DAHI VADA (DAHI BHALLA)

Dahi Vada or Dahi Bhalla as it is called in some places, is a delicious, cooling snack made from skinless split black gram fried balls and fresh curds. Very less ingredients go into the making of this dish and the process too is fairly simple!

I have always eaten homemade dahi vadas in my childhood and never had tasted the restaurant ones. We never sweetened the curds with sugar, but always used fresh homemade curds for the same with the spices and sweet chutney. It is just few years back, when I noticed that in restaurants, the curd is sweetened with sugar and in some I found the curd sweetened and tempered with mustard seeds! Again the same is being followed by many others at home too!

Well, my daughter was adamant to have the curd sweetened and hence I had to go with it. But, let me tell you that both ways, the homemade dahi vadas are surely delicious and much lighter than the restaurant ones!

For some more delicious snacks, do take a look at the following recipes too….

1. Tandoori Chicken Coleslaw Toast Sandwich

2. Corn Oats Semolina Pancakes

3. Crispy Chicken Burger

4. Bhoplyaache Ghaargae

5. Doodhi Methi Muthiya

Here’s the recipe for the deliciously cooling Dahi Vada…..

Prep Time : 15 min

Cooking Time : 30 min

Serves : 4 (yields 12 medium vadas approx)

Cup Used : 200 ml

INGREDIENTS :

• 1 1/2 cup split black gram skinless (Udid Daal/Dhuli Udad Daal)
• 2 tbs Besan (chickpea flour)
• 2 pinches Asafoetida
• 1 1/4 tsp salt…. Approximately
• 1 cup Water…. Approx for grinding the daal

For The Sweet Yoghurt :

• 4 cups Fresh Homemade Curds (Not too sour yoghurt)
• 6-7 tbs Powdered Sugar (to be adjusted & can be avoided if plain yoghurt is preferred)
• 1/2 tsp Black Salt
• 1/4-1/2 tsp Salt

For Sprinkling On The Top :

• Red Chilli Powder
• Roasted Cumin Powder
• Sweet And Sour Dates And Tamarind Chutney

METHOD :

1. To make Dahi Vada, first wash thoroughly the skinless split black gram, and soak it in sufficient water overnight or for 5-6 hours.
2. Drain out all the water and grind the soaked daal finely alongwith the asafoetida and salt, adding very little water at a time.
3. All the water should not be added at once. The lesser the water used, the thicker the batter.
4. Lesser water or a little more than the mentioned quantity might be required and hence water should be carefully added during grinding.
5. Grind well to get a fluffy thick batter. Add the besan and whiz once again.
6. Transfer it to a bowl and beat well with a whisk to make it light and fluffy.
7. For the sweet youghurt, beat together the curd, black salt, sugar and salt till there are no lumps. Set aside to chill.
8. Heat sufficient oil in a kadhai for frying the vadas. At the same time keep some clean water ready in a large bowl to soak the fried vadas.
9. Once hot, scoop out medium sized balls of the batter with wettened fingers and release into the oil.
10. Fry approx 4-5 at a time on medium flame. Keep flipping the vadas at intervals, to get a golden colour.
11. Once done, drain the vadas from the oil and immerse them in the reserved water. Soak for 10-15 minutes.
12. Repeat these steps till all the batter is used.
13. Lightly squeeze out the vadas from the water and transfer to a serving dish. They might get a little crushed in the process, but that’s exactly how it works!
14. At the time of serving, pour the chilled sweet yoghurt over the vadas. Drizzle the Date And Tamarind Chutney over it.
15. Sprinkle red chilli powder and roasted cumin powder as desired
16. Serve the delicious Dahi Vadas for breakfast or as a snack during parties!

NOTE :

You can add some green chilles and ginger to the vada batter to give it a different flavour. I have noticed this in other few recipes, but preferred following my mom’s recipe!

The yoghurt need not be necessarily sweetened and can be used just with the salts. But it should be fresh and not sour at all!

I have added besan here as my batter became a bit loose and I had recently seen our great masterchef, my most favourite, Sanjeev Kapoor add it to the dahi bhalla batter! And, as the results were awesome (the vadas became light and crispy), I thought I should mention it in the recipe!

Again, soaking the fried vadas in water is a traditional method. If desired you can simply avoid the step and directly soak the crisp vadas with the yoghurt…. As I would in my childhood! That’s the way I loved it!