Masala Dal Vada (Parippu Vada)

These crisp, tasty vadas are an all time favourite of the south Indian, and goes very well with a hot cup of tea!

Masala Vada (Parippu vada)

Ingredients:

Channa dal (vadaparippu) : 3 cups
Onions : 2 big, chopped finely
Green chillies : 6, chopped finely
Salt : 2 ½ tsp, approximately
Curry leaves (kadipatta) : 3 sprigs, chopped finely

Soak the dal for around 2 hours. Drain it, and grind it very coarsely, if possible, without using any water.

Mix in the chopped onions, green chillies, curry leaves and salt to it. shape into lemon sized balls, and flatten with palms.

Deep fry them in hot oil until crisp and brown on the outside. Serve with coconut chutney if required.

For coconut chutney

Grind together finely,1 cup of freshly grated coconut along with 3-4 green chillies, and the required quantity of salt. you can use ¼ cup of water to grind the above ingredients. Remove on to a serving bowl.
In one tsp of oil, splutter ½ tsp of mustard seeds, ¼ tsp of chana dal, 1 dry chilly broken into two, and a few curry leaves. Mix it in the chutney. This is the basic recipe for the traditional South Indian Chutney. You may adjust it’s consistency according to your tastes by adding or reducing the water.

Idly Delight

Idlys are an essential item of any South Indian family’s routine cuisine, and for this reason, it tends to get a bit boring at times, especially for children. So, here is my way of perking up those regular idlies, adding in more nutrition and taste to suit your needs! You may even make this dish with left over idlys.

You will need:

1. Idlies : around 10 no.s cut into cubes

2. Par-boiled chopped vegetables
(Potatoes, peas, carrots, beans) : 1 cup
3. chopped onions : 1
4. Red chilly powder : ½ tsp
5. Corriander powder : ½ tsp
6. Turmeric powder : ¼ tsp
6. Salt to taste
7. Cooking oil : 2 tsp
6. For tempering:
mustard seeds (rai) : ½ tsp
Urad dhal : ½ tsp
Dry red chilly : 1 no. broken into two
Curry leaves : a few
7. water : ¼ cup


Method:

Heat the oil in a thick bottomed or a non-stick pan and put in the mustard seeds, urad dhal, dry red chilly and the curry leaves.
Sauté the chopped onions for a while and add in the red chilly powder, turmeric and the coriander powder to it. mix well
Put in the chopped boiled vegetables and fry for a while. Mix in the salt. Take care while adding the salt, as the idly’s already have salt in them.
Lastly, add the chopped idlys and mix well. Sprinkle the water on it and cook for a minute, covered. Mix well and remove from flame.

You may garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and fried cashewnuts if needed.