Home » Snacks » Masala Vada (Chana Dal Vada)
(13 Votes and 16 Comments)
Snacks, South Indian
हिन्दीગુજરાતી
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Masala Vada, a crispy and savory deep fried fritter made from chana dal and spices, is a popular street food of South Indian cuisine. It is also known as Paruppu Vadai in Tamilnadu. Besides chana dal, the other important ingredient in masala vada which plays a major role for its flavorful taste is onion. However if you want to make it without onion, add fennel seeds for the flavor (*read tips section). Process for making chana dal vada is very simple and takes very less time except for the time required for soaking the chana dal. If you are craving for something crispy and crunchy, then make this vadai and your taste buds will not stop thanking us.
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Preparation Time:
2 hours 20 minutes
Cooking Time:
20 minutes
Serves: 2 servings (8 vadas)
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Cooking Measurements
Masala Vada (Chana Dal Vada) Recipe In Hindi (हिन्दी में पढ़े)
Masala Vada (Chana Dal Vada) Recipe In Gujarati (ગુજરાતી માં વાંચો)
| Ingredients: | |
| 1/2 cup Chana Dal (Bengal gram) | |
| 1 medium Onion, finely chopped | |
| 1 Green Chilli, seeded and finely chopped | |
| 1/2 inch piece of Ginger, finely chopped or grated (optional) | |
| 4-5 Curry Leaves, finely chopped | |
| 2-3 tablespoons finely chopped Coriander Leaves | |
| Salt to taste | |
| Oil, for deep frying | |
Directions:
Wash and soak chana dal in water for 2 hours. Transfer soaked dal to a colander and drain the water.
Transfer drained dal to the small jar of a mixer grinder.
Grind until medium coarse texture. If required, scrape the sides and grind the mixture again. It should be okay if a few whole dal remains (this would give a nice chunky texture to vada). Don’t add water while grinding. if required, add only 1-2 tablespoons water.
Transfer it to a medium bowl. Add finely chopped onion, green chilli, ginger, curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt.
Mix all ingredients well. Mixture should not be very moist or dry. If the mixture is too crumbly and it’s difficult to make vadas from it as described in Step-6, then grind 1/4 cup mixture again until smooth and mix with the remaining mixture. If the mixture is too moist and it’s hard to shape vadas, add 2-3 teaspoons of rice flour or gram flour in the mixture.
Grease your palms with oil and divide mixture into 7-8 equal portions. Take each portion of mixture, give it a round lemon like shape and flatten it a little by pressing it in-between your palms and give a pattie like shape. Place all vadas in a plate.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan over medium flame. When oil is medium hot, slide 2-3 vadas in oil from the side of pan and deep fry them until golden brown and crispy.
Transfer them to a plate on paper napkin. Deep-fry remaining vadas. Masala Vadas are ready to serve. Serve them hot with tea or coffee.
Tips and Variations:
- Don’t add water while grinding the dal.
- Do not deep-fry vadas on high flame otherwise they will turn dark brown fast and remains uncooked from inside.
- Place mixture in refrigerator for 15-20 minutes before making vadas in step-5. This would make crispier masala vada.
- Grind 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (saunf), 1/2 teaspoon dry coriander seeds (dhaniya ke bij), 5-6 black peppercorns (sabut kali mirch) and 2 garlic cloves together and add it to the crushed chana dal mixture for extra flavor.
Taste: Crisp crust with soft inside.
Serving Ideas: Serve this Paruppu vada as an evening snack with tea/coffee or with green chutney and tomato ketchup. It can also be served as a side dish with south Indian meal.
Author: Foram
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16 Comments
Oct 20, 2021 by Geeta shashi
Excellent and easy to follow.
Apr 04, 2021 by Ashley
Great recipe, followed all instructions and they came out wonderful and tasty. Could not get them as perfect looking as yours though! Next time :) Thank you!
Jun 17, 2020 by Casey Chew
I gonna try this and thanks for the clear and wonderful recipe! Good job!
May 09, 2020 by Mohammed Ameen
Thanks.. just did it yesterday. Turns out awesome but I missed out on the salt so felt the missing piece.. overall was great.
Apr 28, 2020 by Vinot
Hi ,Can we soak the dall overnight?
Response: Yes, you can soak the dal overnight.
Feb 27, 2020 by Hetal
Very good recipe.. thank you.
Dec 13, 2019 by Gayatri P
Nice recipes. Also I suggest try Gujarati Moog Dal Vada recipe Thank you.
Mar 04, 2019 by Kate
Great recipe. They came out amazing and delicious. The only deviation in my prep was that I used red lentils. The consistency was on point and I was really surprised they did not come apart in the pan as this was my first time making these. They tasted exactly as the ones I tried in a Sri Lankan restaurant a few months back. Highly recommend!
Oct 20, 2018 by Pallavi
Can I shallow fry the vadas instead of deep fry?
Response: Yes, you can shallow fry them.
Aug 12, 2018 by Jabeen
I love how you present your blog. I wanted to know how to make moongdal vada. I believe it's a popular street food in Ahmedabad.
Would you be able to help with this?
Response: Yes Jabeen, moong dal vada is a popular street food in Ahmedabad. We will definitely try to upload the recipe of moong dal vada very soon.
Apr 19, 2018 by Suneetha Gottam
Super...I want this kind of recipes.
Mar 20, 2018 by Sonia
Can we leave the bad a mixture overnight in the fridge and cook them the next morning?
Response: Yes, you can do that.
Sep 05, 2017 by Eash Malhotra
Can we fry batata vada in mustard oil or it will be good in coconut oil?
Response: Don't fry batata vada in coconut oil or mustard oil as they have the specific smell. Use any oil which has less smell like canola oil, sunflower oil or peanut oil.
Aug 09, 2017 by SuvarnaTara
So delicious. It came out very nicely. Thanks team.
Tara
May 30, 2017 by Kulsum Petiwala
Can we cook the daal in cooker and prepare it, if we are in a hurry.
Response: No, it will change the taste of vada.
Mar 29, 2017 by sanchari banerjee
Can we do this without onion?
Response: Yes, you can make this without onion.
