Masalvadai

Two big memories crowd my mind when I blog this dish — The famous cry in the Pondicherry beach (was it) for “Samsa, Masalada, Samsa” and my dance classes… I used to get off the bus on Big Brahmin Street and head on to Mme. Sinhas’s dance class and tuition with Ms. Dasappa…the bus would drop us off on (I think it is anna salai) and at the very corner of the street was the Andhi Kadai – He always set up shop at 5 and made fresh hot vadais. Amma gave me a rupee which got me about 5 vadais – fresh off the stove, steaming hot. The other Andhi kadai delicacy was the fried kadala-paruppu which was 10 paise per sachet … Just good chick pea stuff :)) Good fuel for all the energy i was to expend dancing and doing math!!!!

Now I make my masal-vadais as a homage to Andhi Kadai Narayanan who in my memory still makes the best Vadais! Funny how we carry all our childhood memories and tastes with us!
Ok- Long enough walk down memory lane – now to business

In Words
Ingredients
1 cup channa dal or kadala paruppu or bengal gram
4-6 green chillies
Oil to fry
1 BIG red onion
curry leaves
asafoetida a pinch

Preparation
Soak for exactly 1 hour, the dal, curry leaves, chillies
Drain all the water our of the dal – NO water needs to be used for grinding-
Grind coarse in the blender – (Use spatula to move the batter around)
Cut the onions small
In a pan place 1 tsp of oil and lightly fry the onions for about a minute or 2
Add it to the ground atta/batter and mix in
Add some safoetida and salt as well and mix in

Heat oil to fry
Flatten a small ball of batter on to your palm and drop it into the oil.. repeat until your pan has a sufficient number
Brown and remove and eat HOT HOT HOT
The unspoken ingredient would be Love without which no measurements work!

In Pictures

17 Comments

savitha ramesh on January 19, 2011 at 9:31 pm

nice and crispy vadai….i can imagine the scene.i have been to pondy and beach……..crispy vadai

Soumya on January 19, 2011 at 11:14 pm

yummy and crispy vadai is making me drool…feel like grabbing some now…yum yum yum!

Torviewtoronto on January 19, 2011 at 11:30 pm

delicious crispy vadai looks wonderful

Suja Sugathan on January 19, 2011 at 11:30 pm

Crispy and yummy vada,perfect snack.

Priya (elaichii) on January 20, 2011 at 3:28 am

So true that we all cherish those child hood memories! Crispy looking vadai's!

Rajani on January 20, 2011 at 6:15 am

Ok, so no use of tuvar dal?

Priya on January 20, 2011 at 9:47 am

U makes me hungry with those crispies, omg naan pondicherryku poyten unga intro padichitu..makes me nostalgic..

Now Serving on January 20, 2011 at 10:18 am

@Rajani, that's right …absolutely no need for urad dal!
@Priyas and the lovely ladies, thank you wish you were close enough to share a bite with us !

Sharmilee! :) on January 20, 2011 at 1:28 pm

My fav crispy n perfect vadas, craving for some right now

Premalatha Aravindhan on January 20, 2011 at 1:29 pm

wow that so cripy and delicious vadai! pls pass its raining here.Perfect with a cup of tea:)

Priya Sreeram on January 20, 2011 at 2:56 pm

yumm ! i love masal vadas with cutting chai and this makes a mark–pass me pretty please !

Suchitra on January 20, 2011 at 4:41 pm

Thanks for visiting my blog and your lovely comments- the vadai has come out perfect! love it

Divya Vikram on January 20, 2011 at 4:42 pm

Perfect snack with tea. Crispy snack with tea.

kaarasaaram.com on January 20, 2011 at 5:12 pm

lovely vadais….it is very nice to read such a touching post about your childhood memories… wonderful ..first time here and your blog is very homely…very glad to follow u..
Reva

Ushnish Ghosh on January 20, 2011 at 6:03 pm

Dear NS
Very nice recipe. It has been aqges since i ate this Vada.
Will try soon
Have an nice weekend

Nithya on January 21, 2011 at 6:12 am

This is always one of the best I like

Padhu on January 21, 2011 at 10:35 am

Love to have it anytime of the day

Masalvadai

17 Comments

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