Dal vada

Do you also think that tea time is always special? If you ask tea lovers what their most prized hour of the day is, the answer is – when they sit with their morning and/or evening cuppa! I am a total tea gal and have a lot of tea time recipes. So, here is a wonderful, quick and easy tea time snack – dal vada. These vadas or fritters will surely up your tea time game. However, with tea or without, you will love these!

This very popular South Indian snack is made with chana dal (bengal gram) and toor dal (split pigeon peas). You would need to first soak the lentils, then grind them and mix with herbs and spices and then finally fry them. These are made with easily available ingredients at home and can be served as a quick and hearty breakfast option too. In fact, I like these vadas so much that I can have them with or as any meal of the day.

Since this is a fried snack, I like adding asafoedita to my lentil batter. Not only does this enhance the taste of the fritters, it also aids in digestion.

This snack is a complete crowd pleaser. You will need to always make provisions to fry extra vadas whenever you make them because you will not be able to keep a count of how many you eat! Also, this is a perfect winter evening goody 🙂

If you like Indian pakoras, take a look at my palak pakora  and chana dal pakora (lentil fritters) recipes. This is another quick fix for a chilly or rainy evening and a lovely teatime snack too.

Now, lets head to the dal vada recipe.

Dal vada

Kitchen Mai

This recipe is a family favourite and a complete heart winner!

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Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Soaking time 2 hrs

Total Time 35 mins

Course Snack

Cuisine Indian

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

• 1/2 cup chana dal (bengal gram)
• 1/4 cup toor dal (split pigeon peas)
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 2 green chillies finely chopped optional
• 1/2 inch ginger finely chopped
• 7-8 curry leaves roughly choppedd
• 4-5 dried red chillies
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 pinch asafoetida
• salt to taste
• oil for frying
• water for soaking the dals

Instructions

 

• Wash the lentils very well and then soak them in water for two hours 
  
• In a mixer, add the soaked lentils along with the red chilles and salt. Grind this to a coarse paste without using water
• To the ground lentils, add all the other ingredients and mix well 
  
• Grease your palms with some cooking oil
• Now, take a lemon sized ball of the batter and flatten it between your palms to give it a patty-like shape
• Place a wok with the oil to heat. Once the oil heats, lower the flame to medium and fry the dal vadas or lentil fritters until they are golden brown
  
• These are best served hot along with tea. They taste delicious as it is, however you may also serve them with some tamarind chutney or ketchup
  

Notes

You could add a tablespoon of rice flour to the lentil batter, for binding, in case the fritters don't hold their shape

Keyword Dal vada, Lentil fritters, Pakora, Tea time snacks