Method:
Soak udad dal for 2 hours in warm water.
Grind into a paste using as little water as possible along with a 2-3 dry red chillies and some ginger.
Add salt to taste and mix.
Cover udad dal paste with plastic wrap and keep aside for about 4-5 hours.
Remove plastic wrap. Beat dal batter with a hand held electric beater for 3-4 minutes…till dal becomes light and fluffy.
Add freshly chopped dhania, finely chopped onion and coarsely pounded black pepper seeds (optional).
Mix to combine….adjust salt if needed.
Grease a small plastic sheet (I like to use a zip lock bag)
Place a heaped tablespoon of batter on the plastic in the shape of a circle.
Dip a wet finger in the middle to create the hole in the vada.
Dip your fingers in water.
Flip plastic to transfer vada onto your wet fingers.
Slide vada into hot oil
Fry on medium high heat till golden. Do not fry on low heat…as the vadas tend to absorb too much oil!
Drain on paper towel…
Serve hot with Rasam/Coconut Chutney/ Sambhar …take your pick! 🙂
Note: Take care to grind the batter really thick in as little water as possible!
Also add onions and dhania to the batter towards the end, when you are ready to fry the vadas, as when they hit salt…they start to make the batter watery!
Lastly if your dal batter looks watery you can add a tbsp of atta or sooji, to make it thicker! Adding onions and dhania in small batches of batter…will help too!