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Medu Vada | Medu Vada Recipe | Sambar Vada

Medu Vada Recipe, Indian crispy doughnut shaped dal fritters. Most popular South Indian snack made with whole urad dal which is soaked and ground into a batter. Vada batter is flavoured with onions, chillies, curry leaves, ginger and asafoetida. It is shaped and fried which turn out crispy on the outside and fluffy inside. Serve it with coconut chutney or make Sambar vada, you are in for a treat.
4.67 from 6 votes
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Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Soaking time: 2 hours
Total Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
Servings: 20 vada
Calories: 66kcal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Whole Urad Dal
  • 1 large Onion finely chopped
  • 3 Green Chilli finely chopped
  • 1 tbsp Ginger finely chopped
  • ½ tsp Asafoetida
  • Curry leaves finely chopped
  • Salt to taste
  • Oil for deep frying

Instructions

Medu Vada Batter Grinding

  • Soak Urad dal for 2 to 3 hours. Now drain it and add it to a blender. If you have small blender jar grind it in two batches. Make sure that you drain your dal properly. Vada batter shouldn’t have too much liquid else the batter will get loose and runny. Add few tsp of water when grinding Urad dal. Don’t add too much water. The batter has to be thick. Grind the urad dal till it is completely ground. It will take around 2 mins. Make sure you scrape the batter in-between using a spatula for even grinding. Transfer the batter to a mixing bowl.

Fluffy Vada Batter

  • Now you have to incorporate air into the batter to lighten it. Use a wooden spoon or a whisk to whip some air into the batter. It will take around 5 to 8 mins. You can use your hands to whip some air into the batter. The more you whip your batter the more airy your medu vada batter becomes. This will give you crisp and soft vada.

Vada Batter Preparation

  • Mean while prepare the vegetables which we are going to add into the batter. You have to finely chop onions, green chillies, ginger and curry leaves. You could even add finely chopped carrots and coriander leaves. Add this vegetables along with salt, asafoetida into the batter and mix well. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula and set aside.

Heating Oil

  • Now heat oil for deep frying. You can use refined oil, ground nut oil, vegetable oil for frying. Let the oil heat well before you drop the vadai in.

Shaping of vada

  • For shaping vada, you can follow three methods.
  • 1)Using banana leaf or plastic wrap. Grease the leaf or plastic paper with some oil. Wet your hands with some water. Take small portion of the batter and place it on the banana leaf. Make a hold in the centre. Now gently drop the vada in oil with the help of the banana leaf. The vada will slide into the oil since we have made the batter thick.
  • 2)Using your hands. If your batter is thick and fluffy. You can easily shape medu vada with your hands. Wet your hands with water. Take small portion of batter in your hands, make holes in the centre. Drop it gently in oil. Make sure you drop it gently.
  • 3)Using a slotted spoon. Dip your slotted spoon in water. Shake off any excess water. Wet your hands with water. Take small portion of batter in your hands.Place it on the slotted spoon. make hole in the centre. Drop the vada in hot oil using the spoon. The vada will slide into the oil since we have made the batter thick.

Frying Medu Vada

  • Fry the vada on medium to high heat till it gets golden and crispy. Keep cooking flipping often using a skewer or a steel rod. Fry till golden and crispy. Drain and serve hot with chutney.

Video

Notes

Expert Tips

  • Adding pinch of baking soda helps in crispy medu vada.
  • Soak urad dal in hot water. Hot water reduces the soaking time.
  • Don't add too much water when grinding the batter. Just sprinkle water when grinding.
  • Soak urad dal for 2 to 3 hours. Don't over soak else it may affect the texture.
  • Grind vada batter in wet grinder will give you more thicker batter.
  • If your vada batter gets runny, you can add a little bit of rice flour or sooji, or all purpose flour to get it thicker. You can try storing in fridge to firm up a bit.
  • If your vada batter gets runny, you can add a little bit of rice flour or sooji, or all purpose flour to get it thicker. You can try storing in fridge to firm up a bit.
  • Medu vada batter has to be made fluffy. if you want super crispy vada, try adding a pinch of baking soda to the batter. Baking soda helps medu vada turn crispier.
  • If your medu vada drinks too much oil. Try adding some all purpose flour to it. this tip reduces the oil consumption.
  • Add little water while grinding. If you add lots of water, you wont be able to shape the vadai and the vadai will drink lots of oil.
  • Don't keep the batter out for more than 3 hours, as it will turn sour and ferment. The vadai wont taste good.
  • If your batter is not thick enough, add little all purpose flour / maida to it and mix it up. Dont add too much of it.

Serving Suggestions for Medu Vada

Medu vada is served with Coconut chutney and Sambar.

Storage Suggestions

1)Cooked Medu vada can be frozen in a ziploc cover upto a week. Frozen medu vada is thawed and refried in oil to make fresh and crispy vada.
2)Leftover vada batter can be stored in fridge. Remove the vada batter 1 hour before frying to bring it back to room temperature.

Nutrition

Serving: 1vada | Calories: 66kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 0.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.01g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.003g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.002g | Sodium: 24mg | Potassium: 13mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 2mg
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