Dahi Vada - A Delicious Curd Based Snack

Dahi Vada is a North Indian dish but its appeal has translated to the rest of the country. It is eaten as snack and as an accompaniment to your meals. It is a must in restaurant menus and a staple of parties. The sweet and salty flavor of the dahi makes it a very lovable dish for people of all ages.

As you grind the batter, you do not have to keep it aside as the batter becomes thinner and you won't be able to make the vadas, and so it should be a really thick paste. I add all the ingredients in the batter so that the vadas come out wonderfully upon frying, and its taste shines through in the final dish as well. The dahi should be fresh and thick (devoid of water), and after beating, it should fluff up and come out thick. I add roasted coriander and cumin powder over the vadas while serving which gives a nice aroma and adds to the taste as well.

I am sure your vadas will turn out great, so, lets look at this recipe.

1. Soak the urad dal 5 to 6 hours before cooking.

2. Leaving 100 gms of curd out, beat the rest of the curd without adding any water. Add a little salt and sugar to it.

3. To the above mentioned (4th step) 100 gms curd, add 1 1/2 cup of water and churn it into butter milk. Add a little salt and sugar to it.

4. Dry roast the coriander and 1 tsp of cumin seeds and you'll notice a nice aroma emanating from it, then after cooling, grind it to a powder.

5. After 5 or 6 hours, drain the water from the soaked urad dal. Grind it by adding a little water so that the ground urad dal should become of a thick paste consistency.

6. Add salt to it. Now, add 1 tbsp of finely cut coriander leaves, 5 to 6 crushed curry leaves, crushed peppercorns, 1 tsp cumin seeds, chopped green chillies and crushed ginger and garlic.

Note - After your batter is ready, don't store it in any way as it gets thinner over time - so get ready for frying.

1. Heat oil in a pan. Moist both your palms with water, take a little batter in your hand, make a hole in it in the middle with your thumb and place it in oil. Fry on both sides properly till it turns golden brown. The vadas will fluff up on frying. For each round of frying, you can fry 4 or 5 vadas or any number according to your preference.

Note - If you can't make a hole in it, never mind, just place your batter from your hands directly into the oil for frying. I have done it just this way for this recipe.

2. Keep a container with half a liter of water. As soon as the frying is over, take the vadas and put it in the water - this makes the vadas softer as it absorbs the water.

3. After frying the second round of vadas, take the first round of vadas from out of the water and keep aside and put the second round of vadas into the water. Repeat this for all your rounds of vadas.

4. All the soaked vadas should be kept in a dish or a container. Now, pour all your butter milk over them so that they remain moist.

5. Now, take a pan and heat 3 tbsp of oil and add mustard seeds, red chillies and half tsp cumin seeds, few curry leaves and a pinch or two of asafoetida.

6. Pour this tadka on the dahi.

7. Pour sufficient dahi over your vada/s (either on a plate or bowl), add a little salt, chilli powder and coriander and cumin powder.

8. Your yummy Dahi Vadas are ready.

This is an awesome dish, not very hard to prepare and really good on the taste buds. Another great feature of this dish is its always a hit with any crowd. The dahi is sweet and salty and the vadas juiced up in it just melt in the mouth - its spectacular to have. I do hope you will try this recipe out - I guarantee you'll have a fun time making it and eating it.