Medu Vada Recipe (Air fryer and Deep Fried)

Medu Vada is a delicious savoury split black gram or lentils donut. It is a regular fixture in a South Indian breakfast along with idli, sambar and coconut chutney.

While I do relish the traditional deep fried medu vadas or urad dal vadas, I sometimes air fry these lentil fritters as a healthyish snack.

My family loves them both ways. Sharing both the recipes here. If you have a donut mould you will get nice round vadas.

I just make do with them being uneven. After all they taste delicious and that is what matters most, right.

You may like: best soft idlis recipe, coconut chutney recipe, air fryer namak paare, air fryer kachori, air fryer vada pav.

Ingredients

Urad dal or split black gram lentils: These split lentils have their outer black skin removed. Soak them in water for 4-6 hours till they are soft.

Ginger, green chillies, cilantro and curry leaves: Finely chopped ginger, green chillies, cilantro add a lot of flavour to the savoury vadas.

Spices: Coarsely ground pepper, hing or asafoetida, cumin seeds and salt is all you need for this delicious snack.

Baking soda: 2 pinches baking soda or about ⅛ tsp. helps in making the vadas light and soft especially in the air fryer version. You can skip this and aerate the batter by beating it well for upto 3 minutes after the dal is blended.

How to Make Medu Vadas

The trick to making perfect vadas is by soaking and grinding urad dal correctly. Soak 1 cup urad dal after washing it in 3 cups of water.

About 6 hours is enough. Now drain the dal or lentils and blend in a blender so that the dal is nicely blended. Add a little water if needed. 

Make sure that the blended lentils stay thick. Now with your hands or an electric beater, beat the blended lentils for about 3 minutes till they become light and fluffy.

Do not add any more water.

Now add chopped ginger, green chillies, pepper, salt and asafoetida.

You can also add chopped curry leaves, cilantro and 1 tsp. cumin.

Mix gently. 

For Deep Frying

Now using your hands or spoon, make donut shaped vadas.

Apply water to your palms, take a large spoonful, shape it like vadas and make a hole in the centre then gently slide it into hot oil.

My vadas do not look very round but I don’t mind it. You can also use a donut mould to make this job easier.

Repeat the same with other vadas. Fry on both sides till golden brown and cooked. Take out with slotted spoon and serve hot.

For Air fryer

Add 1 tsp. oil to the vada batter and mix gently.

Preheat air fryer at 180C or 360F for about 4 minutes.

Take a parchment paper cut to the shape of your air fryer basket. Place the parchment paper in the air fryer basket.

Now using a ladle or large spoon, place large dollops of medu vada batter right onto the basket.

Place as many as will fit into your sheet. You can make a hole in the centre using your spoon.

If you don’t want the donut shape, you can just make regular round vadas using your spoon to ladle out the vada mix onto the parchment paper.

Air fry at 180C or 360F for about 8 minutes. The vadas would start setting by now. Lightly brush with oil on top. Now flip the vadas and lightly brush with oil again.

Air fry again at 180C or 360F for about 8 minutes.

Now increase the temperature to 200C or 390F and air fry for another 2-3 minutes to get a darker golden brown colour and crunch outside.

Remove them and serve hot with either dip or chutney or choice. 

I have also made the same without donut shape and it turns out the same delicious and fluffy inside while being crunchy outside.

I also tried in cupcake silicone molds and ramekins and the results were better than on parchment paper.

The temperatures and the method remain the same as mentioned above but the shape is better and the taste is good.

I added baking soda, and the vadas turned out nice and soft inside.

Here I tried in ramekins, brush ramekins with oil and place one heaped tsp. of vada batter in each. Air fry in preheated air fryer at 180C or 360F for 8 minutes.

Now brush the top with oil and using a knife to make holes. Air fry again at 180C or 360F for 8-10 minutes till crispy and cooked. Gently using a knife take out the vadas and serve hot.

Here I tried in silicone cupcake molds, brush molds with oil and place one heaped tsp. of vada batter in each. Air fry in preheated air fryer at 180C or 360F for 8 minutes.

Now brush the top with oil and using a knife to make holes. Air fry again at 180C or 360F for 8-10 minutes till crispy and cooked. The vadas come out easily. Take out the vadas and serve hot. They look like cute cupcakes when done.

Here's the recipe card:

📖 Recipe Card

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