Dahi wada or lentil croquettes in curd and tangy sauce

One of my favorite chat. Light for your tummy. I prepared this during summer. I got the pictures when I was browsing through the folders…

Back in India I had this once or twice from fast food counters in Bglr.. But I started liking it after I came here. As I told before most of my neighbors are from North India. For most of the tea time parties and any festivals, they prepare this. It is healthy. Though we deep fry the vadas(croquettes), it is soaked in water and the entire oil and the absorbed water is squeezed out.

Thayir vada which is available in South India is different from the North Indian version.

Sweet and sour chutney is one of the main ingredient of almost all chaat recipes. You can adjust the proportion to make the chutney sweeter or tangier. You can store it in refrigerator for approx 1 month

Sweet Tamarind Chutney
Dates – 1 cup seeded
Tamarind , seeded – a gooseberry sized ball
Jaggery – 1/2 cup grated/grounded/powdered
Chilli powder – 1/2 tsp
Asafoetida (hing) – a pinch
salt to taste

You have to
1. Wash the dates and tamarind and place them in a saucepan.
2. Add in the jaggery, chilli powder, asafoetida, salt and 2 cups of water and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Cool and strain the mixture.
4. Use as required.

Vadas(croquettes)
You need,
1. Urad/Uzhunnu – 1 cup
2. Water- 1/4 cup
3. Cumin seeds – 1/2 tsp roasted and grounded
4. Asafoetida (hing) – a pinch
5. salt to taste (optional)
6. Oil- for deep frying

For soaking:
Warm water – 6 cups
Salt to taste
Cumin seeds powder – a pinch

For the Yogurt sauce
Thick yogurt- 2 cup
Water 1/4 cup (if curd is very thick then only add water)
Salt as required

For garnishing:
Dates Tamarind chutney- 4 tbsp or as required
Red chilli powder- 1/2 to 1 tsp
Cumin powder – 1 tsp (dry roasted and grounded coarsely)
Coriander leaves finely chopped – 1/4 cup
Black salt a pinch or two

For the vada/croquettes
1. Wash the urad 3-4 times strain add 4 cups of water.
2. Soak the for 4-5 hours or overnight.
3. Drain the excess water. Grind it to a thick smooth paste adding upto cup of water which is added little by little (if required add 1 or 2 tbsp more water)
4. Transfer the batter to a deep bowl. Add salt to taste. Mix well with a wooden spoon for 10-20 sec.
5. Heat oil. maintain the temperature to the medium.
6. Scoop out batter and drop them in oil. ( or you can try this way too. Wet your hand. Take a small portion of batter in your hand. Form a ball and make hole in the middle for form a doughnut. And slowly slide in to hot oil )
7. Deep fry them till golden brown and add it directly to the warm salty water for soaking. Soak for one or two minutes.

8. Squeeze out the excess water.
9. Arrange them in a big serving bowl. Keep aside.

To assemble:
1. Whisk yogurt with water (Don’t whisk for a long to make it watery)
2. Pour this over the arranged vadas.

3. Sprinkle black salt, red chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder over the curd.
4. Drizzle few tablespoon of homemade tamarind chutney over it.
5. Garnish with coriander leaves.
6. Cover the bowl with the cling sheet and refrigerate it

Serve chilled!!!

Note: If any point of time you feel the vada batter is watery, add in rice flour to reach the consistency.

This was my first try. And it was a grand success 🙂