“Mixed Dal Vada (Biscuit Ambado)” … tried preparing Vadas/ Biscuit ambados with addition of mixed dals in place of only urad dal and I must say it turned out excellent, crisp exterior and spongy within … Yummilicious ….
** Vada’s are those that which are prepared with hole in the center and are the most sought after south Indian snack/dish served with either chutney or sambar. Almost every Indian specially in the south have definitely relished this snack and tried making them at home. I am sure most of you have been successful with the directly preparing hand method too. But many wonder about the preparation or give up preparing this as they do not get satisfaction or are scared of the hot oil while dropping the same in it. Yes, I must agree here that you need to be very careful, in fact the first lesson one should learn in kitchen is to stand a little bit far from direct heat and learn the basic precautions etc. about cooking near to fire.
** I have keenly watched Mom in kitchen, but even she never prepared these vadas with hole, she always prepared the ball type ones which is famous in Konkani Saraswat Cuisine known as biscuit ambado. I have had many failed attempts in preparing these but finally learned a few tricks. I kept the batter 1% thicker than usual till I got into the habit of preparing them in my palms. That’s the most difficult one, but then those days there was hardly videos or groups to teach one. There are many tricks I learned like preparing them on the spatula and gently placing the spatula in the kadai with hot oil, it looses and leaves the spatula slowly. I came across this strainer method many times but really could not try it out till date.
** When my friend told me the exact method and that it was easier I was from then wanting to give it a try. But somehow forgot about it till today, I prepared the batter butter consistency this time exactly like how we do for biscuit ambado, the thought behind it was that in case something goes wrong I would just go about preparing biscuit ambados and avoid wastage. But with the first one itself things went on right and I finished the whole lot easily within 35 minutes of starting. I have always given in to new methods, be it in preparation of food or technology or for that matter gadgets, if they are within my budget I always go for it as I have always learned both from my father and husband that I should think out of the box.
** Many ask me to prepare videos of my cooking method, to them all I say for a good learner and listener there is nothing that a picture does not speak. True, I agree videos are the in thing now and easily understood visually, but trust me a well explained recipe too is equally good in my experience. For decades I have read recipe book, magazine and learned from them after which came blogs and then videos. No, I am not trying to put them down, in fact I appreciate all those who have that ability in them to prepare them, which I lack. Priorities are something one has to set up in life, specially with todays fast moving life. As for me, my Home, Business, Office fall first in line and then my blog, group, page, writings, editing etc.
** Food for me has always been a passion, something I want to share with all and there is absolutely no two ways about it. I am independently handling my blog and it takes a lot of time and effort and sometimes help with videos to which I neither have the time nor the inclination as of now. I am happy with whatever little I am doing as my whole intention while starting the blog was to uplift Konkani Saraswat Cuisine worldwide, for people to learn and enjoy and it is still the same. On insistence of some followers I have now tried to post step by step pictures for certain dishes where I find that it explains in a better way. I have posted plenty of pictures for this post and I am sure all of you can follow that and try out the same in your home.
** Here is my method of preparing “Mixed Dal Vada (Biscuit Ambado)”, the recipe is simple and I given a collage below of the step by step procedure of preparing them, which I am sure will be of help to those who would like to learn … I have prepared them using the tea strainer here which I found to serve the purpose of preparing vadas perfectly … just give it a try, I assure you will never regret … some of you may need a few trials till you get perfection …. follow these "Step by Step pics. of making of Mixed Dal Vada using Tea Strainer" ... Do remember to use stainless steel strainer while preparing the vadas ….
** Here is the Recipe … Wash and soak together 1 cup of urad dal (black gram dal), 2 tblsp each of moong dal (green gram dal), chana dal (bengal gram dal) and tuvar dal (piegeon split peas) for about 3 hours. Drain off the water and wash well about three times each time draining of the water. Put it in a colander and keep it aside for 15 minutes for the water to get completely drained.
