MIXED DAL DAHI VADA

Weekly once I crave for a chaat, of late I have been tuned that way. My men are not chaat lovers, I do it for myself and my help. Her Filipino taste buds got adapted to Indian Cuisine fast, I should get some credit for that. Well, she may not be a chaat lover, even if she is she would not admit because the son and the man dislike it, haha! Back home, my mom loves chaat. Whenever we went out, we would hop into the eateries and have a platter of chaat or Dosa or Idli. Then, I may not have loved these that much but now I do. Quite for sometime I did not prepare Dahi Vada, I have two bottles of homemade Date-Tamarind Chutney and Green Chutney following few of the friends' recipes, sev, i.e. gram flour noodles too, why delay? Usually the vada / balls is done with urad dal / black gram lentils. This time I did it with a mix of urad, moong, masoor, chana dal / lentil varieties, adding few spices. They tasted well with an addition of a generous amount of yogurt and chutney. Let us do it.

INGREDIENTS :[for the vada]

Urad Dal : 1/2 medium cup

Masoor[red lentil] : 1/4 medium cup

Moong Dal : 2tbsp

Chana[Bengal Gram] : 1tbsp

Cumin Powder : 1/2tsp

Coriander Powder : 1/2tsp

Red Chilli Powder : 1/4tsp

Turmeric Powder : 1/4tsp

Cumin Seed : 1/4tsp

Salt : As Required

Oil : 100ml[to fry]

INGREDIENTS :[final assembling]

Plain Yogurt : 200gm

Salt : 3pinches

Sugar : 1/2tsp

Chaat Masala : 1/2tsp

Red Chilli Powder : 1/2tsp

Date-Tamarind Chutney : 1/2small cup

Green Chutney : 1/4small cup

Sev : 2tbsp

Chopped Coriander Leaves : 1tbsp

METHOD :

Wash and soak the dal varieties in hot water for 1-2 hours. Drain the water and grind to a coarse paste in a blender.

Add the cumin powder, coriander powder, salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder and cumin seeds.

Heat the oil in a wok. Simultaneously boil half a vessel of water and switch off. Fry the vadas in batches and drop in the water. Take out after 5 minutes. This gives them sponge like consistency.

Keep the vadas onto tissue papers to get rid of the excess oil. Beat the yogurt adding the salt and sugar.

In a plate, arrange the vadas. Pour the yogurt. Add the dates-tamarind chutney and green chutney. Sprinkle the chaat masala, red chilli powder and the sev / gram flour noodles on the top. Add chopped coriander at last.

Serve chilled. Enjoy!