Happy Holi and Dhuleti!! On this festive occasion, Dahi Vada's are a perfect way to celebrate. Holi is all about the harmony in life, the balance. This balance also reflects in the food that we eat on this day. One of the traditional dishes that is made every year in my family are Dahi Vada's. They have a perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty and spicy (we're always looking for excuses to eat Dahi Vada's).
This recipe is fairly simple to make, it's just a little time consuming as there are a number of elements that go into the dish. You will need Urad Dal, curd/yogurt, tamarind paste, jaggery, cumin seeds (jeera), red chili powder and salt for this recipe.
Start off by thoroughly washing the dal, and then soaking it for a couple of hours, preferably over night. The convenient part of this recipe is that you can get most of the prep like making the chutneys and the vada batter done the previous day itself.
Grind the dal with a little bit of water till you have a thick batter.
Meanwhile, make the meetha chutney (sweet chutney) by gently heating the jaggery, water and chili powder, till you have a thick chutney. Make the khatta chutney (sour chutney) by mixing the tamarind paste with some water. Whisk the curd/yogurt till it is quite smooth. Roast the cumin seeds till they are fragrant and grind to a fine powder. Heat up a pan with oil and drop spoonfuls of the vada batter in. Fry on a medium heat till golden brown.
As soon as you have removed them from the oil, drop the vadas into a bowl of water. Soak for about 10 minutes, squeeze the water out and flatten.
Now comes the fun part, lay out a few vadas on a plate. Start by spooning some dahi all over, and then adding a few spoonfuls of the two chutneys. Sprinkle some salt, red chili powder and the roasted cumin powder all over. You are good to go!!
Makes about 25-28 vadas
Ingredients
- 250g Urad Dal
- 200g Curd/Yogurt
- 100g Jaggery (gudd)
- 2tbsp Cumin Seeds (jeera)
- 2tbsp Tamarind Paste
- 2tsp Red Chili Powder
- Salt
- Red Chili Powder to sprinkle on top
- Oil, for deep frying
Soak the dal overnight (or 4-5 hours) and grind to a smooth, thick batter.
Melt the jaggery in 3 tablespoons of water with the 2tsp of chili powder. This is your meetha chutney.
Mix the tamarind paste with 4 tablespoons of water. This is your khatta chutney.
Roast the cumin seeds till fragrant and grind to a fine powder.
Whisk the yogurt till it is quite smooth.
Heat up a pan of oil, and drop small spoonfuls of the vada batter in. Fry on a medium heat till golden brown. This should take about 8-10 minutes per batch.
Drop the fried vadas into a bowl of water and soak for about 10 minutes (or till the next batch of vadas are out of the oil). Squeeze out the water by placing a vada between the palms of your hands.
Lay out the vadas on a plate, pour the yogurt on top. Spoon some of both the chutneys and sprinkle with the roasted cumin powder, salt and red chili powder.
Serve cold.
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