Ulundu vadai - White Lentil Fritters

Lentils form a very essential part of the South Indian Cuisine.  So many varieties of food are made with lentils.  A lot of the common breakfast items and snacks are made of lentils - idli, dosa, vada, ada dosa, sambar, are the few that come into mind straight away.  

For the many vegetarians in South India lentils provide them with the necessary proteins while keeping them full. And it is cheap to buy and freely available.  Today we are going to make white lentil vadai - or ulundu vadai as it is popularly known.

It can be had with pongal for breakfast or on its own as a snack.  It is the hash brown equivalent of a McDonalds breakfast.  Crisp on the outside and soft and spongy on the inside, it is a very satisfying snack to have with coconut chutney.

Ingredients:

1 cup white lentils, washed, soaked for 3-4 hours and ground to a paste 
1 tablespoon white rice flour
1 onion - chopped finely
2-3 green chillies - chopped finely
5-6 curry leaves - chopped finely
1 inch piece of ginger - chopped finely
10-12 peppercorns (optional)

salt to taste
vegetable oil to fry

Method:

I have given you a picture of split white lentils so you know what they look like.  Wash and soak lentils for about 4 hours and drain the water completely.

Next, grind this to a smooth paste using a blender.  Try not to add much water.  Add a tablespoon of water at a time and grind it smooth.  This is very important because if you add too much water, the fritter will soak up oil when you fry it.  

Add the chilli, curry leaves, onions, rice flour and salt to the ground paste.  Check for salt and spices. Mix well. 

Heat oil in a wok. Let the oil get hot on a medium fire..  Drop a bit 

of your batter into the hot oil.  It should bubble up and cook before rising to the top.  If the oil is too hot the outside burns but the inside remains uncooked.  So make sure the temperature is right.

Wet your hand and using just the four fingers, scoop up a bit of the batter and then with your thumb, shape a hole in the batter.  Slide the vada gently into the hot oil.

I found this a bit tricky - but you will get the hang of it. Some people become such good experts that their vadas look like perfect doughnuts and that is how they are meant to look.

For me though, I was happy to be able to shape them into ugly looking fritters :-) - they were tasty and I got it to work, that was the main thing!

Repeat with all of the batter and drain on a kitchen paper towel to get rid of the excess oil.  Serve hot with chutney or tomato ketchup.