunny Loves Food

Ingredients

1 Cup Urad Dal
A Pinch of Salt
Oil for Frying
4 Cups Thick Yogurt (Divided)
Sugar As Per Taste
Salt To Taste
Dahi Vada Chaat Masala or Coarsely ground Cumin (Jeera) and Coriander Seed (Dhanya) Powder
Tamarind Chutney (Recipe Below)
Water

1. Wash and soak the urad dal for 4 hours or overnight. Drain the water and grind coarsely with salt to taste. Try to add as little water as possible. The batter should be thick.

2. Heat the oil in a kadai (or a deep bottom vessel) and keep on medium flame till the oil is ready.

(Add a drop of the batter and if it rises slowly to the top the oil is ready to fry. If it rises too quickly lower the heat and if it does not rise at all increase the flame.)

3. While the oil is heating, fill a big bowl (3/4 of the way) with room temperature water and keep next to the gas.

4. Using a tablespoon, drop the batter into the hot oil. Make sure there is some space between each vada to prevent sticking.

Gently turn the vadas after 2 minutes and cook till light golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and put directly into the bowl of water.

5. Once all the vadas are fried and soaked in the water, remove them and squeeze gently to remove the water. Place in a deep serving dish or bowl and keep aside.

6. Take two cups of yogurt and mix with 1 cup water and mix till smooth. Pour over the vadas and refrigerate for 3 hours. (This step is crucial for the vadas to soak the yogurt and become moist.)

7. Mix the remaining yogurt with the sugar and a pinch of salt.

Take the vadas out of the fridge before serving and pour the sweetened yogurt over them. Add tamarind chutney, red chili powder and dahi vada chaat masala. Serve Cold.

Tamarind (Imli) Chutney Recipe

1/4 Cup Tamarind (Imli)
1 Cup Dates (pitted and soaked in water)
1/4 Cup Jaggery (Gud - Chopped in small pieces)
2 Tsp Roasted Cumin Powder
2 Tsp Red Chili Powder
Salt To Taste

Soak the tamarind in some water and remove all the pulp. Discard the waste. Grind the dates to a paste with some water and bring to boil over the flame. Add the tamarind pulp. Add the jaggery, chili powder, cumin powder, salt, garam masala and mix well.

Cook again on medium flame till jaggery dissolves completely and the chutney gets semi thick. Cool completely and refrigerate in an air tight container. If your fridge had good cooling the chutney will last upto 2 -3 weeks.

Note * - If you do not get ready made dahi wada masala use coarsely ground cumin (Zeera) and coriander seed (Dhanya) powder.

Happy Eating!!