Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Low fat Dhahi Vada



Can you say no to low fat dhahi vadas? I cannot. When I first saw this recipe on Red chilli's blog (click here for the recipe), I thought it was a great idea to make dhahi vadas using kuzhi paniyaram pan. I bookmarked it immediately. Today I saw this recipe on Laavanya's blog (click here for the recipe). I couldn't stop myself from trying it out. This method hardly consumes any oil. But there is no compromise on taste. Vadas come out as soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside as deep fried ones. Many thanks to Red chills -the creator of low fat urud dal vadas :) and Laavanya for reminding me of the same. I combined both their recipes.

Ingredients:
To soak in water for 2 hrs and grind into a smooth paste adding little water(about 3tbsp)
Urud Dal-1 cup
Yellow mung dal-1/2 cup
Red chilli(optional)-1
Cashews-10

Other ingredients:
Green chilli-1 chopped finely
Ginger chopped-1/2 tsp
Salt
Hing-a pinch
Curry leaves-a few
Coriander leaves-a handful chopped
Pepper powder-1/4 tsp

For yogurt sauce:
Yogurt-2 cups
Salt
Red chilli powder- a pinch to sprinkle on top
Garam masala powder- a pinch to sprinkle on top
Coriander leaves-to garnish

Method:
Grind the soaked dals with little water to a smooth paste.
Add rest of the ingredients. Heat kuzhipaniyaram pan and put 2-3 drops of oil in each hole. Using a laddle, pour the batter on each hole. Drizzle 1 drop of oil on top of the vadas. Cover with a lid and let it cook on low flame for 2-3 minutes. Flip over and cook for 2 minutes or until they are done.

Mix all the ingredients listed under "ingredients for yogurt sauce". Tamper mustard seeds in oil and add it to yogurt sauce. Poke tiny holes on the vadas using a pin(this step is optional). Drop them in the yogurt sauce 1 hour before serving.


Note: You can grind coconut and green chilli together and add it to yogurt sauce for enhanced taste.
As Laavanya did, you can dunk the vadas in hot water, gently squeeze extra water and then put them in yogurt sauce.
Or you can even enjoy just plain vadas with coconut chutney.