How to make eatery-style medu vada at home: tips on dal, batter and oil

Medu vadas served at eateries are crisp on the outside and soft inside, good to look at and tasty to eat. Yet when the same vadas are made at home, they often do not turn out the same, and many people are disappointed. A few simple tips and tricks can help get them right at home. Here they are, one by one.

Start with the urad dal. Soak it in water for at least 4 to 5 hours. The soaking time matters. If the dal is soaked too long, the batter absorbs more oil, and if it is soaked too briefly, the vadas turn hard.

Do not pour in water all at once while grinding the dal. To keep the batter thick, sprinkle only 1 to 2 spoons of cold water as you grind. If the grinder or mixer heats up, the colour and taste of the batter can change. To avoid this, use chilled water from the fridge or grind with a piece of ice. This helps the batter rise well.

If possible, grind the batter in a grinder rather than a mixer. A grinder works air into the batter, and the vadas turn cotton-soft. After grinding, beat the batter well by hand in one direction for 3 to 4 minutes. This forms air bubbles in the batter and keeps the vadas soft inside.

To check whether the batter is ready, take some water in a bowl and drop a small ball of batter into it. If it does not sink and floats on top, the batter is just right.

To keep the vadas crisp outside for longer, mix 1 to 2 spoons of upma rava or rice flour into the batter after grinding. For taste, add a little curd or finely grated bottle gourd. The vadas then do not turn hard inside at all, and become very soft instead.

Now comes the frying, which needs some special care. First let the oil get properly hot. If the oil is not hot enough, the vadas absorb more oil. If it is too hot, the vadas burn outside and stay raw inside. So keep the gas on medium heat.

Do not flip the vadas as soon as they go into the oil. Let them fry a little on one side first, then fry them on medium heat on both sides until they turn golden brown. Fried this way, the vadas come out tasty, good-looking, golden and crisp.

To make vadas puff up well, some people add cooking soda and the like. But this can harm health. For a natural taste, it is always better to mix in a little curd instead.