This is a common snack served with evening tea or for breakfast with idli, pongal or dosa.
Idli
Difficulty: MediumA very common Tamilian breakfast dish that is served with chutney/sambar/milagai podi
Coconut chutney
Difficulty: EasyA simple coconut chutney made with just coconut. You can also season it with curry leaves, mustard and red chilies.
Medhu Vadai
Course: SnacksCuisine: Indian, TamilDifficulty: Medium
Servings
6
servingsSoaking time
3
hoursCooking time
30
minutesThis is a common snack served with evening tea or for breakfast with idli, pongal or dosa.
Ingredients
Urad dhal – 1 cup
Green chilli – 2 (Chopped into small pieces)
Fresh ginger – a small piece
Fresh coriander leaves – few
Salt – half teaspoon
Oil – for deep frying
Directions
- Soak urad dhal in water for one to two hours. Wash well and grind to a soft paste along with salt and ginger. The dough should float on water. This is the right consistency. Remove and add the chopped chillies, coriander leaves and mix well.
- Heat oil in a kadai. Take a lemon size ball and slightly flatten it and make a hole in the center. Drop gently in the hot oil and deep fry till it becomes golden brown. Make sure the oil is in medium heat and not to be smoking hot.
Notes
- You can also add one onion chopped finely to the batter.
hi, great recipes on your site. would you let me know the art of shaping vadais. i usually drop blobs in oil, dont get nice rounds with holes.also, though i make batter with very less water and fluffy, i dont get it as crisp as in hotels
Hi,
Making vadas can be done in two ways. Take out a small portion of banana leaf or a thick plastic paper. Wet the leaf or plastic paper. Dip you hands in the water so that your hands will also be wet. Take out a lump of batter and make a ball. Put the ball in the leaf or sheet and gently press with your fingers and make a hole. Take the leaf or sheet along with vadai in one hand and gently lift the vadai using your thumb of other hand and remove the leaf or sheet. Now the vadai will be in your hand. Drop it in the hot oil and fry.
The other way is, Wet your hand and take out the batter and make a lemon size ball and gently push the ball from your palm to the end of the fingers (top of the four fingers) and press with your thumb and make a round and make a hole with your thumb and put it hot oil. This will come with practice and quick method also.
To get crispy vadai, you can add a teaspoon of rice while soaking urad dhal or add a teasoon of rice flour while grinding. The batter also should be very fine. And avoid onion.
Thanks kamala for the detailed explanation. You appear to be a very experienced cook. Are you based in chennai ?
Yes. I am based in Chennai.
hi kamala, I tried your suggestions for shaping vadais and this time I was able to make lovely perfect rounds with holes, impressed my friends – thanks a lot. vadais were very tasty too
Cheers,
camgirl
It is really nice to hear that my suggestion is useful to you.
Thanks for posting your comments.
Hello Kamala Aunty, I loved your directions and explanation on getting the hole into a methu vadai, I am going to try the next time I make.
Shanti
Fishers, IN. USA.
Hi Shanti,
Thank you for writing. Best of luck for getting perfect and crispy vadai. Use wetgrinder for grinding.
Hello Madam,
I follow ur recipe religiously these days and I am already a famous cook among my bachelor friends 🙂 . Thank you so much.
I have a doubt regarding vada recipe. I have never seen my mother or any of my relatives using coriander leaves for Vada, instead i have seen them use curry leaves. Does cpriander, by any chance, taste better than curry leaves ?
Thank you once again for your mouth-watering recipes
Hi flyhigh,
Thank you for visiting my site and your comments. Yes. I do agree even in my native place, coriander leaves are not added. But in Chennai, when I tasted the vada with coriander leaves, I liked the taste. It is not replacing curry leaves, but adding little will give coriander taste also. Sometimes, I like vada without anything except few green chillies which goes well with breakfast.
Thank you Madam, for clarifying.
Hi kamala
Just saw ur recepie for medhu vadai. I normally make batter in the mixie, use as little water as possible about 1/5th cup for 1 cup. But still I dont get good ones. Please help.
Hi Pearl Kitty,
For Medhu Vadai, using wet grinder will give good result. However, to grind small quantity mixie is better. First grind without adding any water and slowly sprinkle spoonful of water now and then and continue grinding till you get soft paste. Sometimes we may need more water to grind. But we should not add water in the beginning itself. Have to add water little by little while grinding. This way we may get soft vadai.
Hi Kamala Aunty,
I was searching for the medhu vada making using a mixie. Very glad to see the information here. Thanks a lot. Will try and post the comments.
Hi Kamala Madam,
I was searching for methu vada recipe since ages…..today only i found a detailed and simple recipe…..hat’s off madam…..it came very well and yummmmmy too…….and i decided to try all your snacks recipes …….thanks for this wonderful blog…..now i’m a big fan of you……..God Bless !!
Thank you Saju.
Hello Mam,
Will a steamed medu vadai taste good?
Hi Divya,
No. If you steam the urad dhal dough, it will be hard and look like a wax idli.
One more doubt.. Sometimes my idli’s are like wax idli. What may be the problem.. I used 4:1 ratio for rice and urud dhal.
Thanks in advance
Hi Divya,
The ratio is right. However some variety of rice is not suitable for making idli. You have to buy Idli Rice or the “Parboiled rice” suitable for idli. Grinding the urad dhal is important. It should be ground frothy. Then it comes to fermentation. It should be fermented for atleast 8 hours in warm weather.
Hi Mam,
I tried making vada. But the inside of the vadas were not cooked well and also the vada is too hard. What makes it too hard and uncooked inside?
Hi Viji,
The oil should be in moderate heat and stove also should be kept in medium heat. If the oil is too hot, then as soon as you drop the vada dough, outer portion become brown soon and inner portion will not get cooked. Reason for vada become hard is due to the texture of the dough. Urad dhal should be ground fine and at the same time it should be frothy.
Dear Madam,
One of the best and simplest and beautiful site for all my cooking needs….
Thank you,
Veena
Thank you Veena.
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