DESCRIPTION:

Dahi Vada is a popular snack in India. It is prepared by soaking vadas (fried flour balls) in thick dahi (yogurt). Dahi Vada is also known as dahi bhalla in Punjabi, thayir vadai in Tamil, thairu vada in Malayalam, perugu vada in Telugu, mosaru vade in Kannada, dahi bara  in Odia and doi bora in Bengali. In North Indian version Dahi vada, they are served with green chutney or saunth( tamarind sauce ) sprinkled with some spice mix.

PREPARATION:

Preparation time: 9 hrs
Cooking time: 45 mins

INGREDIENTS:

For making vada (35-38 small vadas)
-1 cup urad dal
-1 green chili - chopped 
-½ inch ginger - chopped 
-1 teaspoon cumin seeds 
-1 pinch asafoetida 
-3 tablespoon water for grinding the         
    batter or as required
-salt as required 
-rock salt 

 For dahi vada:
-2 to 2.25 cups curd 
-½ to 1 teaspoon chaat masala or as          
  required
-¼ to ½ teaspoon red chili powder or as    
 required 
-1 teaspoon roasted cumin powder 
-black salt or regular salt as required

STEPS:

1. Soak the urad dal overnight or for at least 4-5 hours. Drain them.
2. Grind the urad dal, green chilies, ginger, cumin and asafoetida with little water to a smooth fluffy batter.
3. Briskly & vigorously stir the batter for a minute or two with a spoon or spatula. this makes the batter more fluffy and light. As a result you get softer and porous vadas. Add salt also.
4. Heat oil for deep frying. Either drop the batter with your hands or with a spoon in medium hot oil. Fry the vadas in batches till crisp and golden.
5. Drain the vadas on paper towels.
6. When they are still warm, add the vadas in water (at room temperature) and let them soak for 18-20 minutes.
7. Press each soaked vada between your palms to remove water.
8. Press all the soaked vadas this way and keep them aside in a plate.
9. Beat the chilled curd/yogurt till smooth.
10. In a large serving bowl, arrange the vadas and pour the beaten curd.
11. Pour the green chutney and sweet tamarind chutney. Sprinkle some red chili powder, roasted cumin powder, chaat masala and black salt.
12.Garnish dahi vada with coriander leaves & then serve dahi vada immediately or you can refrigerate and then serve them.

Servings: 5-6