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Masala Vada-Paruppu Vadai-South Indian Masala Vadai Recipe

by 37 Comments

Masal vadai is a very popular snack of South India.It is made with bengal gram dal and some spices. It can be had as a snack with a cup of hot tea or even as a side dish for sambar sadam. It  is a common street food in Tamil Nadu and is available in most of the road side shops and hotels. Well! Are you carving for  a restaurant style masala vadai now? Here is a very simple recipe which can be prepared even by a novice.

How to make Masala Vada/Vadai

Prep time – under 15 mins
Cook time – under 15 mins
Yields – 10-12 vadas

Ingredients needed

Channa dal / Bengal gram /Kadalai paruppu -1/2 cup + 1 tbsp
Red Chillies – 2
Saunf / fennel seeds /Sombu – 1 tsp

Onion- 1 very finely chopped
Green chillies -1-2 finely chopped
Curry leaves – few
Coriander leaves – few finely chopped
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Masala Vadai-Masala Vada

Preparation

Soak Channa dal (kadalai paruppu) in water for 4 hours.

Drain the water completely in a colander. Keep 1 tbsp of channa dal aside.

Grind 2 red chillies and fennel seeds first and then add the rest of the channa dal and grind without adding water coarsely.

Then add finely chopped onions, soaked and drained channa dal (1 tbsp which we kept aside), finely chopped green chillies, finely chopped coriander leaves and few curry leaves to the above mix.

Method

Heat oil (to check if the oil is hot enough to drop the vadas, add a small pinch of batter, if it raises to the surface immediately , then that is the right stage to fry the vadas). Take a small lemon sized ball of the mix, flatten it with your hands and gently slip it into the oil.
Keep in medium heat and fry the vadas both sides till golden brown and crisp. Repeat the same procedure for the rest of the mix. (The number of vada you add to the oil depends on the quantity of oil you heat)

Variations and tips

The secret of a delicious masala vada is the flavor of fennel seeds and finely chopped onions.But if you do not like fennel seeds, you can add finely chopped ginger instead of fennel seeds.

Masal vadai will taste more delicious if you use baby onions, instead of big onion.

If case, if there is moisture and you are unable to shape vadas out of the mixture, add a little besan/ bengal gram flour to the vada mix, so that it will absorb the excess moisture.

Beginners can grease a plastic sheet or ziplog bag or plantain leaf, flatten the vadas on it, flip the sheet and transfer the flattened vadas to the hand and then slip them gently into the oil.(in case, if you are not comfortable with the above method).

Check out my Ulundu vadai or Medu Vada Recipe

Medhu vada-vadai

Enjoy making these delicious vadas.Come back for more interesting recipes and tips.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  22. Viswanathan Suresh

    I tried this yesterday but ran into a problem.

    The batter started to crumble in my hands despite all my efforts to squeeze it into obedience ! In fact, when I transferred it to the oil, it had crumbled considerably and I had many lumps and many smaller particles floating in the oil, However, the lumps themselves were tasty when tried.

    What am I doing wrong? How do I solve this? The issue surely has more to do with my clumsiness rather than your recipe but any tips?

    Thanks

    V. Suresh
    Strasbourg, France

    Reply

  24. Madhu

    the reciepe is obviously good. what i liked best was the tips given along with the recipe. like how to figure out when oil is ready and what to do if the mixture is too watery. 🙂 these tips are what beginners like me need the most.

    Reply

  28. Shri Ganesh

    Wow Padhu! I am a guy (living in India) and I learned to cook some things from your website. It's kind of become my hobby. Almost all things that I've tried after looking your website have come out very well! Thanks!

    My wife also learned to cook all dishes from your website only. That's how I came to know about your website. We are thankful to you.

    PS: Except when after when I finish cooking, my wife is angry on me as she had to clean up my mess 😛

    Reply

  31. Anonymous

    Hi Padhu…an awesome blog you have there!!! Decided on making a Pongal dinner tonite..and every dish's recipe was from your blog! Made ven pongal, sakkarai pongal, brinjal gotsu and masaal vadai tonite!!! It was one grand success 🙂 Thanks again for the detailed recipes! Happy Pongal 🙂

    Reply

  35. Unknown

    Hi Padhu, just wanted to say a hi and thanks for the delicious recipes that you post in ur blog 🙂 I am using ur blog for this year's Deepavali for the Badusha, Thenkozhal and masaal vadai recipes!!!

    Reply

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