Medu Vadas are a traditional South Indian dish which can be served as a main course, side dish, or snack. This crispy deliciousness is made with spiced urad dal batter and fried in donut shape dumplings. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They are served with Sambar and Coconut Chutney.
Recipe will make about 10 to 12 Vadas.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup split washed urad dal (available in Indian stores)
- 1/8 teaspoon asafetida (hing)
- 2 teaspoon whole coriander seeds (sabut dhania)
- 1 tablespoon green chili chopped
- 2 tablespoons cilantro chopped (hara dhania)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Oil to fry
Method
- Wash and soak dal in about 3 cups of water for about 4-6 hours.
- Drain the water and grind dal to smooth paste using very little water just enough to grind, food processor works good for this. Blend for another 2 minutes to whip dal to make fluffy. Take dal batter out in a wide bowl.
- Add all the ingredients to the dal batter, cilantro, green chili, coriander, asafetida and salt, beat the batter for 2-3 minutes this will make the batter light and fluffy. To make sure batter is ready put one drop of batter in a bowl of water, batter should float.
- Keeping the right consistency of batter is very important; add water as needed batter should not be soft but not runny. When you put the batter on your palm batter should hold its shape. Make the Vadas batter when you are ready to fry them, as the batter sit will get soft if you are not ready to fry keep batter refrigerated.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat.
- The frying pan should have about 1 inch of oil. To check if the oil is ready, put one drop of batter in oil. The batter should sizzle and come up but not change color right away. If oil is very hot Vadas will not cook through and will not be crispy.
- Wet the palms and take golf size batter and place over your palm, flatten to round shape and make hole in the center looking like donut now with other hand wet fingers slowly slide Vada into the hot oil.
- Fry the Vadas from both sides to golden brown. Take them out over paper towel to drain access oil.
- Traditionally Medu Vada served with Coconut Chutney, and sambar (aromatic lentil soup with vegetables).
Notes
- If Medu Vada Batter is too thick: The Vada will shape nicely but they will be hard inside after frying.
- If batter is too soft: it will not be able to hold the shape and will absorb too much oil.
- It’s the consistency of the batter that determines how soft and shapely the Vadas turn out.
Hi, can we whip the batter with an electric whisk?
yes
Hello Manjula,
I like your recipe informative and straightforward. I just did differently; instead of my hand beating the mixture, I used a whisk and added a pinch of baking soda.
Sounds good
Hi mam, i cant get black urid dal in nearby stores, can i use normal white urid dal? What it will taste good?
Shiv, Recipe ask for normal white urid dal
Hello manjula
I have a doubt. My vada blasted like a bomb today. Can I know the reason you discover happened
Krish I don’t have a answer, I hear that often and once I have experienced,
If you grind the urad to fine it will burst so you can add 2 teaspoons of rava or Grind the dal little corse.
Had u added anything else in the wada? Once I had added 2 tbps of corn flour to the batter as it had become a little loose and the WADA had blasted. Not a drop of oil was left in the kadhai.
Hi
I tried medu vada it was very soft , but excess oil remains what to do now please suggest
Thanks manjula ji ….ur website is very helpful ..I always look for ur website only whenever I need to find any new recipe.. Keep posting new recipes …thanks a lot
shikha, Thank you
Manjulaji today I seen your website. It has very good and healthy delirious recipes. I like them. Keep sharing them Thank you…
heĺlo mam
can’t v soak urad daal for a night
I have tried making wada many time
It’s always crispy from outside n v hard from inside. Plss help
Roopa,
may be the batter was too thick, heat could be high or needed to whip the batter little bit.
Can onions also be used ?
Hi I tried making mendu wada from readymade batter from outside, but they turned to be very hard. Should I add little hot oil to batter for making soft menduwadas please help.
Purvi, Ready made batter should have the directions how to make, I have never used the oil in the batter.
Hi there. Can i use urid dhall flour. If using flour is it still the same measurement ie 1 cup?
sakeenah, flour will not work
Love this site. looking forward to work wit ur firm in future. AGAPE
Hello mam. I tried them so many times they taste good but not soft. I want to know how to check the right consistency.. Sometimes they blast during cooking. Please help me. My daughter loves vada a lot.
Parul, if batter is too thick that can make vadas hard also need to whip the batter
Fantastic website and recipes.
I can’t get black urid dal from my local shops. Can I use either black urid beans or white urid dal instead? Would either be a good substitute?
John,
The main ingredient for medu vada is urid dal, you can make them using different beand but it will not be medu vada and still will taste great.
i like this recipe
nice………… and look very tasty.
Mam, you can add a spoon or two of rice flour which will help the vadas to remain crisp for some more time.. and people do add ginger which is chopped into small pieces which adds a very much good flavour to these vadas.
Nandhini,
Thanks for the suggestion, I will try next time when I make Medu Vada.
mam,thanks for the recipe.. its not the coriander seeds that are used. it’s whole black pepper oly.. using coriander seeds spoils the actual taste of medu vadai.. and also the curry leaves not the coriander leaves..
No its not coriander seeds or black pepper but instead whole cumin seeds and curry leaves are used.