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Medu vada

Name: Medu vada
Total time: 302 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: South Asian
Ingredients: 140g urad dal; 2½ tbsp oil for frying; 1 tsp black peppercorns; 1 thumb ginger; 2 green chillies; 15 curry leaves; to taste salt

Also known as मेदू वड़ा · medhu vada · medu vadai · uddina vade

Savoury lentil doughnuts, crisp-shelled and fluffy inside, dunked in sambar and coconut chutney. Peppercorns hide in the crumb.

South Asianbreakfast

Typical serving

380 kcal

usually 300–480 kcal

Typical nutrition for one serving
Protein	10 g
Carbs	40 g
Fat	20 g

Reference figures for a dish as it is commonly cooked — never a measurement of your plate. The range is the honest part: two kitchens make this differently. In the app, a photograph replaces the guess.

Before you start

a blender or wet grinder
soak the dal 4 hours ahead
oil for deep frying

42mhands on

4h 20munattended

5h 2mstart to finish

Ingredients

Serves 2 · dimmer marks are storecupboard

140gurad dal
2½ tbspoil for frying
1 tspblack peppercorns
1 thumbginger
2green chillies
15curry leaves
to tastesalt

Method

6 steps

soak · 4 hours walk away
Dal in cold water for four hours — swollen and soft to a fingernail, and no longer than that.
blend · 15m
Ground with as little water as it will take, in short bursts so the machine does not warm the batter. It should stand in a peak, and a spoonful dropped into a glass of water should float. If it sinks, keep going.
fold · 5m
Salt, crushed pepper, ginger, chilli and torn curry leaves beaten in by hand for a full minute. Salted earlier the batter slackens and never recovers.
rest · 20m walk away
Twenty minutes and no more. Left longer it starts to ferment and the vada come out sour and flat.
fry · 18m
Wet palm, a ball of batter flattened on it, a hole made with a wet thumb, and the whole thing slid off the edge of the hand into medium-hot oil. Fill the pan a third at most and never move it while there is hot oil in it.
finish · 4m
Turned until deep gold all over, drained standing upright, and into sambar and coconut chutney while they still hiss.

Worth knowing

The batter is beaten by hand until it floats in water — the doughnut shape needs a wet thumb and confidence, nothing else.

More from the South Asian kitchen

Closest in calories

Chana masala

380 kcal · 15g protein

Chicken tikka plate

380 kcal · 40g protein

Dal tadka

380 kcal · 14g protein

Vada pav

380 kcal · 8g protein

Browse macros for every South Asian dish Foodakl can log: South Indian · North Indian · Bengali · Pakistani · Sri Lankan · Nepali & Tibetan

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