Urad Dahl Vada / Medhu Vada (fritters)

We celebrated Tamil year in Newbury, UK with all the Tamil friends over here. Each one of us decided to prepare a dish for dinner and I was asked to prepare urad dahl vada. I tried doing it with a hole in the centre of the vada like a doughnut but found it difficult to prepare for 50 people. So just prepared them like small balls and it tasted good. It was served along with venn pongal, sambar and coconut chutney. Enjoy!

Ingredients
Oil - for deep frying
To Grind
Urad dahl - 1 cup
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Green Chilli - 4
Black Pepper Corns - 5
Cumin Seeds - 1 Teaspoon
Salt - to taste
To Mix
Onion (medium) - 1 (finely chopped)
Curry Leaves - 10 (finely chopped)

Method
1. Wash urad dahl and soak in water for not more than 45 mins - 1 hour.
2. Grind the dahl along with all the ingredients mentioned under the to grind header into a fine paste by adding very little water.
3. Mix the chopped onion and curry leaves to the dough.
4. Heat the oil in a pan for deep frying. When the oil is hot enough drop the dough carefully as little balls and deep fry until they become golden brown.
5. Drain the excess oil in a tissue paper and serve hot with coconut chutney.

Note
* Do not add too much water while grinding the dough else it will consume more oil.
* The oil should not be too hot else the fritters will brown outside and not cooked inside.
* If the oil is not hot enough it will consume more oil. Make sure the heat is in medium high.