Ulundu vadai

Ulundu vadai are doughnut shaped fritters made from urad dal. They are also called medu vadai.

Ingredients:

1 cup of urad dal
Salt to taste
Optional ingredients:
2/3 green chillies ( suit your taste)
finely cut pieces of Ginger (stem—1/2 inch)
Cabbage(shredded)/finely cut onions
Asafoetida - a pinch
Curry leaf 1 sprig
a teaspoon of pepper powder(if you want it spicier)
Oil for frying.


Method:

Soak Urad dal for just 1/2 hour before grinding.

Grind urad dal in a grinder without adding much water( if you must, sprinkle some ice cold water). When it doubles up in quantity and has a fluffier consistency , transfer the contents to a dish. Now, mix the optional ingredients according to your taste.

Heat the required amount of oil in a deep frying pan.

To pat the vadas ( this comes with expertise)
Wet your hands , then take a blob of dough and pat on an oiled plastic cover and mark with a hole in the middle. Remove it from the plastic cover and release it into hot oil. Fry them till they turn golden brown.



Alternatively you can wet your fingers, take a blob and with the help of your thumb finger push the blob over the other fingers and pat them, make a hole and release them into the oil.




Tips for making crispy vadas:

Fry the vadas till they are half done( light golden color).
Remove them from oil.
After frying the successive batches, fry the cooled half done vadas once again till they turn golden brown. This makes the vadas crispy. The secret of crispy vadas also lies in grinding the vada batter. The air trapped in the bubbles of the batter ,while grinding in the grinder lends its crunch. Avoid using mixie for grinding if us want crispy vadas.

You can also add a table spoon of rice flour to the batter if it is watery. This too makes it crispier.