Keerai Vadai Recipe / Spinach Vada - Ponnanganni Keerai Recipes

Recently when I went to my in-laws place, my MIL gave me lots of Ponnanganni keerai (Dwarf copperleaf / joyweed/ Sessile joyweed – pink variety. Generally known as water amaranth) grown in our garden.. I made sambar and kootu but still I had some left in my fridge. Its been a long time I am planning to make masala vada with spinach. So I tried this vada for first time.It was super cripsy , flavourful and yet soft inside.. We loved it. My doter had 2 vadas. This shows the success of this recipe.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup – 200ml

Ponnanganni keerai / Any greens– 1/2 cup
Chana dal – 1/2 cup
Red chillies – 3-4 nos
Jeera – 1/2 tsp
Hing – 1/4 tsp
Small onion – 10-15 nos (chopped roughly)
Mint leaves – 1 handful
Coriander leaves – 1 handful
Curry leaves – few
Salt & water – as needed
Fennel seeds – 1 tsp (optional)

METHOD

Soak channa dal for 2 hours. Drain the water and grind along with red chillies,hing, salt &amp ,jeera and 2 tsp of water..
First run the chillies,salt and hing together.Then add the soaked channa dal and run once or twice.The dal should be coarsely ground.Some dal would be visible..
Wash and chop the greens finely..Set aside.
Mix the keerai , onions , mint leaves and coriander leaves,curry leaves in a bowl and check for salt. No need to add water.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan and add a tbsp of hot oil to the vada batter. This helps in making the shape of vada properly and gives crispiness to the vada.
Mix the batter and take a small ball shaped batter.
Keep in the center of palm and pat it little to make thick patties.
Deep fry in hot oil. To check the right temperature of oil , just drop a bit of batter. It raises immediately..
Now drop the vadas one by one and cook in simmer flame for even cooking.
Flip the vadas after a few mins and cook on the other side.
Make in batches..Remove the vadas and serve hot !

Enjoy
with tea or with rice as an accompaniment like we had!!

NOTE

If you are planning to make masala vada , just follow the same recipe except spinach.
Adding fennel seeds gives a nice flavour but I couldn’t use as my hubby doesn’t like its taste..
I used pink variety keerai and I just ground the keerai once along with channa dal. So my vada was slighlty brownish yellow in color.
U can make this vada with any greens..The point is just chop it very finely..Mulai keerai, arai keerai , siru keerai , murungai keerai can be used here..
Usually we add channa, toor and urad dal for masala vada . We call tat as “MUPARUPPU VADA”..But my mom told me to make with channa dal alone.. Yes , adding channa dal alone gives a nice , crispy vadas..