Masala vada, learn how to make a flavorful, crispy outside, soft from inside masal vadai with step by step photos.
I rarely make masala vada as I am not confident making these. In particular, we, in our families make plain paruppu vadai in which we don’t add garlic, mint leaves or even fennel. We make it in a different way, when compared to the tea shop version. So when ever I cross any tea shops, the smell of these masal vadais will be mesmerizing. I will keep wondering what could be the flavor factor.
Once, one of my grandpa bought a masal vadai in Chidambaram Bus stand tea shop. Obviously, I loved it a lot. Was very young then, only around 12 or something, still remembering that vadai. In particular, it was as big as our palm size and had lots of onion and veggies too like carrot, peas. Superb vadais.
Secret for a flavorful masala vada
After I started cooking only made few times, but the paruppu vadai version. Once, I asked one of my friend about the flavorful perfect masala vada recipe. She said, pudina(mint leaves) and crushed garlic and fennel does the magic. So tried few times that way and loved the flavor! Finally, I made it to blog the recipe. Vj doesn’t like fennel so I reserved some batter for him without fennel.
Fennel seeds, ginger garlic and mint makes the magic.
How to make the most flavorful, crisp vada?
Firstly, soak chana dal (bengal gram) and grind it coarsely. Then mix with onion, chilli, herbs like mint, coriander, ginger and garlic along with spices to make the mixture. And, shape it as patties with thin outer edge and thick at the center. Finally, deep fry it few per batches to get soft inside, crispy outside masala vadai.
Variations:
- Use red chilli instead of green chilli.
- Ginger garlic paste can be added instead of grinding fresh.
- Skip ginger or garlic and use only one in either of it.
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Masala vada
Ingredients
- 1 cup Chana dal/ kadalai parupu
- 1 tbsp Rice flour/ raw rice
- 1 Onion
- 5 Green chillies Medium spicy
- 1 tsp Fennel/ soambu
- 2 tbsp Coriander leaves chopped
- 2 tbsp Mint leaves
- Salt – as needed
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
- 1 inch Ginger piece
- 5 Garlic cloves
Instructions
- Soak chana dal for 3 hours. First grind ginger, garlic, chillies and fennel coarsely.
- Then drain chana dal completely and add it in two batches and grind coarsely. Not too smooth not very coarse too. Refer picture. Few chana dal can be whole, no issues.
- Mix finely chopped onion, coriander, mint, salt, rice flour and curry leaves.
- Heat enough oil in kadai.
- Keep a bowl with water and wet both hands. Make equal sized balls first for uniform sized vadas. Shape each ball to flat patties of medium thickness. Edge thin, thicker in the middle just like how a turtle shell would be looking.
- Deep fry in hot oil until golden in colour, flipping once in between.
- When you drop oil, heat should be high. Simmer after you drop all vadas and cook in medium flame until done.
- Drain in paper towel. Repeat to finish.
Notes
- If we dont soak for enough time, vada may turn hard and too crisp.
- Rice flour or sooji can be added to make crisp. Its optional too.
- If using rice, soak along with dal and grind along.
- You can also replace ginger and garlic with Ginger garlic paste.
- Grinding ginger and garlic coarsely adds a unique kind of flavour.
- You can even add a ¾ tsp of garam masala.
- If you dont like garlic you can omit and add asafoetida ¼ tsp.
- No need to add excess water while grinding.
- Red chillies can be replaced for green chillies.
Masala vada step by step
- Soak chana dal for 3 hours. First grind ginger, garlic, chillies and fennel coarsely.
- Then drain chana dal completely and add it in two batches and grind coarsely. If adding rice, you should add along. Not too smooth not very coarse too. Refer picture. Few chana dal can be whole.
- Mix finely chopped onion, coriander, mint, salt, rice flour if adding and curry leaves.
- Heat oil in kadai meanwhile. Keep a bowl with water and wet both hands. Make equal sized balls first for uniform sized vada. Shape each ball to flat patties of medium thickness. Thick middle and thinner edge resembling the turtle shell.
- Deep fry in hot oil until golden in colour, flipping once in between. Always cook in medium flame to ensure even cooking and golden colour. When you drop oil, heat should be high. Simmer after you drop all vadas and cook in medium flame until done. Drain in paper towel.
Notes
- If we dont soak for enough time, vada may turn too crisp.
- Rice flour or rice is to make crisp. Its optional too. If using rice, soak along with dal.
