Thavala Vadai
Thavala Vadai is a spicy, crunchy, deep fried snack made from rice and lentils. This is famous in certain parts of Tamil Nadu, and one of my favourite tea time snacks. This variety of vadai needs a little bit of patience to make but it’s totally worth it. Right from the grinding process up to deep frying them, it is different from the other types of vadais.
I learnt this recipe from my aunt, and sincerely thank her for sharing such an awesome recipe. I’ve included some small tips and tricks to make the perfect thavala vadais.
Ingredients
Raw (uncooked) rice – 1 cup
Toor dhal – 1 cup
Chana dhal – 1 cup
Urad dhal – 1 cup
Yellow Moong dhal – 1/2 cup
Salt – 1 tsp (or to taste)
Dry red chillies – 5 (or to taste)
Green chillies – 2 (or to taste)
Asafoetida (hing) – 1 tsp
Ginger (finely chopped) – 2 tbsp
Curry leaves (finely chopped) – 2 tbsp
Fresh coconut (chopped into small pieces) – 1 cup
Cashews (chopped roughly) – 1/2 cup (optional)
Ghee – 1 tbsp (optional)
Oil – enough for deep frying
Yield
~50 pieces
Prep time
1 1/2 hrs – soaking
45 mins – grinding
Cook time
40 to 45 mins
Method
1) Take rice, toor dhal and chana dhal together in a bowl, wash and rinse thoroughly. Discard the water. Add fresh water and soak for about 1 1/2 hours.
2) In another bowl wash and soak the urad dhal, also for 1 1/2 hours.
3) In yet another bowl wash and soak the moong dhal, also for 1 1/2 hours.
4) While all your dhals and rice are soaking, prep all the other ingredients that need to be chopped.
5) After the soaking time, drain water from moong dhal. Squeeze out the moong dhal fully and put it in a large bowl. Add ginger, curry leaves, chopped coconut, ghee and cashews to it.
6) Grind the rice, toor dhal and chana dhal coarsely (add minimum water to run the mixer/grinder) with salt, dry red chillies, green chillies and asafoetida. Add this to the bowl in which you have kept moong dhal.
7) Now grind the urad dhal into very smooth and fluffy batter. Add very cold water, little by little to grind it. If possible, use ice-cold water. After it is ground into a smooth batter, whip it up nicely with a hand blender for nearly 3-4 mins. This helps incorporate a lot of air into the batter and makes it light and airy. The lighter your urad dhal batter, the crunchier and lighter your vadais will be! Test how light your batter is by dropping a bit into a bowl of water. Ideally, it should float on the surface.
8) Add the ground urad dhal batter to all the other ingredients in the large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Your thavala vadai batter should be of dropping consistency. If the batter is too thick, add some water to loosen it up. If the batter is too wet, then it’s hard to fix. You could add some rice flour to thicken it but it will alter the texture of your vadais.
10) Dip a small rounded ladle in water and use the wet ladle to scoop up the batter. Drop the batter slowly and carefully into the oil. Continue the same process of wetting the ladle and taking the batter and dropping it into the hot oil one by one very cautiously (the oil will be hot, so take the ladle as close to the oil as possible to avoid splashing). Don’t overcrowd the oil by dropping too many thavala vadais in at the same time. There should be enough space for the vadais to swell a little while frying. Stir the vadais once a minute to enable even frying on all sides.
Notes
- Keep the oil in medium heat constantly. If oil is too hot then the vadais quickly turn dark without getting cooked properly. If the oil is not hot enough then the vadais will not get the desired ball shape and fall flat, absorb a lot of oil and become soggy.
- Chopped coconut and cashews add a nice sweet crunch to the vadai. Feel free to add a little more too. If you don’t have chopped coconut pieces, you can add fresh grated coconut. While it may not alter the taste, you will miss out on a layer of texture.
- If you want to make this for a party, then you can do little bit of preliminary frying and finish it off just before your guests arrive. Fry the vadais until half done. Remove from the oil and let it drain in the colander. Just before your guests arrive, reheat the oil and complete frying the vadais until golden and crunchy. Double frying makes the vadais crunchier and keeps them that way for longer.
- Adding a small amount of ghee to any vadai batter makes the vadais crispier.
