Medu Vadai Recipe (Ulundu Vadai Recipe)

This vadai is my kids favourite vadai as it is crispy on the outside and soft inside.This vadai is made during pooja's as an offering .When made for pooja's we avoid onions in this recipe.I love to have it with sambar but my kid loves it with curd ,Will post the curd vadai soon.Although it is deep fried it is rich in protien.Hot vadai with piping hot sambar on a cool evening is a true bliss.

Medu Vadai(ulundu Vadai) Recipe- Ingredients

Urad Dhal(full deskinned) - 1 cup (I used Udayam brand)
Ginger - 1 inch (peeled)
Green chilly - 3
Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
Salt to taste
Water to grind (3 tbsp)
Oil to deep fry

Method:

1. Wash and soak a cup of urad dhal for an hour. Place the soaked dhal in a strainer to remove all the water and grind the dhal along with ginger, green chillies and salt.
2. Grind the dhal till it turns out fluffy,(add water by spoon only to enable the grinding )and transfer it to a bowl and add the onion
3. Now that the batter is ready you can heat oil in a kadai. Wet your hand, take a lemon sized ball of the batter place it on a zip lock cover, flatten it and make a small hole in the center.
4. Transfer the flattened batter to oil and fry on medium till you get a golden color. Drain from oil and transfer to a plate with tissue paper. This helps in absorbing any excess oil.
Serve hot with coconut chutney or sambar or both.

My Notes:

• Adding salt while grinding prevents the batter from turning watery if salt is added later.
• You can add a tsp of rice flour to the ground batter to thicken the consistency.(I didn't)
• Always be careful with the amount of water used.More the water in batter the vadai tends to absorb oil.If the batter is too thick then the vadai turns out hard.
• I grind my vadai batter in the mixie , as it is only for 5 of us. Use a grinder for a larger crowd.
• To check for the batter's fluffiness just drop a small ball of the batter in water if it floats then you have ground the batter smoothly.
• You can add finely chopped green chilly, curry leaves and coriander leaves also.
• You can add peppercorns and jeera while grinding which gives an extra zing. Adjust the number of green chillies if using pepper.