** Note : It is very important for the water to get completely drained otherwise the batter will turn runny and vadas will not turn out perfect. You cannot prepare the ones with center hole with it and also the round one if prepared too will soak in oil. So to get the right butter textured consistency batter, it is very important to drain off water.
** Put the drained dals in a mixer grinder or wet grinder and grind to a very smooth paste mixing it often for getting evenly ground paste/batter. Sprinkle some water once or twice in between, mix well and grind to get that buttery consistency. You can also check out the tip given below on picture about the cold water using for grinding of the dal. I am adding a large sized picture below for proper judgement of the batter consistency. Remove the batter into a stainless steel bowl.
** Now add in ½ tsp of hing (asafoetida) powder, 3-4 green chillies (tarni mirsanga/ hari mirchi) cut into thin rounds, 1 inch piece of ginger (adrak/ alle’) grated or cut into small pieces, 8-10 small fresh curry leaves (kadipatta/ karbevu) also cut into pieces, salt (namak/ meeta) to taste and mix well. You can make variations in addition of the above depending upon your taste and family preferences.
** Keep the batter covered aside for just 10 minutes while you put plenty of oil in the kadai for deep frying. Bring the oil to full heat/ smoking point and then lower the heat to medium and wait for few minutes for the heat to obtain right temperature. To check the heat, put a pinch of the batter into the oil, if it burns or turns brown immediately you need to wait for a few minutes if it sinks and comes up in a few seconds sizzling that means the temperature is correct.
** These vadas are prepared on the bottom dome side of the tea strainer. Remember to use a stainless steel strainer only. Swipe the bottom of the strainer on the dome side with wet hand and then place a large lemon sized ball of the batter on it. If the batter is right consistency it will stay put and not slip downwards, which is very important, you can check out the picture collage for the same.
** Once the batter is placed on the strainer, with a wet finger make a hole in the center and then take the strainer above the kadai and then gently invert the strainer. Remember to invert the strainer only after taking it over the kadai with hot oil and not before that. Do not dip the strainer into the oil, only the vadas should touch the hot oil, gently shake the strainer and the vadas will fall into the oil, remove the strainer away, and continue with remaining batter.
** Prepare and add only that many vadas that will hold in the kadai leaving space for the vadas to get fried. While dropping a little bit off odd shape does not matter, I have noticed that many of them on getting fried retain back the shape in which it was dropped. So carry on without worrying, also with practice you and me will learn to make them perfect, as trust me this was my first time and I also need practice to get them evenly done.
** Fry the vadas on medium heat till evenly browned on all sides stirring and flipping them over in between. Do not raise the heat to high, as high heat will only cook the outer portion to be crisp and browned but the vadas will not be cooked from within, so see to it that you maintain constant medium heat by increasing and decreasing as per the need as and when the temperatures drops or increases.
** When the vadas are evenly done, remove them with the help of a ringed or holed spatula used usually for deep frying (check out the picture collage). These spatulas help in dropping back the excess oil into the kadai. Hold above the kadai for a few minutes so that as much oil as possible drops back into the kadai and then place them on an absorbent paper for more excess oil contents to drip away. Continue preparing of the Vadas with the remaining batter till done or till the required number of vadas have been fried.
** “Mixed Dal Vada (Biscuit Ambado)” are done and ready to be served. Always serve the vadas hot immediately with some chutney or sambar of your choice for best taste as cold one though can be relished as not as tasty as the fresh hot prepared ones. These Vadas turn out very crisp outside and soft- spongy textured within just like the ones available in hotels and as I had not expected the same, I had not prepared sambar which would have been added bonus to relish with. We had it with palak chutney which was also a wonderful combination.
** I have already posted preparation method of palak chutney just before this post, you can check out on that, also I am making another post of the thali which I served these with as my next post, so do keep watching my blog for more interesting recipes and yes, please do try them out, they have all been tried and tested in my kitchen and are really tasty and awesome.
** I am sharing a common link to all the “Vadas/ Ambado” posted in the blog before below, you can browse through the same and try out those that appeals you and your family …
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