Cabbage Vadas (Deep Fried Lentil Fritters)
These are very hot little firecrackers from the orient. They can be used to add spice to almost any oriental dish. They dry very easily and can be stored and used this way for a long time.
Serves: 6-8 people
Ingredients:
½ cup Chana Daal ( Bengal Gram )
½ cup urad dal ( Spilt and husked black gram )
2 cups shredded Cabbage ( Patta Gobhi )
2 tbsp of roasted peanuts – optional
1-2 Green chiles, chopped small
½ inch piece of Ginger, finely chopped or grated
½ tsp fennel seeds/ ( Saunf )
½ tsp cumin seeds ( Jeera )
½ tsp black pepper powder ( Kali mirch powder )
A generous pinch of Asafoetida ( Heeng )
salt as required
oil for deep frying the Vadas
Directions:
Rinse both the lentils well, and soak them for at least 4-5 hours or overnight.
The next morning, drain them and grind them along with the roasted peanuts to a smooth paste in a mixer with very little water, as less as 3-4 tbsp.
Transfer the paste into a mixing bowl, and add in all the spices and shredded cabbage, whisk well
In the meanwhile, keep the oil for frying ready in a Frying pan/wok ( Kadhayi). Check if the oil is ready by dropping a small quantity into the hot oil and if it sizzles and quickly come up the oil is ready for frying. If it takes time to come up, wait for another 2-3 minutes and try again. Once its ready, turn the flame to low-medium and get ready for frying
Take Spoonfuls of the Daal batter and fry the Vadas in medium hot oil till golden brown and crisp.
Drain the Vadas on paper towels to remove excess oil.
Serve immediately while they are hot and crisp with any chutney of your choice like Coriander Spinach chutney or Coconut chutney or you may dip them into Sambar or Rasam and serve warm.
From theveggieindian.com