- Submitted by Elizabeth
(Dahi Wade, தயிர் வடை, Thayir Vadai, Dahi Balle, Dahi Bhalla)
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Today I am quite in a nostalgic mood. As they say in Tamil it is the day of malarum ninaivugal!! :) Ten years ago, on this same day my parents had decided for a traditional girl seeing ceremony with a prospective eligible bachelor and his family. I hated the idea of this girl seeing and even more hated the idea of an arranged marriage. I felt, it was more of a pact between two equally well off families on the criteria of education, income, appearance wise compatibility, singing skills, culinary skill and many more predefined criteria. But, these opinions were never considered by my parents and I was named childish who lives in the world of fantasy. Having no other option, I agreed for it. I laid out my condition that I will not wear sari or dress up any special for something that I don’t believe in. Thankfully, my parents agreed for the same.
At about 4:30, around five women, four men and 2 children came with many gifts in their hands. And in one corner, a tall guy in a white t-shirt and blue jeans, not shaven, was as clueless and irritated as I was. As time went by, after two rounds of coffee, some light snacks and lots of talks amongst both the parents, my father extended an invitation for dinner. My mom became jittery and nervous thinking what she would make for all of them. Luckily there was freshly prepared idly batter and some vadas that were made in the morning. My mom being an expert in quickly converting any boring dish to a yummy platter decided to convert those vadas into Dahi Vadas (also known as Thayir Vadai or Curd Vadas). All she needed was fresh thick creamy curd which are always available at our refrigerator, some spice powders and fresh coriander leaves for garnish. That is it; a grand dinner menu was ready comprising of steaming hot idlies, curd vada, coconut chutney, red chutney and rawa kesari. Till date, my husband jovially says that it’s the soft creamy thayir vada which made him want to marry me. And as they say, marriages are made in heaven!!! It’s been ten years now and we celebrate this beautiful day with yummy, creamy and delicious curd vada!!
That day we had leftover Medhu Vadais which we used to prepare Dahi Vadai. We may not have it all the time on hand. So here I have posted the recipe of preparing Dahi Vadas from scratch.
Recipe For Dahi Vada
Preparation time: 60 minutes (including soaking time)
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4-5
Ingredients
- Urad Dal (Black Gram) - 2 cups
- Green Chillies - 3 or 4 nos
- Roasted Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp
- Salt - to taste
- Sugar - 1/2 tsp (optional)
- Oil - for deep frying the vadas
- Yogurt (Curd) - 2 cups
- Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tsp
- Water - for soaking vadas
Method
- Wash and soak urad dal in water for an hour.
- Grind the urad dal with the green chillies and salt, without adding water.
- In a kadai add oil, let it heat upto 350 degrees.(Drop a small piece of batter to see if the oil is warm enough).
- Make patties of urad dal and add it to oil and fry it.
- When the vadas turn golden brown, scoop it out from the oil and drop it in a bowl of salt water. Let it soak for few minutes, meanwhile make one more batch of vada.
- Let the vada soak in water until the second batch is done. Repeat the same procedure for the remaining batter.
- Beat the yogurt in a bowl with little salt, sugar(optional) and roasted cumin (jeera) powder .
- Squeeze the vada(s)from the water and put it in the yogurt mixture. Let it soak for a while.
- Sprinkle some little chilli powder and roasted cumin powder on top as garnish.
Tip
- Curd vada can be prepared using both freshly prepared vada as well as left over vadas. It is needed to drop the vada in water as soon you take it out from oil. Only then it will absord the curd easily.
- Freshly chopped coriander leaves and grated carrots can be used for garnishing the dish. In South India, it is also common to add a seasoning of mustard seeds and curry leaves too on top. Fresh and finely cut coconut pieces can also be added for that additional crunch.
Dahi Vada prepared for a party
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