Dahi Vada

Ingredients:

1 cup black gram lentil (urad dal without skin) washed, soaked for 3 hours and ground to a fine paste adding very little water
2″ piece of ginger grated
2-3 green chillis finely chopped
salt to taste
oil for deep frying
2 cups thick fresh curd (take care the curd isn’t sour)
4 cups water
red chilli powder to taste
2 tbsps cumin seeds (slightly dr roasted and ground to a fine powder)
1-2 tbsps chaat masala (optional)
chopped coriander leaves to garnish

Method

Combine the ground urad dal paste with grated ginger, chopped green chillis and salt.
Pre-heat oil in a deep frying vessel, place a plastic sheet in your palm and place a little urad dal batter and shape into a vada (like a doughnut) or like a big lemon sized ball and drop slowly into the hot oil. Deep fry on medium heat for sometime and then fry on high heat till golden brown.
Remove these deep fried vadas into a bowl of luke warm water and place them in it for 15-20 seconds. Remove and gently press between your palms so that excess water oozes out. Keep them aside.
Finish making vadas with the rest of the remaining batter and put them in water like you did for the earlier batch, remove excess water and keep aside.
Beat curds well till frothy (there shouldn’t be any lumps) and add the water, red chilli pwd, cumin pwd and salt.
Place the vadas in a serving bowl (as shown in the picture) and pour the curd mixture evenly all over the vadas, covering them completely.
Chill the vadas for sometime before serving. At the time of serving, take 2-3 vadas and place them in a serving plate and sprinkle some chaat powder and garnish with coriander leaves and tamarind chutney.