Thayir Vadai Recipe – South Indian Dahi Vada / Curd Vada

• White round Urad dal – 1/2 cup
• Green chillies – 2nos
• Ginger – 1 inch piece
• Curry leaves – few
• Asafetida/Hing – 2 pinches
• Salt & water – as needed

For Curd Vada

• Fresh thick curd – 1 cup
• Water – 2 tbsp
• Salt – as needed

To temper

• Cooking oil – 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal – 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds/Jeera – 1/4 tsp
• Curry leaves – few
• Cashew nuts – few
• Hing – a pinch

To garnish

• Grated carrot – 2-3 tbsp
• Finely chopped coriander leaves – 2 tbsp
• Kara boondhi – as needed

• Wash and soak the urad dal for an hour or two. Drain the excess water completely. In a big mixie jar, grind green chillies, ginger and hing without adding water. Add the drained urad dal and grind it without water. It would grind coarsely.Wipe the sides of mixie jar. Now add 2 tbsp of water.Grind again. Add water in only a tsp or tbsp at regular intervals and grind a smooth & soft batter. Batter should not be watery or too thick. It should be airy & weightless. So add less water and grind the batter patiently. You can use ice cold water too. Do not add salt while grinding the batter. Remove the batter and check its consistency. For this,drop a pinch of batter in a bowl of water. If it floats on top, batter is just right. Remove the creamy batter in a bowl. Beat it well using your hands or an egg beater to make the batter airy( Updated tip from Sujata).Add finely chopped curry leaves, Pepper powder if you wish and required salt if you are going to make vada immediately. Else keep the batter in the refrigerator till use without adding salt.
• Heat oil to deep fry and check its temperature by dropping a pinch of batter. If it rises immediately, oil temperature is right. Simmer the flame and drop the vada into the oil.Fry in batches,3-4 at a time in medium flame. Remove in a tissue once it turns golden on both the sides. Make 5 vada and keep it ready.

Check out my Medhu vada recipe using MIXIE for more details !

• Take 1 cup of thick curd in a wide bowl. Add 2 tbsp of water or little more and whisk it. Add salt and check for taste.Make sure curd is not too thick or too watery.

• Now boil water in a wide bowl till it starts to bubble. Drop the vada in the water. Let it be inside hot water for just a minute. Then remove the vada and put it in the curd mixture.

• Let the vada soak in curd mixture for 30 minutes to 4 hours. Make sure vada is well immersed in curd mixture.Temper mustard seeds, urad dal, hing, curry leaves, cashews and add to the curd. You can also add a finely chopped green chilli and add while tempering.
• Just before serving, add finely chopped coriander leaves, grated carrot and Kara boondhi. Serve immediately and enjoy !!

• Yummy Tamil nadu style thayir vadai is ready !! Enjoy !

• Grinding vada batter properly is more important. If the vada turns out hard, it won’t absorb the curd mixture properly. In that case, you can dip the vada in hot water for 30 minutes before putting in curd mixture.
• For variations, you can grind green chillies+ginger to a paste and mix with curd instead of grinding with urad dal. But add less green chillies ( 1 or 2) because curd mixture will become too spicy.
• Dipping in hot water helps the vada to become soft and absorb the curd mixture.
• If the curd is too thick, vada won’t absorb it.So add little water & whisk it & dilute before you drop the vada.
• Don’t worry even if the vada is too cold or at room temperature. Dipping in hot water makes it warm and helps to absorb the curd.So you can make thayir vadai with leftover vadai easily as I did.
• Do not forget to garnish with coriander leaves, grated carrot and kara boondhi.