Medu Vada is a delicious savoury split black gram or lentils donut. It is a regular fixture in a South Indian breakfast along with idli, sambar and coconut chutney.
While I do relish the traditional deep fried medu vadas or urad dal vadas, I sometimes air fry these lentil fritters as a healthyish snack.
My family loves them both ways. Sharing both the recipes here. If you have a donut mould you will get nice round vadas.
I just make do with them being uneven. After all they taste delicious and that is what matters most, right.
You may like: best soft idlis recipe, coconut chutney recipe, air fryer namak paare, air fryer kachori, air fryer vada pav.
Ingredients
Urad dal or split black gram lentils: These split lentils have their outer black skin removed. Soak them in water for 4-6 hours till they are soft.
Ginger, green chillies, cilantro and curry leaves: Finely chopped ginger, green chillies, cilantro add a lot of flavour to the savoury vadas.
Spices: Coarsely ground pepper, hing or asafoetida, cumin seeds and salt is all you need for this delicious snack.
Baking soda: 2 pinches baking soda or about â…› tsp. helps in making the vadas light and soft especially in the air fryer version. You can skip this and aerate the batter by beating it well for upto 3 minutes after the dal is blended.
How to Make Medu Vadas
The trick to making perfect vadas is by soaking and grinding urad dal correctly. Soak 1 cup urad dal after washing it in 3 cups of water.
About 6 hours is enough. Now drain the dal or lentils and blend in a blender so that the dal is nicely blended. Add a little water if needed.Â
Make sure that the blended lentils stay thick. Now with your hands or an electric beater, beat the blended lentils for about 3 minutes till they become light and fluffy.
Do not add any more water.
Now add chopped ginger, green chillies, pepper, salt and asafoetida.
You can also add chopped curry leaves, cilantro and 1 tsp. cumin.
Mix gently.Â
For Deep Frying
Now using your hands or spoon, make donut shaped vadas.
Apply water to your palms, take a large spoonful, shape it like vadas and make a hole in the centre then gently slide it into hot oil.
My vadas do not look very round but I don’t mind it. You can also use a donut mould to make this job easier.
Repeat the same with other vadas. Fry on both sides till golden brown and cooked. Take out with slotted spoon and serve hot.
For Air fryer
Add 1 tsp. oil to the vada batter and mix gently.
Preheat air fryer at 180C or 360F for about 4 minutes.
Take a parchment paper cut to the shape of your air fryer basket. Place the parchment paper in the air fryer basket.
Now using a ladle or large spoon, place large dollops of medu vada batter right onto the basket.
Place as many as will fit into your sheet. You can make a hole in the centre using your spoon.
If you don’t want the donut shape, you can just make regular round vadas using your spoon to ladle out the vada mix onto the parchment paper.
Air fry at 180C or 360F for about 8 minutes. The vadas would start setting by now. Lightly brush with oil on top. Now flip the vadas and lightly brush with oil again.
Air fry again at 180C or 360F for about 8 minutes.
Now increase the temperature to 200C or 390F and air fry for another 2-3 minutes to get a darker golden brown colour and crunch outside.
Remove them and serve hot with either dip or chutney or choice.Â
I have also made the same without donut shape and it turns out the same delicious and fluffy inside while being crunchy outside.
I also tried in cupcake silicone molds and ramekins and the results were better than on parchment paper.
The temperatures and the method remain the same as mentioned above but the shape is better and the taste is good.
I added baking soda, and the vadas turned out nice and soft inside.
Here I tried in ramekins, brush ramekins with oil and place one heaped tsp. of vada batter in each. Air fry in preheated air fryer at 180C or 360F for 8 minutes.
Now brush the top with oil and using a knife to make holes. Air fry again at 180C or 360F for 8-10 minutes till crispy and cooked. Gently using a knife take out the vadas and serve hot.
Here I tried in silicone cupcake molds, brush molds with oil and place one heaped tsp. of vada batter in each. Air fry in preheated air fryer at 180C or 360F for 8 minutes.
Now brush the top with oil and using a knife to make holes. Air fry again at 180C or 360F for 8-10 minutes till crispy and cooked. The vadas come out easily. Take out the vadas and serve hot. They look like cute cupcakes when done.
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Medu Vada (Deep fried and Air fryer)
These delicious medu vada are lentil fritters that are a popular Indian breakfast/snack. You can find both deep fried and air fryer recipes here.
