Gayathri Pai's Food Bytes: Vada With White Bean Sambar.

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Vada With White Bean Sambar.

Crispy Vada Also known as MeduVada ... With Tingalavare (White Beans) Potato Tomato Kolumbo / Sambar ........... an excellent combination ..........

Vada Sambar needs no introduction to any Indian all over the world. The dish is so famous and liked by all that people simple yearn to eat this often. Vada sambar is served during breakfast at most of the GSB / Konkani Saraswat marriages or thread ceremony functions. Learning to make a perfect vada is an art that can be learned only thru’ repeated efforts. If you cannot make a perfect holed vada, do not fret or feel the batter will now go wasted. You can drop large spoonful of batter into hot oil and make them into round shape, which we call biscuit ambado in konkani. Both are the same in different shapes, that’s all. It took me some years to perfect this and sometimes still it becomes difficult if the batter consistency goes wrong by haste. I have added step by step pictures for the benefit of people who are not aware of the procedure. But if still in doubt, please check on any You tube for the method, to understand a visual procedure. Sambar is usually served the same all over with some veggies in it. I had some soaked white beans ready at home. We make sambar with this bean also, so I went ahead and made sambar with the white beans adding some potatoes and tomatoes instead of tuvar dal. You can follow any sambar recipe or any other curry you wish to serve with the vadas. You can serve them with coconut chutney, which is another fantastic combo.

Wash and soak 2 cups of split urad dal for 2 hrs. Do not soak for more time, 2 hrs is sufficient. If the weather is too hot, then even 1.5 hrs is more than enough. Once again wash and allow to drain in a colander. The water has to be drained off properly, so leave it on the colander, shaking it often for at least 20-25 minutes.

Now put the strained urad dal in a mixer grinder and grind adding only little bit of till soft and fluffy. The trick is to grind the urad dal adding barely little bit of water for the vada’s to come out perfect. Just sprinkle some water mix well and grind. I used the food processor for grinding the urad dal. The batter should be soft and white like butter. Remove in a stainless steel bowl.

Add salt to taste, 1 tablespoon of finely chopped ginger, 10-15 finely chopped curry leaves and 5-6 green chillies cut into round rings. Mix all well and keep this ready. Keep a flat plate with water nearby. This is to apply as a coating to hands before preparing each vada.

Heat oil in a kadai with plenty of oil for deep frying. The kadai should hold at least 4-5 vadas at a time without over crowding and leaving enough space around each vadas to get evenly fried. Let the oil heat to smoking point, then lower the heat and wait for 3-4 minutes. Check the temperature of the oil, by adding a small drop of the batter. If it forms into a round and comes up in a few secconds, it means the oil is the right temperature. Keep the heat constantly at this same temperature, for evenly browned vadas.

Now wet both palms of your hand with water, just coating not dripping. Be careful with this step, at no point should water droplet be there, coz when you leave the vadas in the oil, water should not drop into the hot oil. So just rub your palm with water, that is enough. This is to ensure that the vada holds the shape properly and also slips into the oil easily. Take a little bit of batter in hand in round shape say the size of a tennis ball and place it on the center of the left hand.

Now gently with the help of index finger of the right hand make a hole in the center. Gently flip over the vada onto the right hand and see that the hole is intact. Now slip the vada into the hot oil gently, taking care to see that the oil does not splutter. Be careful as the oil is hot. Now prepare the other vada similarly on the hands and follow the same method by gently letting it into the oil. The number of vadas added to the oil in kadai depends on the size of the kadai and amount of oil you use. However, do not add vadas back to back, wait for 2-3 minutes between adding each vada, so that the first one’s cook a bit, this is to ensure that the batters do not stick to each other and the vadas remain separate.

Let the vadas cook for 4-5 minutes, then overturn them gently and keep stirring now and then till you get evenly fried vadas. Repeat the same with remaining batter. Vadas are ready to be served with sambar and / or chutney.

Here I have served the vadas with white bean kolumbo / sambar. You can serve with Vegetable kolumbo / sambar, which is the one’s that it is served usually with. Also serve white chutney along with the vada if you like it. I have added the link to both the white bean sambar and coconut chutney below. Enjoy the vadas hot with them.