I am not a sucker for deep-fried stuff and have very few faves in that category. I rarely tread into that territory and try to limit my visiting it to 3 or 4 times a year.
Top 5 reasons why I dislike deep frying anything -
1) It screams UNHEALTHY right on your face. High in saturated fats that can make you see a spike in your LDL levels.
2) I end up undoing 50% of my work out sessions. (Oh what an utter waste of all that determined dragging-my-lazy-self-out-of-bed at 5:30 in the morning!)
3) The kitchen vent starts spinning the smell around and my house starts reeking of the carbon-deposited oil. (Ugh!)
4) My mane absorbs the microscopic oil particles that are aloft in the air so efficiently that at the end of the session, I am forced to wash my hair lest I end up looking like I've run out midway from a hot-oil massage session.
5) Vee would get addicted. Sounds crazy but true. The last thing I would want is to have him start craving for those "goodies".
So what business does this recipe have in my blog, you may very well ask. When I was a kid (a rotund one), I hardly had any of the worries listed above. My parents used to take me to Malai Mandir (Hill Temple) in Delhi once every month and I remember being intrigued by these trips. The reason being everything about these trips was so very TAMIL-ian. My mother used to say I had been brought to Delhi when I was an 80-day old baby. Since I had spent the prime of my childhood in Delhi, I had little association with tamil and the tamilian culture itself. Those monthly temple visits used to feel like I was transported to a different world! Now, after all the worshipping was completed, we used to find ourselves on the verge of hunger and that's where the vada-seller comes in. Outside the temple were lined small roadside shops. Amidst the flower sellers, was nestled a homely shop that sold out-of-the-world spicy paruppu vadas! It had become a ritual to stop over at the shop to savor the vadas before returning home in the 620 bus. Given the fact that south-ey food (madraasi food) was sparse those days in Delhi, the vadas seemed all the more delicious. The pics posted here were clicked on Pongal day (Harvest Festival day on Jan 14th) when we (Vee and I) made these at home specially because it was our "thalai Pongal" (the first pongal festival after marriage).
Hot Paruppu Vadas
Amma's recipe follows -
Ingredients -
Main ones -
1) Bengal gram Dal - 1 cup
2) Toor Dal - 1 tspn
3) Red Chilies - 2
4) Curry leaves - few
5) Asafetida - a pinch
6) Salt - to taste
7) Grated coconut - 1 tspn (optional)
8) Cilantro - a few sprigs (finely chopped)
9) Oil - for deep frying
2) Toor Dal - 1 tspn
3) Red Chilies - 2
4) Curry leaves - few
5) Asafetida - a pinch
6) Salt - to taste
7) Grated coconut - 1 tspn (optional)
8) Cilantro - a few sprigs (finely chopped)
9) Oil - for deep frying
Spiced-up variations - (Omit if you are making the plain vadas.)
1) Aniseeds - 1 tspn
2) Onion - 1 medium-sized (finely chopped)
3) Garlic - 1 clove (optional) (I didn't add it.)
1) Aniseeds - 1 tspn
2) Onion - 1 medium-sized (finely chopped)
3) Garlic - 1 clove (optional) (I didn't add it.)
Method -
1) Soak both the dals together for 1 hour after washing well.
2) Drain the water and collect it in a cup and use it for grinding as needed.
3) Grind coarsely adding as little water as you can along with the red chilies, asafetida, curry leaves, coconut and salt. Also add in the aniseeds and garlic while grinding for the spiced-up variation. (I use Sumeet blender for this. I did try this once with the blender I bought in the U.S. and it turned out to be a disaster since I was forced to add some extra water.) The dough should be as dry as this illustration here.
4) Mix in the chopped cilantro leaves and onion and make small lemon-sized balls of the dough.
5) Place the balls on a piece of cloth or kitchen towels (napkins) for 10-15 minutes so that the excess water gets absorbed.
1) Soak both the dals together for 1 hour after washing well.
2) Drain the water and collect it in a cup and use it for grinding as needed.
3) Grind coarsely adding as little water as you can along with the red chilies, asafetida, curry leaves, coconut and salt. Also add in the aniseeds and garlic while grinding for the spiced-up variation. (I use Sumeet blender for this. I did try this once with the blender I bought in the U.S. and it turned out to be a disaster since I was forced to add some extra water.) The dough should be as dry as this illustration here.
4) Mix in the chopped cilantro leaves and onion and make small lemon-sized balls of the dough.
5) Place the balls on a piece of cloth or kitchen towels (napkins) for 10-15 minutes so that the excess water gets absorbed.
The dough balls drying on kitchen towels
6) Heat oil in a small (deep) frying pan.
7) Flatten the balls slightly and shape like fat saucers before dropping them in the hot oil.
8) Fry over a medium flame until the bubbles have subsided along the edges of the vadas. Turn over once.
9) Drain on kitchen towels so that the excess oil is absorbed and the fritters look dry.
10) Serve as a snack with tomato ketchup or chutney.
No comments:
Post a Comment