Dahi Vada

Has to be my fave summer snack ever!

Ingredients:
Urad dal/split black gram - 100g
Adrak/Ginger - about 1/2 inch
Saunf/Fennel seeds or aniseed - 1 tsp
Dahi/Curd) - 300 gm
Imli/Tamarind syrup(sweetened with molasses or sugar)
Jeera/Cumin, roasted then powdered
Dhania-patta/Coriander leaves(optional)
Hari mirch/Green chillies (optional)
Lal mirch/Red chilli powder(optional)
Salt
Water

Process:

For the vadas(dumplings):

• Take about 100g split black gram seeds(urad dal) and soak overnight in about 250 mL water. It should swell up to over twice the original volume.
  
• Drain off excess water, then grind with a little ginger and fennel/aniseed. Some people add a green chilli, deseeded.
  
• Take the batter and shape it into flattish dumplings onto a damp muslin cloth.
• Heat salad oil for deep frying, and one by one dump the dumplings into the hot oil. Preferably, do not hold the dumplings in hand, but just overturn the cloth over the frying pan.
• Fry the dumplings till golden brown, and immediately soak in warm salt water. You can soak these for upto 24 hours, if you refrigerate once they cool down.

For the tamarind syrup:

• Take some ripe tamarind - 100g should do.
• Squish with water to extract a thick, dark juice.
• Squeeze the seeds and peels to get the maximum out of them, then separate the dry pulp from the juice.
  
• Sweeten to taste, preferably with molasses. Sugar will do too.
  

To serve, lift the dumplings out of the salt water and squeeze out the excess. Pour curd over them, then a generous amount of tamarind chutney, and sprinkle cumin powder on top.
Red chilli powder, chopped coriander leaves and green chillies are optional toppings.

I know this pic(courtesy www.manjulaskitchen.com) looks a bit like vanilla icecream with chocolate sauce. Trust me, it tastes different, but equally good! I really liked Manjula's recipes for Dahi Vada, and if you look up the comments on the post, they explore a number of variations on the recipe.

Cross-posted to my blog.