IngredientsÂ
- 1 cup urad dal or split black gram lentils
- 1 tsp. ginger chopped
- 1 pinch baking soda
- 1 pinch hing or asafoetida
- ½ tsp. Pepper whole or coarsely crushed
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1 tsp. green chillies or jalapeños chopped
- 1 tsp. Cumin seeds optional
- 1 tsp. Curry leaves chopped optional
- 1 tbsp. cilantro chopped optional
- 1 tsp. Oil and some more for brushing for air fryer method
- Oil for deep frying.
InstructionsÂ
-
The trick to making perfect vadas is by soaking and grinding urad dal correctly. Soak 1 cup urad dal after washing it in 3 cups of water.
-
About 6 hours is enough. Now drain the dal or lentils and blend in a blender so that the dal is nicely blended. Add a little water if needed.
-
Make sure that the blended lentils stay thick. Now with your hands or an electric beater, beat the blended lentils for about 3 minutes till they become light and fluffy. Add â…›th tsp. or 1 pinch baking soda for a fluffy vada and mix well.
-
Do not add any more water.
-
Now add chopped ginger, green chillies, pepper, salt and asafoetida. You can also add chopped curry leaves and 1 tsp. cumin.
-
Mix gently.
For Deep Frying
-
Now using your hands or spoon, make donut shaped vadas. Apply water to your palms, take a large spoonful, shape it like vadas and make a hole in the centre then gently slide it into hot oil.
-
My vadas do not look very round but I don’t mind it. You can also use a donut mould to make this job easier.
-
Repeat the same with other vadas. Fry on both sides till golden brown and cooked. Take out with slotted spoon and serve hot.
Using parchment paper
-
Take a parchment paper cut to the shape of your air fryer basket. Place the parchment paper in the air fryer basket.
-
Now using a ladle or large spoon, place large dollops of medu vada batter right onto the basket. Place as many as will fit into your sheet. You can make a hole in the centre using your spoon.
-
If you don’t want the donut shape, you can just make regular round vadas using your spoon to ladle out the vada mix onto the parchment paper.
-
Air fry at 180C or 360F for about 8 minutes. The vadas would start setting by now. Lightly brush with oil on top. Now flip the vadas and lightly brush with oil again.
-
Air fry again at 180C or 360F for about 8 minutes.
-
Now increase the temperature to 200C or 390F and air fry for another 2-3 minutes to get a darker golden brown colour and crunch outside.
-
Remove them and serve hot with either dip or chutney or choice.
-
I have also made the same without donut shape and it turns out the same delicious and fluffy inside while being crunchy outside.
-
My family loved the air fryer version a lot. Do give these a try and let me know.
Using ramekins
-
Brush ramekins with oil and place one heaped tsp. of vada batter in each. Air fry in preheated air fryer at 180C or 360F for 8 minutes.
-
Lightly brush with oil on top. Now flip the vadas and lightly brush with oil again.
-
Air fry again at 180C or 360F for about 8-12 minutes till they are browned outside and cooked inside. Use a knife to make a hole in the center if you so wish.
-
Serve hot. Your medu vadas are ready.
Using silicone cupcake molds
-
Brush silicone cupcake molds with oil and place one heaped tsp. of vada batter in each. Air fry in preheated air fryer at 180C or 360F for 8 minutes.
-
Lightly brush with oil on top. Now flip the vadas and lightly brush with oil again.
-
Air fry again at 180C or 360F for about 8-12 minutes till they are browned outside and cooked inside. Use a knife to make a hole in the center if you so wish.
-
Serve hot. Your medu vadas are ready.
Notes
1. The most important part of making the recipe is ensuring that you don't add too much water while grinding the dal. Just add very little water as much as is needed to smoothly grind.
2. Also aerate your batter by beating it well. This ensures that you get fluffy and soft vadas.
3. While air frying, you can also put the vada batter in the freezer for about 10 minutes so that it holds its shape better.
4. Some people steam the vadas in idli batter for about 5 minutes. Then they air fry the vadas at high temp for 8 minutes at 200C to brown and crisp up the outside.
5. To make a nice donut shape you can use donut mould.
Nutrition
Calories: 91kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 7gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0.1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.2gMonounsaturated Fat: 0.5gTrans Fat: 0.003gSodium: 245mgPotassium: 28mgFiber: 6gSugar: 0.1gVitamin A: 182IUVitamin C: 26mgCalcium: 30mgIron: 3mg
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