Chana Dal Vada | Masala vada South Indian style

This tasty chana dal vada or masala vada or ambode is a popular Indian snack. It is very healthy vegan recipe, that you can make deep fried, in Air fryer or in appe pan.

Course Accompaniment | Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine Indian, Karnataka | South Indian

Keyword chana dal vada, chana dal vada Air fryer

recipe chana dal vada Air fryer

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 15

Soaking time 4

Total Time 4 20

Servings

Calories 196kcal

Author Rachna Parmar

Equipment

Air fryer

Ingredients

1 cup chana dal Split Bengal gram or chickpeas or 250 gm.
1 onion finely chopped
2-3 green chillies finely chopped
2 tbsp. dill leaves finely chopped
1 tbsp. cilantro leaves finely chopped
a sprig of curry leaves finely chopped
1 tbsp. ginger finely chopped
salt to taste
2 tsp. oil for Air frying more for deep frying

Instructions

Soak chana dal for about 4 hours. Drain water from soaked dal and make sure it is dry.
Then coarsely blend the dal in the blender without using water. Leave it slightly coarse. You definitely do not want a paste. So just give a couple of quick blending motions. If some of the lentils remain whole, don't fret. As a matter of fact, that is desirable.
Now take out this coarse semi-paste in a container. Add finely chopped ginger, chillies, onion, cilantro, dill and curry leaves with salt to lentil batter. Add everything together and mix with your hand so that it is uniformly distributed. Now make small flat balls using your hands.
Use a little oil or water on your palms if the mix sticks though it generally doesn't.

For Air frying

Preheat Air fryer to 180 C or 360 F for 5 minutes. Brush Air fryer basket with oil and line the vadas on it. Brush with oil and cook for about 10 minutes.
Turn the vadas in the middle and brush again with oil. Now crank up the temperature to 200 C or 390 F and cook for 4-5 minutes more till the vadas are golden brown. Take them out and serve hot.

For Deep frying or cooking in Appe pan

To deep fry heat the oil to high heat. I use mustard oil because I love its taste but you can use any vegetable oil you like. Deep fry till golden brown ensuring that you reduce the heat to medium high else the outside will be brown too soon while the inside stays uncooked.
Now drain them out and serve hot with any chutney or ketchup. This is very filling and incredibly delicious. Enjoy.
For appe pan, heat it after brushing the holes with oil. Use a spoon to spoon in vada portions. Lightly brush with oil. Cover and cook on low to medium heat till one side is browned. Flip and apply some more oil and cover and cook. Your golden vadas are ready to serve.

Notes

Make sure that your lentil mash is very dry. Do not use any water when blending the lentils. A slightly coarse mash is fine.
Always add onion and salt only before you are planning to cook else your vada batter will get soggy.
You can make the lentil mash and store in the fridge for a couple of days. Add onion and salt before frying.
Add green chillies as per taste and how much heat you like.
You can use other lentils like moong dal or orange lentils in the same recipe.
If you make thinner vadas, your vadas will be crisper and air frying time will be lower.
You must eat them right away or they lose their crispness.
No need to flip the vadas midway. You can flip them right towards the end of 10 minute cooking at 360 F. The vadas come out easily and do not stick to the basket at this juncture.

Nutrition