Rasa Vadai - Lentil Fritters in Tomato Soup

 The person who introduced me to this dish is my beautiful grandmother Ella. She must have been a great foodie in her days.  All I know is that she was a fabulous cook!  Every time she made rasam, she would make these lentil fritters and they would be dunked into the rasam and served with rice.

Rasam is a thin vegetarian soup that is more like a broth, tangy and hot and perfect for having as an appetizing drink or with some rice as a meal.  You might be familiar with mulligatawny soup which translates to pepper water or, in other words, rasam. The British gave it that fancy name and it is now popular all over the world.

Anyway, back to my grandmother Ella. She would fry up these crisp lentil fritters and leave them in the rasam to soak and it made a healthy and delicious meal.  It is much later that I came to know that this dish is a speciality of the little town where my parents are from.  Therefore, I have to include it in my list of recipes!  

Ingredients :

Rasam - 5 to 6 cups as per the recipe

For the fritters:

3/4 cup of channa dal (split yellow peas).  Soak the channa dal for 3 - 4 hours in water

2-3 green chillies

1 sprig coriander leaves

1 sprig curry leaves

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 inch piece ginger, roughly chopped

Extra coriander leaves for garnish

salt to taste

Vegetable oil for frying

Method:

Wash the soaked channa dal and dry on a tea towel for about 30 minutes or so.

Take 1 tablespoon of the channa dal and keep aside.

Blend together the remaining channa dal with the green chillies, coriander, curry leaves, ginger and green chillies.  You want a rough mixture that resembles sand or breadcrumbs.

To the mixture, add your chopped onion, the whole soaked channa dal and salt.  Make into little balls and then flatten them on the palm of your hand.

Deep fry in oil and place on paper towels to get rid of the excess oil.  At this stage, you can eat the fritters on its own.  These fritters are called vadai - or specifically masala vadai.

Warm the 5-6 glasses of rasam in a saucepan.  Place the fried fritters in the rasam.

Enjoy with rice.

My grandmother and me!