Saturday, July 30, 2011

Vadai from Paruppu Vadai Mix (Instant Lentil Fritters Mix)

Couple of weeks ago it was every third person, last week it was every other person now it is everybody is talking about the debt ceiling. The joke I liked best (sorry I forget his name) the higher we raise the ceiling the harder it will be to paint. Exactly right?


Jump to the Recipe >>>

I want to throw a fit every time a politician calls himself/herself a patriot or somebody else introduces a politician as a patriot. Oh come on don't you? I do not for a minute believe the folks sitting in the Congress, Senate or White House are doing what they are doing the last couple of weeks out of a sense of patriotism.


Dal Mix

I do not want the debt ceiling raised and I want the taxes for the very rich raised. Both are unlikely to happen. Americans have confused being selfish with individualism and have reached this sorry state of affairs. Nobody will compromise because each one has an idea which is THE best.

Should we as a nation stop being me me and flip it to we we for a few years and see how that pans out?

I do not have any more energy so I will stop with that debt talk and move on to a recipe that is courtesy of my MIL.


Wet dal mix mixed with onions, chilies ...

When my mom came over MIL had sent with her a packet of ready to make Paruppu Vadai mix. Add water, mix in onion, ginger, curry leaves and voila the batter for the vadai is ready. It is very easy to make the mix, store and use as required.




Paruppu Vadai Mix
Ingredients
1. Split Yellow/Green peas - 1 lb
2. 15 dried red chilies
3. a small piece of asfoetida
4. 3-4 cloves
5. 1 inch piece of cinnamon
6. salt

Method
For the Mix
1. Wash the peas and let it dry in the sun (let it sit out in direct sun for a couple of days, bring it in at night )
2. Roughly blend the peas with the other spices. The resulting powder should be a little coarser than grits. It will be impossible to make vadais with a very smooth powder

Making Vadais
1. 2 Cups of mix, 1/2 cup onions, 4-5 green chilies chopped, handful of curry leaves chopped, coriander leaves chopped, 1/2 tbsp grated ginger, a few fennel seeds
2. Add about 1/4 - /12 cup of water and let it sit for 15-20 minutes
3. Take a small lime sized ball of dough and press it flat in the palm of your hand
4. Deep fry in hot oil till golden brown. Crunchy on the inside and soft on the inside.

Note:
1. If the wet mixture does not sit for the required amount of time the vadais will become too dry
2. Control the number of chilies if the mixture has enough heat from the red chilies

8 comments:

  1. Even here every time we go to my inlaws place the talk is aobut what is happening in US.
    Thank your MIL from me for giving you this instant recipe for the vada, i love vada and H and S too, but I hardly well never make them as I say to them it is too dificult to mix etc... this I am gonna try.

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  2. Fantastic!! I was holding my breath to see if it is home made mix or store bought one. Your MIL is a genius. :) what a fantastic idea.

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  3. ok, need help with the salt. how much salt would you put in when making the mix? 1/2 tsp, 1 tsp??

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  4. Kay, good to see you. How have you been.

    Generally rule of thumb (that I only follow!) add a 3/4 tsp of regular salt or 1 tsp of kosher salt for 1 cup of lentils. This goes for Idli podi and powders like these. So a pound of lenitls wouls be approximately 2 - 2 1/2 cups of lentils. 1 1/2 tsp of salt should be sufficient. You can always add later when you add the water to cook it.

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  5. What a fabulous idea and this way whipping up something when you have guests is very easy!

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  6. delicious snack looks wonderful

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  7. great, thanks Indo! We're doing good... just tired by the heat wave.

    Complaining about the weather never ends, I guess. :)

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