Medu vada is a popular South Indian crispy snack recipe which is also known as Sambar Vadai, Ulundu vadai, and Uddin Vada. It is usually made in a doughnut shape, with a crispy exterior and soft interior. A popular food item in South Indian, Sri Lankan Tamil cuisines, it is generally eaten as a breakfast or a snack.
These round fritters are made with soaked and grounded urad dal (black gram) mixed with ginger, green chilly, fresh coconut, curry leaves and spices. I really like the flavor of fresh coconut and curry leaves in it.
I especially like the crispy and fluffy medu vada dipped in hot sambar with coconut chutney by the side. Whenever we go to any south Indian restaurants, I love to order either Mysore masala dosa or medu vada sambar.
This is a very simple recipe, but a tricky one. We’ll make a crispy and fluffy vada with tips & tricks to perfect the texture. You can serve these with rasam, coconut chutney or Sambar.
Do try other recipes :
- Restaurant Style Sambar
- Sambhar
- Mini Uttapam
- Paniyaram
- Instant Rava Uttapam
- Bread Uttapam
- Coconut peanut chutney
- Red Capsicum Chutney
- Pesarattu dosa
- Lemon Rice
- Potato filling for Masala Dosa
- Dosa batter
Preparation Time: 10mins(+3hr Soaking Time) ∏ Cooking Time: 25mins ∏ Servings: 3-4 person
Level: Intermediate(Medium) ∏ Measurement: 1 Cup ≡ 250 ml ≡ 250gm
Ingredients Checklist:
How to make Medu Vada:
Step1: Wash and soak split urad dal in enough water for about 3-4 hours or overnight. Drain the water and transfer the soaked dal to a grinder jar. You can also use wet grinder if you have it at home.
Step2: Grind the dal to a smooth batter, it should look white and fluffy. If required, add 1-2 tablespoons of cold water. The batter for vada should be thick so be careful while adding water. Start by adding very little amount then add more if required. The right consistency is very important or otherwise, you will not be able to shape the vadas.
Step3: Transfer the ground mixture into a large bowl or pan. Aerate the batter by mixing it with your hands for 1-2 minutes to make it fluffy. Take a bowl of filled with water and drop a small amount on it, if the batter floats it means its light and perfect for making vada. To this paste, add fresh or frozen coconut, asafoetida, finely chopped ginger, black pepper powder, green chili, finely chopped curry leaves, chopped coriander leaves.
Step4: Add 2 tablespoon rice flour and salt as per your taste. Rice flour is added to make vadas more crispy. You can also add finely chopped onion if you like. I like vada to be simple so not adding any veggies.
Step5: Mix it very well so that all the spices are mixed into the batter.
Step6: Heat the oil in a frying pan in medium flame. Drop a small amount of batter to check if the oil is hot enough to fry the vada. The batter will float quickly if the oil is perfectly hot for frying.
Step7: Take a bowl of water. Apply some water on both your hands. Make sure water is not dripping. Take some batter in your hand and make a round shape. Dip your index finger or thumb into the water make a hole in the center. Gently slide the vada into the hot oil by shaking the fingers.
Step8: Alternatively use the ladle to make the vada to give the medu vada its doughnut shape. To detach the vada from ladle you make use knife to separate it.
Step9: The vada should float on top of oil. Make sure your oil is not too hot otherwise, the vada would not cook evenly. You can deep fry 2-3 vadas at a time. Once the vadas are slightly golden then gently turn over with a slotted spoon and continue to fry.
Step10: Fry the vada on medium flame so that it’s cooked from inside. Fry on both sides till it becomes golden brown in color. Remove it on the kitchen towel. Fry the rest of vadas in the same manner.
Step11: Serve medu vada hot or warm with sambar and coconut chutney. Enjoy.
Watch this video for making Medu Vada
Tips:
- If the batter becomes watery, then you may add some more rice flour or semolina or urad dal flour to it.
- While grinding keep in my mind that the grinder should not heat up, to avoid that add cold water. Alternatively, you may keep the grinder jar in the refrigerator for 10-15mins.
- To make the doughnut shape you may also use a thick plastic sheet or banana leaf.
- Before adding the vada make sure the oil is hot enough and fry the vada on medium flame so that it’s cooked from inside.
