Parippu Vada and a lazy Sunday evening!!

A lazy Sunday evening in the winter, some hot Parippu Vada(Lentil fritters - thats the best name I could give to our good old snack from South India), a cup of hot black coffee and a nice book to read!! That would be just perfect for an evening like that.

After I clicked this I suddenly started wondering, how in the whole world did I get hold of this combination of parippu vada and kattan kapi(black coffee) as no one at my home has this habit and surprisingly I do not drink coffee/tea at any given point of time except for when having parippu vada. Like people who dip milk bikis biscuit in a piping cup of tea, I dip yummy vada in a hot cup of black coffee!! So for all who haven't had this till date, make sure you try it the next time you eat parippu vada.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup - Chana Dal (Split Bengal gram) some people use Toor dal also
  
• 1 small - Onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 - Green Chillies, finely chopped
• 1" piece - Ginger, finely chopped
• 1 sprig - Curry Leaves, finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying
  

Method:

• Soak the chana dal (lentil) for at 2-3 hours.
  
• Strain it until the water drains off completely. Coarsely grind the lentil in a mixie. The consistency should be such that some lentils are left whole, some broken and some tiny pieces. Do not add a drop of water at any stage.
  
• Add rest all of the ingredients except oil and mix well. Check and adjust the salt content.
  
• Heat the oil in a kadhai.
• Take around 2 tbsp of the lentil mixture and make a ball out of it and then place it in the center of your palm and press it to flatten them using the other palm. The size of the vadas would be same as the center of your palm. The vadas would be at its best if you get it thin. Thicker vadas take longer to cook in the inside.
  
• When the oil is hot, gently slide the vadas into the oil and cook on medium flame till both the sides are dark golden brown. Flip when required.
  
• Remove from oil and place on kitchen napkins to drain the excess oil.
• Serve immediately with hot tea or black coffee.

Note:
Once the mixture is prepared, do not keep it for long. The ingredients in the mixture like salt and onion starts to leave water, thus making it moist and which makes it difficult to mould.

This recipe is going to participate in the "Lentils Mela"

And now its award time!! Yippeeeeeee

Hema and Varsha have passed on the Emerald Award!! Thanks a lot for considering me as a good friend of yours!!



Varsha has passed on these two awards to me again. Thanks a lot Varsha. But I am still wondering whats the purpose of my blog? ...... And I guess finally I've arrived on an answer - to virtually feed the whole world and to pass on a smile all around!

To share my happiness I would like to pass the awards on to some of my new found friends and some well deserving bloggers - Ann, Swapna, Vibaas, Soma, Nags, Mahimaa, Viki, Malluspice, Mathew, Hema and Superchef.