I have already posted urad dal vada with pepper in mixie. In that post I have mentioned the different methods used to shape vadas. By seeing that post many of my reader friends mailed & asked me to post a video on how to grind the vada batter using mixie & how to shape vada using a sheet and some easy tips to identify the consistency of batter. I was hesitant in the beginning whether I could do this and I wanted somebody to help me taking the video.
Recently my in-laws visited my place and with the help of my MIL I took this video by keeping beginners in mind. The batter yield will not be good when we grind in mixie as compared to grinder. But I am sure you’ll get the taste & crispness equal to grinder batter. Please bear the mistakes in this video as this is my first attempt. I hope I can do it better in future & update here. I am also a beginner and Iam still in the learning and experimenting phase. Most of us miss the batter consistency adding more water. So I have tried to give the exact water quantity I used . The quantity of water slightly differs as per the quality of urad dal. So keep this video as reference and adjust the water quantity. I have also given some tips in the “Note” section to adjust the consistency of batter if it is watery. Experts, do share your tips in the comments section.
Recently I had vada for breakfast in Adayar Ananda Bhavan restaurant (A2B). I found jeera, pepper corns, onions and curry leaves. So I too started making in that way as my husband loves pepper more than onions. Here I have mentioned pepper & jeera in the ingredients list. For poojas & festivals we add only pepper. Add onions alone or both onion & pepper as per your wish. But remember to add onions just before frying vada else onions will leave water and make the batter watery.
Always keep the batter refrigerated till use. No problem if one or two tsp of water goes extra. Batter will thicken if u refrigerate it. If you find the batter too watery, add few tsp of rice flour to make it thick & to make a proper shaped vada. But you should serve it hot . Otherwise vadas won’t be crispy in room temperature. Also if you add less water to grind the batter, vada will be hard. If you add the correct water & grind the batter , vadai will stay crispy even after it cools down. Vada won’t drink much of oil if the batter is right. My MIL used to add a tsp of toor dal while soaking urad dal to avoid oil absorption.
Beginners can follow this method. Some people soak little raw rice along with urad dal or add a tsp of rice flour to the batter. All these are not necessary if you grind the batter in right consistency.
Ok friends, let me know your comments if you try this method. Good luck.
Water – 1/3 cup + 1 tsp (adjust as per the quality of urad dal , start with 1/4 cup of water & increase gradually)
Rice flour – 1 tsp
To mix in the batter
Small onion/ Big onion – 15 nos / 2 nos
Curry leaves – Few
Pepper corns – 1 tsp
Jeera – 1/4 tsp
Asafetida / Hing – 2-3 generous pinches
Salt – as needed
HOW TO MAKE MEDHU VADAI
Wash and soak urad dal for 1 hour minimum. Refrigerate it.
Drain all the water and reserve in a bowl.
Take a big mixie jar and grind the chilli, ginger coarsely without salt, water.
Add the soaked urad dal and grind to the maximum without adding water by wiping the sides.
Add 1/4 cup of water and grind again. If needed add more water in tbsp or tsp.
Make a thick, smooth, fluffy paste and collect in a bowl. Add rice flour and beat the batter well.
Lastly add the chopped onion, curry leaves, hing, pepper, cumin and salt. Mix well.
Heat oil and fry the vada in both the sides till golden in color.
Remove and serve hot with coconut chutney and sambar !
METHOD – STEP BY STEP PICTURES
Wash and soak urad dal for 1 hour to 4 hours (maximum) and keep it inside the fridge( refrigerator). After soaking, drain all the water completely and keep in a bowl. Use this water for grinding the batter. Choose a bigger sized mixie jar to hold the urad dal batter. ( jar should be double the size of batter).
First grind the green chillies, ginger piece without salt. Grind it coarsely without adding water.
Drain the ice water from soaked urad dal. Reserve it for grinding. Then add the urad dal without water and grind for few seconds till it becomes a coarse paste.
Now add 1/4 cup of ice water and grind for a minute till smooth. Open the jar , wipe the sides & check the batter. .
If it is slightly coarse, add 1 more tsp of water. ( Always add in tsp or tbsp further). Again grind & check the consistency. Batter should be thick, fluffy and smooth. When you drop the batter, it will slide slowly & it will form a stiff peak. One more tip is, drop a small quantity of batter in a bowl of water. It will float on top. Remove the batter to a bowl. Add some water to the jar, run the mixie once. Use this water for dipping your hands while you shape vada.