- You can also replace ginger and garlic with Ginger garlic paste.
- Grinding ginger and garlic coarsely adds a kind of flavour.
- You can even add a ¾ tsp of garam masala.
- If you dont like garlic you can omit and add asafoetida ¼ tsp.
- No need to add water while grinding.
- Red chillies can be replaced for green chillies.
Serve hot with tea/coffee and mint chutney or coconut chutney as side dish for vada.
Crispy and yummy vadai.Its perfect to have with hot tea.
The magic in making these vada's is all in grinding….one of my fav vadai's…loks perfect, crunchy and yum…..
Varsha is a great fan of this vadai. Neatly explained and it's quite tempting
Crispy and yummy, my favourite, my grandpa used to buy 50 nos. of this for me.
Perfect shape and color..my fav vadai
My fav with tea raks! Love it!
Looks so crispy and perfect….I love this so much feel like grabbing that plate..Beautiful clicks!
Sooo crispy and crunchy vada..
Yum and crunchy snack. Perfect for evening.
they look so crunchy and perfect
Mom used to prepare it this way.love the clicks.
vadai looks sooo crispy,never add rice flour or rava tthis vadai…next time will try out it…
I love the crunch & flavor of these vadais…
crunchy vadas raji 🙂
super yummy snack….
wow…
looks crispy and delicious raji
lovely clicks as usual 🙂
Lovely crisp clicks 🙂 Brilliant snack for a rainy evening!
Awww… Looks absolutely perfect and inviting.. awesome job dear 🙂
Indian Cuisine
vadai looks so flavourful and yummy
//Once, one of my grandpa bought a masal vadai in Chidambaram//
luks like my place is famous for Masal vadai :)…
Still now making only paruppu vadai, will try your masal vadai.Lovely clicks!!!
Lovely clicks. I tasted this vadai in one of the tea shops nearby my mom's place , i wud say its the most perfect vadai. I too never tried with mint & fennel becoz of sen 🙂 . this must be gr8.. will make it atleast for myself 😉
Those vadais make me hungry, as you say, the smell that you get while crossing a vadai shop is simply too good..
Vada looks so tempting! I was eager to know the recipe after seeing the 'coming up next' pick 🙂 Nice presentation dear..
These vadais are perfect for the Bangalore weather now. Made to perfection …….. lovely clicks too. Makes me hungry 🙂
Cheers,
Satrupa
http://satrupa-foodforthought.blogspot.com
Crispy and delicious snack..yum
This is yummy looking. Even I took some time to master making these vadas – they used to split when I dropped them in oil, but I think I finally have got it right. But the addition of mint and fennel is new and should try it the next time and win brownie points at home!
chidambaram?? raks that is where I am from but settled here now..next time when u go there let me know, will tell my mom to get u the goodies..
masala vadai looks tempting. We call it ambode in Kannada. I have the same plate got recently from Ikea 🙂
wow…so temtping n yummy masala vadai…i use to add fennel seeds but not mint leaves,will try yours sometime 🙂
Few weeks back when i was searching for your sambar sadham recipe, i thought that y u didn't post this masala vadai? n recently in Aruna's blog after reading your comment i got the answer 🙂 but today happy to see your perfect masala vadais…too tempting!
suma dhool :p Love these anyday!
Delicious vadai,totally different version of masal vadai,sounds gud…will try next this way…love the click raji…amazing:)
crispy and perfect 🙂 love it
We a;so use to make in same way, perfectly done dear…Flavorful n crispy n soft vadai!!
awesome vada… love it…
Masal vadai is the best thing to have with tea. My friend gave me a similar recipe and I make it once in a while.
Lovely masal vadai. Looks very crisp and homey. we do it the same minus the mint. Will add it next time.
Delicious, I would be happy if that plate just magically traveled to my table:-). Try adding 1/2 Tsp baking soda for crunchy and light masala vadas.
very nice one.. i can almost smell the aroma.. kalakals 🙂
Crunchy and perfect vadais Raks.
Vardhini
CooksJoy
This dish is called "AmboDe" in Karnataka …. loved the recipe
Super crispy masala vadas,love it.
Crispy masala vadas,looks tempting…
nice and crispy vadas. here in banglore its raining and weather is perfect to make masala vadas to enjoy. yummyyyy.
masala vada looks fabulous
Love them anytime !! Looks so Super crispy and yummy one !!
