Masala Vadai /Spicy Patties
The past two days it has been raining like it would go out of fashion,good for the grass…it has turned green all over the place and it’s a squeaky joyful mess under your feet.What could seal the deal….Masala vadai off course!!! A classic South Indian snack,yummy & crispy best eaten along with your evening coffee.The thought of eating hot spicy Masala Vadai/Spicy lentil patties on a rainy day seemed like a distant dream as I waded through miles & miles of traffic,coming back from work, yet the hunger pang got stronger as I neared home.I HAFFTA have them NOW!!! Gone are the days, when you could just stop along the roadside & pick a few of them to eat them hot & crispy,here if I have one of those nostalgic food cravings I will have to make it at home & then savor, by then half your hunger is dead & so is your craving….but today seemed different,I HAFFTA have it NOW, took over completely grin emoticon grin emoticon.So here I was soaking the lentils in slow motion( at least that is the way it seemed to me) then had to distract myself doing some quick laundry, lest I grow roots waiting for the lentils to soak & swell up.Before I knew it an hour ticked by, just enough time for me to finish the rest of the marathon,onions & green chillies were chopped in a jiffy, then went the ginger garlic paste & salt along with the soaked lentils, into the blender & back…soon they were warming up in the hot oil, to turn into these delicious golden brown patties or Masala vadai as they are fondly called in the land I grew up in.Coffee in one hand, masala vadai , in another..I made it after all! Moral of the story: If you have a dream, go for it with all gutso, you will MAKE it at the end, if your dream was strong enough ! ( even if it means doing a little laundry in-between wink emoticon )
P.S: To retain the originality of how masala vadai is really eaten, piping hot & crispy while cooling off an old newspaper to drain the oil.(This picture was taken along those lines, when printing ink from the newspaper was not considered hazardous to wrap food in, in those days ! )
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups 1 1/2 Chana Dal/Split chickpeas
6 6 Green chillies
1 1 Onion- ( thin sliced)
a bunch Cilantro/Coriander leaves
1 tbsp 1 Ginger garlic paste
a pinch Asafetida/Hing
Salt – to taste
Directions
- Soak the chana dal/Split chickpeas in water for an hour.Drain it completely & set aside.
- Now finely chop green chillies & onion, set aside.
- Mix the soaked chana dal, green chillies, onions, cilantro, salt, ginger garlic paste & salt & hing together & grind them into a coarse mix without any water.
- Heat a cup of oil, to deep fry these patties.
- Now once the oil is warm, make lemon size balls of the coarsely ground mix and gently flatten them in the palm of your hands & gently drop them into the hot oil one by one.
- When they turn golden brown flip them over , making sure the other side is well cooked too.
- Drain the oil , by picking the patties thru a multi holed spoon, so the oil drains completely & then place them on a tray or colander, lined with paper towels.When the oil is completely drained, serve them hot with coffee as an evening snack
Notes
- They can also be had with coconut chutney or tomato ketchup smile emoticon Enjoy!