Dahi Vada

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 cup Spilt Urad dal

2 tspn grated ginger
1 tspn cumin.
2-3 green chillies.
Salt as per your taste.
Oil for deep frying.
1/4 tspn of red chilly powder (for each serving of 4 medium sized dahi vadas).
1/2 tspn of roasted cumin powder(for each serving of 4 medium sized dahi vadas).
Yoghurt (beat to make it smooth in texture).

METHOD:
Wash and soak urad dal for atleast 1-2 hours.

Transfer the urad dal into a grinder without any water and add ginger.

Add green chilly.

Now start the grinding process.

Adding very little water at a time so that the grinding process can start.

The lentil paste should be thick and creamy/smooth in texture.

Once you have got the smooth and thick texture remove the lentil paste in a container and add salt as per your taste.

Add cumin (jeera).

And stir well.

As you can see the lentil paste is very thick. Water added (during the grinding process) has to be just so that the grinder can start and be able to puree the lentil.

Now heat oil on a medium flame.

Once the oil turns hot add tablespoon of the lentil paste gently into the oil hot. Be careful and do this gently.

Fry on a medium flame.

Fry till they are light golden brown in color. Not too golden and yet cooked well.

Remove draining out all the extra oil.

Keep on a paper towel. Once they come to room temperature you can put them in a zip lock, freeze them and use later. If you want to have them the same day then continue with steps below:

In a bowl take room temperature drinking water and put the vadas into the water. Let them soak for 20-30 seconds.

Now squeeze each one to remove all the water that has got soaked in the vada.

After squeezing out all the water place the vadas on a serving plate.

Beat yoghurt to make it smooth. You can add some salt into the yoghurt and stir well.

Pour the beaten yoghurt on all the vadas.

Pour some sweet and sour chutney on top. Alternately you can keep the chutney aside in a bowl so it can be added according to ones taste. (scroll down for sweet and sour chutney recipe).

Sprinkle some red chilly powder on top (depending on how spicy you want to make it).

Sprinkle some roasted cumin powder.
You can also garnish with a few raisins on top, few very thin strips of ginger and sprinkle chat masala on top.

Enjoy!

Sweet And Sour Chutney:
INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup Dates

1/2 Cup tamarind (available at most Indian and Asian food stores).
1 tspn red chilly powder
1/2 tbspn roasted cumin powder

METHOD:
Soak the dates in water overnight or at least for 4-5 hours.

Remove the seeds from inside the dates.

Put all the dates in a blender. Keep aside the water used for soaking the dates.

Now soak the tamarind in the same water that was used for soaking the dates. Soak tamarind for 1/2 to 1 hour. (You can also soak the dates and tamarind separately but use less or just enough water needed for soaking, otherwise when grinding the chutney will be too watery).

Squeeze the tamarind well with your hand so to get its sourness/pulp into the water that you used for soaking.

Now strain the tamarind water pouring it into the blender (which contains the dates) discarding all the tamarind (after squeezing it well with hand so you get all the sour juice from it).

Blend to get a nice smooth and thick consistency.

Pour into a container.

Heat on a medium flame and bring to a boil stirring occasionally.

Add red chilly powder.

And roasted cumin powder.

Stir well.

Boil for another 2-3 minutes stirring occasionally. Switch off the gas and allow to cool. The chutney is now ready.

You can freeze additional chutney and use later. Thaw before using.

No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after eating one peanut. ~Channing Pollock