Ongoing event
CC:Mom's Recipe
Delicious Vadas, crispy and very tempting!
Gobble it @ anytime 🙂
Crunchy and yummy vada.
Cuisine Delights
My Monthly Event – Spotlight : "Healthy Breakfast Ideas".
My all time favorite one …. way too tempting:)
You made me crave for these delicious and crunchy vadas now. Looks soooo tempting and superb.
I add fennel seeds, but never added mint in the masal vadai! Looks yum..perfect for the gloomy weather here! 🙂
Raji, try making vadai with "பட்டாணி பருப்பு"..that paruppu will enhance the taste of the vadai, and in the shops they use that paruppu only!
how pretty n tasty!
Tasty Appetite
delicious and crispy vadai…
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Amina Creations
perfect shape wonderfully made.. love the flavors..
love how crisp they are… mouth watering
Looks great… mouth watering!!
Perfect color, size, shape and ofcourse, clicks!
Yummy!
Thank you for this recipe. I'm a non-Indian who recently had my first masala vada. Almost fainted! I like your recipe because you aren't as insistent as some others–you have a list of substitutions, options, etc. I substituted chickpeas for the channa dal. (Yes, I know it's the same thing. My attempt at a joke.) Anyhow, they turned out great. I love your blog.
Mike in Chicago
Thank you all, thanks Mike!
Last time i had vada like this was when i was wirh my sis, these look super yummy too.
HAPPY FRIENDSHIP DAY raks… ur vada rocks.. today this is the spl dish with payasam for friendship day. its nice. thanq.
Hi there, the vadai came out great taste-wise, but you know they are kinda soft and not crisp. What should I do to get them to be crisp even after cooling down?
Cook in medium flame for long time, that makes vada get crispier, also you can try adding a tblsp of rice flour to the batter. Don't add more water than required. The vada should be stiff while you are shaping it. Hope this helps!
I am learning cooking for the past 2 weeks. Today I tried Masal vadai by exactly following the instructions given in the post with the only change I used Yellow Split Peas (Peas Dhal/Pattani Paruppu) instead of Kadalai Paruppu. I must say It is Very Delicious as prepared in shops and got kudos from my wife, kid and in-laws. The taste remains in the tongue even after hrs. Thank you so much for the wonderful post!!! You made my day 🙂
Great recipe. Simple and quick. Tried it out today and it turned out to be amazing. Will definitely try the garam masala and LG options the next time.
perfect n delicious . i also wanted to add a point here – we can also use chopped dill leaves to the vada mix it also gives a lovely flavour n taste.
you can also add some dill leaves( sapsige in kannada & Soya kura in telugu) to the recipe while mixing the grounded portion it also gives a wonderful taste
Tried this recipe. Very yummy especially the mint adds lot of freshness on every bite. Adding garam masala is a nice twist.
Tried this recipe. Very yummy especially the mint adds lot of freshness on every bite. Adding garam masala is a nice twist.
All your recipes are well presented.
Looks tasty ! I will try. Thanks
Made these today. They were goood. Thanx for the masala recipe
Looks great. How much does one cup measure upto – 200gms?
One cup of each ingredient differs. I used a 240 ml measuring cup
Tried it today! Was a hit in my potluck! Thanks a ton
No urad dal at all?
I try to make today hop I will scuess I lyk so much dal vada
I will try to make today hop I will scuess I lyk so much dal vada
I have made this twice. Perfect recipe! Easy to make and tastes great.
Tried it . Friends and husband loved it 🙂
For variation in taste you can add Dill Leaves instead of Mint Leaves.
Delicious with Samber and coconut chutney
Did you soak for enough time? You can grind little more fine and try again. (Or atleast take a little portion of the mixture and grind well and it can bind the vada)
Perfect masala vada recipe… tastes really good… thanks to raks kitchen.
Perfect masala vada recipe… tastes really good… thanks to raks kitchen.
raks, saw this post being used with little alterations in another website. Just wanted to bring to your notice. If you know already and have given permission pls ignore.
http://www.desifiesta.com/2013/01/masala
Thanks for letting me know. I will look at it.
can I soak the dal overnight and make vadas in the morning? I am planning to make this in a large batch..
hi dear… request recipes on low carb and high fat dishes.. thank you ma..
Tried this recipe without rice
. truly delicious..and simple to make..perfect for LCHF diet, when fried in coconut oil