Andhra Masala Vada

Masala vada

This is an Andhra lip smacking snack and a popular traveling finger food. The weather is gloomy and raining, so, I thought it is a perfect time for this savory snack.  Crunchy munch with a of hot tea is a perfect combo on a rainy day.

Ingredients

• 3 cups Channa dal
• 10 Green chilies
• 1 ½ inch Ginger chopped
• 3 Garlic cloves (optional)
• 3, 1 inch cinnamon stick (optional)
• 4 Cloves (optional)
• 1 medium Onion
• ½ cup Coriander leaves chopped
• Hand full of Curry leaves chopped
• Hand full of mint chopped
• Salt – as required

Masala vada

Directions-

1. Soak channa dal for 3 to 4 hours.
2. Grind it coarsely with green chilies, ginger, garlic, and salt. (grinding in small batches by just sprinkling water gives perfect texture and makes the grinding easy too)
3. Chop onions into small pieces, also chop coriander leaves, mint and curry leaves.
4. Add all the chopped ingredients including cinnamon and cloves to the ground channa dal. Mix all of them together.
5. Heat oil in a deep dish.
6. Take a small amount (size of lemon) of batter and flatten it with your palms on a plastic sheet / wet paper towel .
7. Drop this into oil and fry till golden brown.
8. Serve hot with ketchup, coconut chutney or ginger chutney.

Note- I grinded to a smooth texture for my kids.  Back home, we usually grind it to a coarse texture or some times we will take a handful of soaked channa dal to a side and grind the remaining to a smooth paste and add the seperated soaked channa dal to the this smooth dough to get that more crunchy nice texture.