Sambar Vada Equipment:
Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour 40 minutes Soaking Time: 4 hours Total Time: 6 hours Course: Appetizer, Evening Tiffin, Snacks Cuisine: Indian, South Indian, Tamil Brahmin, Tamil Nadu
Equipment Needed:
- Pressure Cooker
- Mixer Grinder
- Heavy-Bottomed Pan
Ingredients for Vada:
- 1 cup Urad Dal
- 2 tsp Raw Rice
- 4 Green Chili
- 2-inch Ginger
- 1 tsp Salt (adjust as needed)
- 1 cup Onion, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup Coriander Leaves
- Few Curry Leaves
- 3 cups Oil for deep frying Vada
Ingredients for Sambar:
- 2 cups Yellow Pumpkin, chopped
- 1/3 cup Toor Dal (Pigeon pea)
- 1/4 cup Moong dal
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
- 1 Lemon-sized Tamarind
- 1 cup Shallots / Baby Onions
- 2 tsp Salt (adjust as needed)
- 2 tbsp Coriander Leaves for garnishing
Ingredients for Grinding:
- 2 tbsp Coriander Seeds
- 2 tbsp Split Bengal Gram (Channa Dal / Kadalaparuppu)
- 1/2 tsp Fenugreek Seeds
- 1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds
- 8 Red Chili
- 5-6 Shallots / Baby Onions
- 1 Tomato, chopped
Ingredients for Tempering:
- 2 tbsp Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 2 Red Chili
- Few Curry Leaves
Ingredients for Garnishing Sambar Vada:
- 2 tsp Ghee
- 2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Onion, finely chopped
Sambar Vada Instructions:
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Soaking Process for Vada:
Wash and soak the Urad Dal and rice together for about 4 hours.
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Steps for Making Sambar:
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Cooking Dal and Pumpkin:
- Take the chopped pumpkin in a vessel. Add moong dal and toor dal to the pumpkin.
- Add turmeric powder and water and pressure cook for 4 whistles.
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Soaking Tamarind:
- Soak Tamarind in warm water for about 10 minutes and extract the juice. Keep this aside.
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Preparing Grinding Ingredients:
- Heat oil in a pan. Add coriander seeds, Bengal gram, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chili, and fry till the dal turns light brown.
- Add shallots, tomato, and sauté for a minute, then switch off the flame. Allow these ingredients to cool off.
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Grinding Sambar Masala:
- Take all the fried ingredients to the mixer jar and grind it to a paste by adding water.
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Sambar Vada Tempering Process:
- Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and allow them to sputter. Then add broken red chili and curry leaves. Mix well.
- Add shallots and sauté till translucent.
- Add the tamarind extract along with salt and boil for about 5 minutes to get rid of the raw smell of the tamarind juice.
- Add the ground spice paste and stir well. Allow the sambar to boil on low flame for about 5 minutes.
- Finally, add the cooked dal and pumpkin to the sambar, adjust the consistency by adding water, and adjust the salt as needed.
Boil the sambar for a minute, then switch off the flame. Garnish with coriander leaves. The Sambar for soaking Medhu Vada is ready
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Making Vada:
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Grinding Vada Batter:
- After 4 hours, drain water from the soaked urad dal. Add the urad dal into the mixer jar or wet grinder. Also, add green chili and ginger to the wet grinder.
- Sprinkle water and grind the urad dal. Keep sprinkling water little by little until you get a smooth and fluffy batter. If using a wet grinder, it will automatically incorporate aeration in the batter and make it fluffy. If using a mixer jar, beat the batter for at least 5 minutes to incorporate aeration and make it fluffy.
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Finishing Batter:
- Take the batter in a mixing bowl. Add salt, curry leaves, chopped onions, and coriander leaves. Mix everything together. The vada batter is now ready!
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Preparing Diluted Sambar:
- Take 2 ladles of sambar in a broad vessel. Add 2 cups of boiling water and mix well. Also, add salt (1/2 teaspoon or less) and stir well. Keep this diluted sambar ready to soak the fried vada.
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Deep Frying Process:
- Heat oil in a deep frying pan. Test the readiness of the oil by adding a drop of batter to the hot oil. If it rises up immediately, the oil is ready. Keep the flame on low-medium.
- Wet your palm. Take a lemon-sized ball of vada batter. Using your finger, make a hole in the center and drop it gently into the hot oil. Add 3-4 vada in a batch and deep fry on medium flame until golden brown on both sides.
- When removing the fried vada from the oil, immediately soak them in the diluted sambar-hot water mixture and allow them to soak for about 3-4 minutes.
- Remove the soaked sambar vadas to a separate plate or broad vessel and add the next batch of vada to the diluted sambar.
- Repeat the above step until all the fried vada is soaked and taken into the vessel.
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Plating Sambar Vada:
- Place 2 soaked vada in a bowl. Add hot sambar on top of the vada. Then garnish with ghee, coriander leaves, and finely chopped onions.
- Delicious Sambar Vada is now ready to serve!
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