Refrigerate the batter If you fry later. If making vada immediately, add 1/2 tbsp of rice flour and beat the batter well for 5 minutes. Just before frying vadas , add the finely chopped onions , curry leaves and whole pepper corns & 1/2 tsp of jeera, salt. Mix well. Dip your fingers in the urad dal washed water , shape the vadas . Deep fry on both the sides till onion turns golden brown , remove , drain in a tissue paper & enjoy eating hot as evening snack with coffee !
NOTE
Do not add salt while grinding the vada batter. Add salt, onion just before frying else it will make the batter watery.
1/4 cup is the minimum quantity of water needed to grind the batter. It differs based on the urad dal. But after adding 1/3 cup, add water in tsp and check the batter every now & then. Please don’t add too much of water.
If you add more water, vada will drink more oil. To avoid oil absorption, you can add 1/2 tsp of toor dal along with urad dal while soaking.
The quantity of batter may not be more as you get in grinder. In grinder, we get batter for 25 medium sized vadas. In mixie, you can make 10 to 12 vadas.
Vada will absorb more oil if u deep fry in low heat oil.Heat of the oil should be right. It should not be smoky. If u deep fry when the oil is too hot , vada will brown quickly but the inside portion will not be cooked.
For proper cooking, always check the heat of oil by dropping a bit of batter. If it rises immediately, oil is in the correct temperature.
Adjust the flame to high and medium high while deep frying.
Deep fry in medium low flame for long time to get crispier vadas. For onion vada, you should remove the vada when the onions turn golden brown. For pepper vada, remove it when the sound ceases & turns golden brown.
Shaping of vada comes only by practice. Start using a sheet or ladle for shaping. Then you can make it directly using your hands.
love medu wadas any day..nice effort on the video!!
I second Pratibha. Love vadas anytime. Nice video too. Good work 🙂
I love AAb's vadas due to those whole peppers. Those are some very good tips Chitra.
anytime how much ever.. nothing can beat these.. i bet
Looks so delicious!
u explained it clearly also it shows ur effort towards the video and presentation:) way to go !
lovely video and this would help the beginners and my fav vada
That's a wonderful post…tempting vadais
perfect yummy vadai and love the video for grinding part .
love it perfectly done.. so perfect shape
perfect, and soo crispy..love it some hot hot filter coffee. thanks for sharing the video links as well…
perfect and yummy vadai, my fav…
saw the videos… done very nicely and perfectly shaped… comment in the corner is a great idea… hope to see more videos from u…
nice and crispy…perfectly done….i too posted vada recipe today 🙂
beautiful clicks dear…
Anu's Healthy Kitchen – Swiss Chard Chana Dal Masala Vada
crisp vadas from mixie version, love it….
Love vada anyday and nice video Chitra ..gud effort
oh mine you are getting it so perfect dear…love this anytime for snack
wow..perfectly made medhu vada,looks inviting.. nice video Chitra…appreciate ur effort!
Thank u so much friends for the encouraging comments 🙂
Looks so perfectly made
Great info! Such crispy yummy vadas!
Looks superb and nice clicks
vadai looks perfect and delicious… fabulous clicks..
வடை அழகா லட்சணமா இருக்குங்க சித்ரா! 🙂 வீடியோவும் நல்லா இருக்கு. எங்க வீட்டிலயும் இப்படி யாராவது வந்து சுட்டுத் தந்தா நல்லா சாப்பிடலாம்! :))))
hehe , naane varen mahi 😉
I made vadai for Pongal folowing jour advices they were vert good. Happy Pongal from Paris. Sandira
Thank you so much for the feedback. Happy Pongal 🙂
Hi Chitra nowadays I am grinding for Vadai in mixie only following ur method.comes out well and easy too compare to grinding and cleaning the grinder.
Thanks a lot for the feedback Harini 🙂
Video it is mentioned soaking time as 4 hours n in content mentioned as 1 hr.which one is correct
Hi, its minimum 1 hour and maximum upto 4 hours. Both works well.
Hi mam today prepared vadai . Little water increased it seems . Wat to do mam
Hi , add 1 to 2 tsp rice flour, beat the batter for a minute and refrigerate it until use. If using immediately, add rice flour and use it.