Vadai curry

There are many ways to prepare this recipe.I have tried to make it really simple. I have deep fried the vadas. If you are calorie conscious, steam the vadai batter like idli or cook it on a tawa just like Adai. Then use it for the gravy.

Also in a hurry I forgot to season it with fennel seeds(saunf in hindi, peruncheeragam in tamil), cinnamon and star anise in the beginning.So I seasoned it in between. If you prefer this to be a plain dish without all those dry spices, you can make it without those too. But remember to season it along with mustard seeds.

Use of garlic is absolutely essential in this recipe to counter the effect of channa dhal(kadalai paruppu).



Ingredients

Channa dhal -Kadalai Paruppu - 1 small cup
Red chillies- 3
Curry leaves - 1 handful
Small onions - 10-12(if you don't have small onions, use the big ones)
Salt for the vadai

Make a paste of 

Couscous-Poppy seeds - 1 tablespoon(soak for an hour)
Green chillies -2-3
Curry leaves
Coconut -2 tabelspoons









For the gravy

Onion - 1 big or 2 medium sized ones chopped finely
Tomato -2 big or 3 medium sized ones
Ginger - grated - 1 tablespoon
Garlic- 8-10 cloves
Coriander leaves and curry leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste for the gravy

Procedure
1.Soak the channa dhal(kadalai paruppu) for half an hour with the chillies. Wash and completely drain the water. Grind it to a coarse paste along with curry leaves and salt.

2. Try to grind without adding water. Once the coarse paste is ready add the onions too and give a whip so that they blend with the batter. If you chop and add it's going to stand out separately while frying.

3. Once the batter is ready, deep fry it. As I already mentioned you can steam this in idli plates for 10 minutes  or cook like Adai.

4.Prepare a paste of coconut, soaked poppy seeds, green chillies and curry leaves

5. In a kadai season it, add a tablespoon of oil, season it with mustard, curry leaves, cinnamon, star anise and fennel seeds(saunf).

As you can see I have forgotten to season it with cinnamon, anise and saunf..So I added it separately.
Fry the garlic and onion to golden brown. Add the tomatoes and grated ginger. Cook until the tomatoes are tender and juicy.

6. Now add the coconut/poppy paste. Be generous in adding 3-4  cups of water as the vadas are going to absorb the water. Add salt necessary for the gravy.

7. Allow it to boil for 7-8 minutes until the raw smell of the masala goes. Just crumble the vadas and add it to the gravy.

8. Now after 2-3 minutes you can see that vadas completely absorb the water content of the gravy and the curry is nice and thick. Switch off the stove at this point.

9. Garnish it with lots of fresh coriander and serve it with dosas or appams!