Vada curry

I took a long break here. We were very much prepared for the water scarcity problem when we moved from bangalore to chennai. luckily we did not face water crisis all these 5 years. but 20 days back, our apartment faced it, may be to give me a chance to face water scarcity. now the problem got solved. Thank God! now i know the value of each drop of water. i just owed, i would never waste water.

Chennai is becoming so hot. i  hate standing in the kitchen sweating. i decided to prepare vada curry, so that i could stock it up in fridge for 2 days, so that it could make a good side dish for dosa. i never thought of idli's, last 20 days because of water problem, fearing about washing those idli plates.

 My friend Anu gave her recipe thru phone and i went ahead and prepared. it took time to prepare, but at the end of it i got good vada curry, just as i have tasted in one of the restaurant in cuddalore.

                                                              Vada Curry

serves - 3
cooking time - 45 mins
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Ingredients for vadai:

• Chana dal - 1/3 cup (soaked for 1 hour)
• Sombu / saunf - 1 tsp
• Dry red chilli - 2
• Curry leaves - 4
• Salt  - 1/4 tsp
• Water - 1 tbsp
• Oil - 1/2 cup  [to deep fry vadai]

Ingredients for curry:

• Oil - 2 tbsp
• Saunf / sombu - 1/4 tsp
• Cinnamon stick - 1' inch 
• Cloves - 2
• Bay leaf - 1
• Garlic - 4
• Green chilli - 2
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Big onion - 1 
• Tomatoes - 2
• Corriander leaves - 2 tbsp chopped
• Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp
• Corriander powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

To grind:

• Grated coconut - 1/3 cup
• Cumin / Jeeragam - 1 tsp
• Water - 1/4 cup

Method:

1. Soak the chana dal in water for about 1 hour and drain them. grind the chana dal along with sombu, dry red chilli, curry leaves and little water so that it gets coarsely grinded. remember not to grind watery.


2. Finely chop the onions, tomatoes, garlic and green chilli's and set aside.


3. Heat 1/2 cup of oil in a pan. take a lemon sized grounded chana dal and flatten them on your left hand palm with your right hand fingers. then drop them carefully to the hot oil. like wise make 4 vadai's per batch. fry the vadai in medium flame till it turns light golden in colour, it takes atleast 3-4 minutes. remove the vadai from flame and let them cool. once cooled, tear them into small pieces.


4. To make curry, heat a separate pan, add 2 tbsp oil, add saunf, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf and saute them. next add finely chopped or minced garlic, green chilli's and curry leaves.


5. Now add finely chopped onion and saute them till it turns translucent. then add ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell of it goes off. then add tomatoes and mix. let the tomatoes get mixed well with the onions, it takes a minute. then add salt to taste, turmeric powder, chilli powder and dhaniya powder. Now mix all together and let the flame be in medium flame and let it rest for 2-3 minutes till the oil seperates. 


6. Once oil seperates from the sides of the pan, add the vadai pieces to the pan and give a mix. then add grounded coconut-cumin mix to the vadai curry and give a good mix. 


7. Add water and salt as per required consistency and taste. finally add chopped corriander leaves as garnish and let the vadai curry sit in slow flame for about 4 minutes with the pan closed. then remove from fire and and serve with dosai.


8. Vadai curry goes well with set dosa, idli , dosai and even with chapathi's.

Notes:

1.  Those who dont like saunf / sombu taste, you can substitute with cumin.


2.  As the vadai have dry red chilli and in curry we add green chilli and chilli powder, adjust the chillies accordingly.


3.  Always taste the curry and add salt, as the vadai has its salt.