Dahi Vada (Dahi Wada)

Savory Balls in Yogurt

Dahi Vada / Dahi Wada / Dahi Bada is one of the most popular, tasty items in India. Dahi Wada can just as easily be a main dish on a hot day as it can be the perfect accompaniment to other meat or vegetable dishes on a special occasion. Dahi Vada (Dahi Wada / Dahi Bada) is a cool Indian snack and belongs to Indian Chaat family (group of preparations).  

Category - Vegetarian, Appetizer, Snacks, Chaat.

Difficulty level - Easy.    

Yield - 6 persons.

1. Preparation of Vada / Wada / Bada

Ingredients

== Udad dal (Black gram dal) - 1 cup

== Mung dal (Green gram dal) - 1/4 cup

== Salt to taste

== Green chillies (chopped finely).

== Baking powder - ½ tsp.

Method

Soak the two dals (lentils) for 7-8 hours or overnight. Drain moong and urad dal and grind separately. Add water, a little at a time, to make thick and coarse paste of moong dal, and very fine paste of urad dal. Place dal paste in a bowl and add baking powder, salt, dry fruits (optional) and green chillies. Mix well and make small, flat vadas/ rissoles with greased palm. Heat oil in a oak (kadai) and deep fry them till golden brown. Drop the hot wadas in a bowl of cold water and leave for about 3-4 minutes. Take each wada out from water, squeeze the water out and set aside.

2. Preparation of Dahi (yogurt)

Ingredients

== Dahi (yogurt) - 5 cups (You can use homemade yogurt or low-fat yogurt from the market)

== Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

== Ginger grated - 1/2 tsp

== Cumin seed (jeera) - 1 tbsp.

== Asafoetida (Hing) - 1 pinch

== Salt to taste

== Sugar - 4 tsp

== Coriander leaves - 2 tsp (very finely chopped)

Method

In a non - stick frying pan dry roast cumin seeds till they begin to smoke. Remove from heat and while still hot, crush them with a rolling pin. Blend the yogurt with little water until it is smooth. Add sugar, asafoetida, salt, and ginger. Keep this yogurt (dahi) mix in refrigerator until it is chilled.

3. Serving the Wadas / Vadas

Arrange the squeezed wadas in a deep dish. Pour the marinated yogurt (dahi) on the wadas such that all the wadas (vadas) are covered well by the yogurt. Sprinkle red chili powder, roasted jeera (cumin seed) powder and black salt (sanchal) on the top. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve with sweet tamarind (imlee / imli) chutney.