Friday, January 16, 2009

VEGETABLE MEDHU VADA


Medhu vada is a traditional south Indian dish that is prepared on every festive occasion. Although it is deep fried, if prepared correctly, the end product will not be too oily. Usually I make it only on festive occasions and at that time I could not do justice to my dietary restrictions and think about calorific counters…But the best part in me is I incorporate veggies in all possible ways as much as I can and I don’t mind to add veggies even in the deep fried ones.

INGREDIENTS:

Urad dhal – 2 cups

Salt – as per taste

Oil – as required

Carrot – 1

Carrot – 50 g

Onion – 1 (optional, I didn’t add as it was offered as neivedhyam to God on Pongal)

Boiled potato – 1 medium size

Ginger – 1 small piece

Green chilly – 5-7

Finely chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves – few


METHOD:

· Soak the urad dhal for 2 hours.

· Grind the urad dhal with very little water in the grinder, adding boiled potatoes and salt. Sprinkle water as and when needed. This is the most careful part in making perfect vadas. Adding boiled potatoes while grinding makes the vada crisper and fluffy. When the batter becomes a soft paste, remove and transfer to a bowl.
· Meanwhile, grate the carrot and ginger using the grater and chop the cabbage to thin medium slices. Chop the chilies very fine. We can also add green chilies while grinding urad dhal but that will give bland taste, instead adding the chilies to the batter gives spiciness enhancing the taste.

· Mix the veggies, curry leaves, green chilies to the vada batter thoroughly.

· Heat pan with oil. Meanwhile take a small amount of banana leaf or plastic sheet (ziplock), wet the leaf/sheet and hand, take a small amount of batter and spread in the leaf/sheet, gently press with the fingers to correct the shape, make a hole at the center. Take the vada in the hand removing the leaf and drop very carefully in the heated oil. Deep fry until it becomes golden brown.

· Serve hot with sambar/chutney.

Tips:
** If the batter has become watery, refrigerate for half an hour and make vadas.
** If you are not sure of the right time to remove, put a small amount of batter into water, it should float.
** Make sure the oil should be in medium heat. If the oil is too hot, it will burn the vadas.
Am sending this to srilekha's EFM - Savories Event .

20 comments:

Jaishree Iyer said...

Medu vada looks crisp & yum.. Awesome Pic.. drooling...can I take one?:)

Adlak's tiny world said...

vada superb a irukku vidhya... adding veggies is a nice idea and adding potato is new to me.. i cant make perfect medhu vada still.. that too with that hole in the mid... gr8 work dear.

sriharivatsan said...

Sure Jaishree, you are welcome always..

Thanks for your comments Manni..

AnuSriram said...

Looks mouth-watering! Never heard about adding boiled potatoes to the mix. Nice tip! Will try your version soon. Thanks for taking time to comment in my blog. Have added you to my blogroll.

Vikis Kitchen said...

wow superb vadai. can I have one:)

Preety said...

hey i love vadas, i like the idea of adding veggies in it..gr8 recipe for the event..

Mahimaa's kitchen said...

wow wow.. looks great.. i have never got perfect vadas with the hole.

Priya Suresh said...

WOw superb vadai, prefect shape too..azhaga irruku..

Malar Gandhi said...

Wooooooooo what a vadai, looks very crisp, nice color...like restaurant ones...vegetables to go in it, superb idea. Makes it very healthy, right!

Jeyashris Kitchen said...

wow perfect vadas.adding pototo is new to me also. but to be add crispiness to vada while soaking urad dhal add a spoon of rice(arisi not the cooked rice) to it. and grind with that.we too add cabbage and carrot most of the times.but again very perfect vadas and very much inviting also.

Uma said...

it's not fair to tempt us like this! mmm. mouth-watering vadas! So crisp and yum!

sriharivatsan said...

Thanks much friends, your comments made me very enthu..now time is 10:41 pm, but all my sleepiness gone after seeing all ur comments...Ha ha..

Jeyashri Suresh,I too tried once recently adding raw rice, it also came out crispy but that time i got somewhat hard one (not very much)..i donno where i made the mistake..

LifenSpice said...

Vada looks crispy and inviting! also a very easy recipe for making vada from scratch:)

Preety said...

I tagged you for good cause

http://preetyskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/blog-post_18.html

Indian Khana said...

Umm drooling over to these vada....looking so gud..

sriharivatsan said...

Thanks Keerthana, Preety, and Priti..

Madhu's cooking gallery said...

Wow, vada look crisp and yum! Good idea to add in veggies too!

Nithya Praveen said...

Looks crispy and yummy.This one is my fav one:)

Dori said...

I am so tempted every time I see these to make them and gorge myself, looks so good!

Mangala Bhat said...

wow ! this one is my alltime fav ! Awsome pics ! can i take one vada plzzz ...hey thanks for comment@ my blog keep visiting and happy cooking