Medu vada is the traditional South Indian breakfast which is made from whole urad dal. These vada are soft from inside and crispy from outside. It is served with coconut chutney and sambar.
Wash the whole skinless urad dal under running cold water until water runs clear. Or rinse the lentils 3-4 times until the water is not cloudy anymore. Then soak in enough water for at least 4 hours. More soaking hours won’t hurt. After soaking they get bigger in size.
Then drain all the water and take it into the grinder jar. Start by adding little water and increase the amount as needed. Grind into a smooth batter. I used a total of 6 tablespoons of water. The batter consistency should be medium (not too thick, not too thin and runny).
While the grinding process, you may need to stop and scrape the sides and continue grinding.
Remove it to a large bowl. Add salt, green chilies, cilantro, curry leaves, and rice flour and mix.
Beat it (stir vigorously) for about 3-4 minutes to make the fluffy batter. Do the beating step by hand or use the stand mixer with a whisk attachment.
Check the right consistency batter: drop a little amount of batter in a bowl of water. It should float on top, meaning the batter has a perfect consistency and is fluffy. If it sinks at the bottom means the batter is heavy, it needs more whipping to make it light and fluffy.
Shaping & Frying:
Heat the oil in a pan on medium heat for frying vadas. To shape the vada, keep the bowl of water handy. Dip your hand generously into the water.
Take a large spoonful of batter on the wet hand (not on the palm, on your four fingers), then make a hole in the center using your thumb (make sure your thumb is wet as well, so the batter doesn’t stick to your fingers). You can see the donut-shaped medu vada.
Slide the shaped vada carefully into the hot oil (because of the water, it will easily slide off from your hand). Repeat the same and fry the vada in batches. Do flip them while frying for even browning.
Once golden brown and crispy from both sides, then remove it using a slotted spatula and place it on a paper towel lined plate.
Notes
Tips To Make Soft Medu Vada:
Soak the lentils for at least 4 hours or more the better.
Grind the batter to smooth consistency (not coarse).
The batter must be beaten/whipped to aerate until it is light and fluffy.
The batter consistency has to be right (not too thin, not too thick). So do not add too much water in the beginning while grinding. Start with a little and add more as needed.
If the batter becomes thin and runny by mistake, then add some more rice flour or ground poha.
Shaping Medu Vada Tips:
To avoid sticking batter to your hand, wet your hand really well. Always keep in mind, urad dal is shy of water, so it will easily slide from your wet hand without sticking.
If shaping the vada is difficult for you then just drop the spoonful of batter in hot oil to make simple round vada just like dahi vada.
Instead of shaping it on hand, you can shape it on a plastic sheet or directly on the spatula and transfer it to the hot oil.
Medu vada maker is available in the market. Does it work? I don’t know, I have never tried. If you have tried, let me know in the comments.
Frying Tips:
To make vada less oily, make sure that the oil is hot enough at the right temperature. If the oil is not hot enough then vada will soak up too much oil.
Also, if the oil is not hot enough then vada becomes hard and chewy.
If the oil is too hot then vada will get brown quickly from the outside and stays raw from the inside.