Recipe

Dahi Vada
[दही बड़ा]

Recipe Contributed By: Anupriya Sinha, Pune

 Ingredients

For Vada:
Urad Dal - 1 cup
Salt - 1 tsp or as desired (for batter) + 1 tsp (for soaking vadas in water)
Water - 1/3 cup (approx., for grinding) + 3 cup (approx., for soaking vadas)
Ginger - 1" piece (peeled, washed and chopped)
Green Chilli - 1-2 (chopped)
Refined white oil - 1 cup (approx., for frying)

For Dahi:
Curd - 400 gm
Milk (cold) - 1 cup (approx.)
Salt - 1 tsp or as desired
Sugar - 2 tsp
Kala namak powder - 1/2 tsp
Chat masala - 1 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Roasted Masala powder* - 1 tsp
*made by dry roasting cumin seeds, cloves, seeds of green cardamoms and cinnamon stick, and grinding into coarse powder

For garnishing:
Chat masala - 2 tsp (approx.)
Kala namak powder - 1 tsp (approx.)
Chilli powder - as desired
Roasted masala powder - 2 tsp (approx.)
Sweet tamarind chutney - as required [ see recipe ]

 Method of Preparation

1. Soak Urad dal at least 4 hours or overnight.

2. Wash, drain and grind to a coarse paste, by adding water little by little.

3. Add salt, ginger and green chillies and gring to a fine paste.

4. Beat the urad dal paste, preferably with hand, for 3-4 minutes, till it becomes fluffy and light. Keep this paste aside.

5. Prepare water for soaking vadas by taking 3 cups of water in a deep vessel. Add salt, mix and warm up till you can still touch the water with hand. Keep aside.

6. Heat oil in a kadai and fry the vadas of desired size and shape.

7. Transfer them straight to the lukewarm water, from the kadai.

8. Keep the vadas in water for 5-7 minutes or till they become soft.

9. Take out the soaked vadas and press them between palms to squeeze out excess water. Keep them aside.

10. Prepare dahi by beating the curd with masalas, salt and sugar, and diluting it with cold milk to get the desired consistency.

11. Soak softened vadas in this dahi for at least 30 minutes.

12. Serve dahi vadas in a deep dish. Garnish with the masalas, topped with sweet tamarind chutney.

 Notes and Tips