Uzhunnu vada

Back home, Mom makes uzhunnu vada very rarely. Because of it's tedious task of grinding the urad dal in ammikkallu and anything deep fried is not that entertained. Yes, she prefers grinding in ammikkallu.  Whenever craving for uzhunnu vada, we grab it from the Ruchi veg restaurant, Kozhikode. As always, home-made ones will be the best in taste and better in hygiene.

My first hands-on with making vada shape was pretty much ok.

Recipe Source: Mom

Ingredients:

• Urad dal - 1½ cups
• Green chilly - 3 nos
• Onion - 1 no, small size
• Ginger - 1 inch piece
• Curry leaf - few sprigs
• Black Peppercorns - 2 tbsp
• Baking soda - ½ tsp (optional)
• Oil - to deep fry
• Salt

Instructions:

• Clean and soak the urad dal in water for 5-6 hours. Then grind the soaked urad dal without adding water into a fine paste. But I had to add couple drops of water to get a fine paste.
• Coarsely crush the chopped onions, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and peppercorns with a mortar & pestle.
• Add the crushed mixture to the urad dal paste. Add salt, baking soda and mix well with your hands.
• Heat oil in a deep pan. Let the oil be real hot and then reduce flame to medium.
• Wet your hands, make a ball shape out of the uzhunnu vada batter, gently press on your palms and make a hole in the centre just like shown in the picture.
• Drop it in the oil and let it cook, flip the vada till it's golden brown and crispy outside on both sides.
• Drain the hot vadas on a kitchen tissue to soak the excess oil.
• Serve hot with sambhar/chutney.

Notes:

Adjust the green chilly & peppercorns to your spice level.