CHANA DAL VADA or PARIPUVADA

Kerala Diaries part 2

Coming to my 2^nd recipe that I tried out during my journey, is a simple humble “ParipuVada” in Malayalam, which means “Chana dal Vada” in Hindi or “Split Black Gram Vada” in English.  I had decided that I will try to use some ingredients from kitchen garden, so in this recipe I am using curry leaves, green chilly and ginger from my Mom’s kitchen garden and ofcourse the coconut to make Chutney as spicy condiment.

ParipuVada is an all-time favorite for evening tea time snack in any tea stall.  I have tried buying ParipuVada from various shops but it never matched to the taste that my mom makes.  Secondly, I feel that ParipuVada should be eaten immediately upon frying as once it becomes cold the vada turns to be hard and dry. Among the various other Kerala Fritters, ParipuVada absorbs less oil.  Secondly, when we make fritters with the whole dals / lentils, we are sure about the ingredient quality and its nutrients.   Hence, I love having this spicy ParipuVada while sipping a hot cup of Tea or Black Tea. 

The usual scene during evening tea time is me sitting surrounded by my family in the verandah or balcony with tea and some fried snacks and if it’s accompanied by rains, then bliss bliss…. nothing more to ask for!

The combination of ParipuVada and Black tea marries well. Thru some of the Malayalam movies, I realized that ParipuVada and Black tea has become the inspirational food for attending the evening meetings for the Communist Party. 

So lets make this healthy snack bite…. "CHANA DAL VADA or PARIPUVADA"

Ingredients:

• Chana dal (split bengal gram/kadala parippu) – 2 cups
• Shallots – 8 to 10, finely chopped
• Green chilli – 2-3, finely chopped
• Ginger – 1-2 tsp, finely chopped
• Fennel seeds – ¼ tsp (optional, refer notes)
• Curry leaves – 3-4 stems, finely chopped
• Asafetida – ⅛ tsp
• Salt, as required
• Pinch of turmeric
• Oil

Procedure:

Soak Chana Dal / in water for 2 hours. Drain the water completely.

Crush the soaked and drained dal, along with all other ingredients, just run it in grinder for a few seconds. Make sure you don’t grind it to a smooth paste. Make small balls with the dal mix (gooseberry size) and then slightly flatten it.

Heat oil for deep frying pan on high flame. When oil is really hot, reduce the flame to low-medium and add the vada. Before adding to the oil, just flatten each ball in your palm. Wet your hands before flattening the dough. It is better to flatten the dough just before adding to the oil, otherwise it may break.

Fry till the vadas (fritters) become golden brown or if you like it extra crispy, fry till you get a darker shade of brown. Drain excess oil on a tissue paper. Serve hot with chutney and a glass of black tea.

You will get around 15 parippu vadas of small-medium size, with the above qty.

Do SUBSCRIBE this Blog and like us on www.facebook.com/inishkitchen if you have liked this recipe and wish to receive more updates on the upcoming posts