URAD DAL VADA | ULUNDU VADAI WITH PEPPER

• White round urad dal – 1 cup
• Water – 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp (to grind use ice water) 
• Salt – as needed.
• Asafetida / hing – 1/4 tsp
• Crushed Pepper corns – 1 tbsp
• Rice flour – 1 (optional, adjust)
• Curry leaves – Few ( chopped )
• Oil – to deep fry

• Wash and soak the urad dal for 1 hour inside the refrigerator. Drain all the water completely and use it for grinding the batter. This ice water helps to prevent mixie jar from heating.
• Take the dal in a bigger size mixie jar. Choose a medium sized jar as the dal gets increased in quantity. Add 1/4 cup of water and the required salt .
• Grind for some time till the batter turns little coarse. Now stop the mixie and wipe the sides and the lid. Again add a tbsp of water, salt and run the mixie for one more minute. Batter should be fluffy , white and smooth. Add more water till it becomes a smooth paste..

• Take little water in a bowl and put a drop of batter. If the batter floats on top & doesn’t dissolve or settle down , the consistency is correct. Add one more tbsp of water if necessary.
• Now remove the batter in a bowl and add some water to the mixie jar. Clean the jar with water by running it once. Keep the water and use it for dipping ur hands while making vada.
• Add the hing and the crushed pepper corns to the batter. Add rice flour if needed. Mix well..

• Heat the oil in a kadai. If you put a drop of batter , batter will rise immediately. It is the correct heating point. Adjust the flame to medium high to low and deep fry the vada. Also keep ur hands wet by dipping in the water now & then. Batter should be non-sticky to your hands.
• Take  a small ball sized batter and place it in a milk cover or polythene sheet greased with water. Place the batter and pat it little thick. Make a hole in the center.. Remove the vada and drop in hot oil. Deep fry both the sides and serve hot..

• The second method is grease ur left hand with little oil & then apply water. Place a ball shaped batter, pat it and make a hole in the center. Transfer the vada to your right hand fingers and drop in oil. Deep fry and serve hot.

• The third method is take a small ball shaped batter in your right hand fingers. Make a hole in the center using ur right hand thumb finger . Invert your hand over oil and drop the vada by slightly tilting your finger OR slide the vada using your thumb finger.

• Deep fry the vada on both the sides till brown and crispy.

Serve hot with chutney !!

• If you grind the batter in grinder , add the dal little by little while the grinder is running. Add 1/4 cup of water and stand nearby. After few minutes, the batter will raise and turns fluffy. Now wipe the sides and add / sprinkle little more water ( may be 2 tbsp) . Grind for some more time. The batter would be very smooth, fluffy and white. This takes 15-20 mins based on the grinder. The batter quantity will increase. Remove and proceed as mentioned above..
• If you dont add salt while grinding the dal , you have to add little more water (may be around 2 tbsp )
• If ur batter is slightly watery , add a tsp of rice flour , mix well and make vada. If you eat immediately , u can add more than a tsp of rice flour too. U’ll get crispier vada but when it cools down , it will become hard..
• U can also try refrigerating the batter for sometime if it is slightly thin.
• Vada absorbs oil if the water in the batter is more. If so next time add slightly less water.
• Do not deep fry the vada in low flame. This makes the vada absorb more oil. Adjust the flame from medium high to low whenever necessary..
• My MIL soaks a tsp of toor dal along with urad dal to avoid oil absorption. I’ve heard , in hotels they add 2 tsp of rice while soaking urad dal.
• For making vada with onions : first grind 2-3 green chillies and a piece of ginger along with urad dal. Grind the batter .Then mix the finely chopped small onions, a tsp of hing and finely chopped curry leaves. Remaining the same procedure as mentioned above..For onion vada , add less water while grinding because the onion may leave water and the batter may become watery at the end..
• The water & urad dal ratio is 1:4 . It may need 2 – 3 tbsp of water extra. Please do not add more than that.
• Every time dip ur hands in water generously and make the shape so that the vada slides to the oil without sticking to your hands.
• I recently read a tip from a website to make a proper hole in the center. ie After dropping the vada in the oil , if you feel the hole is small or not even , just put a hole using a chapathi  rolling pin by dipping it in the oil . But be careful while u do this. U may need not do this if your batter is right in consistency..
• If u r planning to grind in mixie, always prepare the vada just before serving and eat hot. I can’t guarantee the taste if served warm or cold . Serve with ur favourite chutney.
• For sambar vada or curd vada, dip the hot onion vada in a bowl of warm water, squeeze the water by keeping in between your palm and immediately soak in sambar or curd.