My mother in law has an younger brother. The brother’s mother in law had visited my mil at the village when my husband was around 3 years old. Her name is Rajamani Ammal. So when she was leaving, she took my husband for holiday vacation to Coimbatore. A long holiday vacation that lasted for years. He stayed with her till he got married. Can you believe this story? I was awestruck when he told me about this when we met before marriage. She was the one who got him into school, college and got him married. She took care of everything as her own son. I cannot imagine someone to do something like this. She is the most simple person you will ever meet in life. Before marriage, Vinodh told me that I will have two mother in laws after marriage. She is the most generous person I have met in life. No double standards. She treats everyone the same. She asks her cook Suresh to make this Vadai whenever we go to Coimbatore. Suresh takes the pain to grind the batter in a stone mortar (attangal) as that’s how amma likes it. This is her recipe for moong dal vadai and her favorite Vadai. Here is a picture of Amma with her son and mine.
Here is Suresh grinding the moong dal vadai batter in attangal.
Soak the Moong dal in water for couple of hours. We use split moong dal with the skin still on. The texture of the vada is really nice with this dal. You can use split yellow moong dal too.
Soak the moong dal for a couple of hours in lots of water.
Wash the moong dal and drain several times to get rid of the skin attached to the dal. Wash until most of the skin has been removed. Little skin will remain and that is OK. Its desirable.
Take a blender and add in the dal, red chillies and cumin seeds. Don’t add water while grinding. The dal would have soaked lots of moisture and there will be enough moisture already. Grind the dal to a slightly coarse paste. The batter should be really thick. Pulse several times stopping in between to mix. Add in the chopped onions, minced ginger, coriander leaves, green chillies, asafoetida, baking soda, rice flour and salt. Mix well to combine.
Heat oil in a kadai until hot. Drop little spoonful’s of batter in oil. Take a small piece of the batter in your finger tips and use your thumb to slide the batter into the oil.
After dropping the batter, do not disturb the oil kadai for 30 seconds. The vadais may break. Just leave it to cook. Use a fork to turn the vadais in between. Deep fry till golden.
Serve hot with tea.
- ¾ cup green mung dal preferably with skin
- 2 dried red chillies
- ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 big onion, finely chopped
- 2-3 green chillies, finely chopped
- ½ inch piece ginger, finely minced
- 3 sprigs coriander leaves, finely chopped
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- a pinch of asafoetida
- 2 tablespoon rice flour
- 500 ml sunflower / vegetable oil
- Soak the Moong dal in water for couple of hours. Wash the moong dal and drain several times to get rid of the skin attached to the dal. Wash until most of the skin has been removed. Little skin will remain and thats OK. Its desirable.
- Take a blender and add in the dal, red chillies and cumin seeds. Dont add water while grinding. Grind to a slightly coarse paste. Add in the chopped onions, minced ginger, coriander leaves, green chillies, asafoetida, baking soda, rice flour and salt. Mix well to combine.
- Heat oil in a kadai until hot. Drop little spoonful’s of batter in oil.
- Deep fry till golden.
Absolutely delicious. Thank you so much for sharing this. I tried to give this recipe 5 stars, but the button wasn’t working! It deserves even more than 5 stars. It is really great!
Loved the story of two mothers. Though written in a simple way, it touches the emotions, bonding, the trust of that generation. Nice.
Thank you so much Sreedevi!
The story of yr mil is fascinating–such was the love and caring and family bonding of the past as compared to the materialistic world of today.
Pls email recepies fit for diabetics i.e less of fried stuff and more with vegetables, fruits, baked food etc.