Recipe for killu vadai made with chana dal. Crispy and crunchy vadais made with soaked and ground chana dal mixed with onions and herbs. Perfect for teatime.
This vadai is a slight variation from the traditional paruppu vadai. In this recipe, the batter is ground a little smooth than the traditional vadai batter and its dropped in oil in small random sized pieces. As the pieces are small, it gets crisp all over and has a very nice crunch in each bite. The nice ratio of korak-morak as we call it. My son loved this so much at a family get together recently. In Tamilnadu we get a special dal for making vadai called as vadai paruppu. Its a little bigger than chana dal and it crisps beautifully. If you cannot get hold of vadai paruppu, you can use the regular chana dal. I have used chana dal today for this recipe.
Soak the chana dal in water for 2 hours. Do not soak longer than that or the vadai will consume a lot of oil while frying.
Drain the dal after 2 hours. Grind the dal with the fennel seeds, cumin seeds and salt. Rock salt tastes well for this recipe. Use about 2-3 tablespoon of water while grinding. You should grind the batter to a very slightly coarse paste.
To the ground batter, add in lots of finely chopped onions, chopped curry leaves, chopped coriander leaves, chopped mint leaves, finely chopped green chillies and finely chopped ginger.
Adding lots of onions and coriander leaves adds flavour to the vadai. So be generous with the veggies. Mix well and check for seasoning. Add extra salt if necessary.
Heat oil in a pan until hot. Take small pieces of the vadai batter and drop it in oil. No need to shape the vadais. Just drop it in oil in random shapes. But make sure you are dropping small pieces. The vadai will be very crispy and crunchy as its small.
Cook the vadai until golden brown. Drain on paper towel.
Serve hot as an accompaniment for lunch with rice or as a snack for tea time in the evening. Note: The ground batter can be stored in the refrigerator and used within a day. Bring the vadai batter to room temperature before frying. If the vadai batter is very runny, add a teaspoon of chickpea flour (besan) to adjust the consistency.
- 1.5 cups chana dal
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 2 sprigs curry leaves, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup finely chopped coriander leaves
- 1/4 cup finely chopped mint leaves
- 5 green chillies, finely chopped
- 1 inch ginger, finely minced
- 500 ml vegetable oil / sunflower oil for deep frying
- Soak the chana dal in water for 2 hours.
- Drain the dal after 2 hours. Grind the dal with the fennel seeds, cumin seeds and salt.
- To the ground batter, add in lots of finely chopped onions, chopped curry leaves, chopped coriander leaves, chopped mint leaves, finely chopped green chillies and finely chopped ginger.
- Mix well and check for seasoning.
- Heat oil in a pan until hot. Take small pieces of the vadai batter and drop it in oil.
- Cook the vadai until golden brown. Drain on paper towel.
- Serve hot.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
- 1.5 cups chana dal
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 2 sprigs curry leaves, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup finely chopped coriander leaves
- 1/4 cup finely chopped mint leaves
- 5 green chillies, finely chopped
- 1 inch ginger, finely minced
- 500 ml vegetable oil / sunflower oil for deep frying
- Soak the chana dal in water for 2 hours.
- Drain the dal after 2 hours. Grind the dal with the fennel seeds, cumin seeds and salt.
- To the ground batter, add in lots of finely chopped onions, chopped curry leaves, chopped coriander leaves, chopped mint leaves, finely chopped green chillies and finely chopped ginger.
- Mix well and check for seasoning.
- Heat oil in a pan until hot. Take small pieces of the vadai batter and drop it in oil.
- Cook the vadai until golden brown. Drain on paper towel.
- Serve hot.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
Find it online : https://www.kannammacooks.com/killu-vadai/
Recipe for softest idlis using kottaimuthu – castor seeds. Castor seeds adds to the soft texture of the idlis. Castor seeds are also called as amanakku vidhai / kottaimuthu.
Castor seeds is traditionally used in idli batter for years in my region without any problem. Castor seeds are also used in traditional medicine. Adding a little castor seeds makes for the fluffiest / spongy idlis you will ever eat. If you are worried about ricin poisoning, just DO NOT attempt this recipe. You may buy castor seeds in “naatu marundu kadai” or in ayurvedic stores.
If you are making Idli for the first time, Please READ this post before you begin. https://www.kannammacooks.com/tips-tricks-making-idli-batter/ This recipe is from Padma Akka (Vinodh’s Sister) . Here is how to do the softest and fluffiest idlis. Wash and soak unpolished whole white urad dal and idli rice (par-boiled rice) separately for 3-4 hours. Drain the water and set aside.
Add the soaked and drained urad dal to the wet grinder. Add water little by little and grind till the dal is ground smooth and fluffy. The tip in grinding urad dal is to add the water slowly. If you add all of the water at once, it wont fluff up well. Grind for at-least 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, transfer the dal mixture into a bowl and set aside. Do not add more than a cup of water while grinding dal.
Using the back of a knife or a slightly heavy object, gently break the seeds and get the white part out. I have used 6-7 seeds today. Do not use more. The idli batter will become bitter.
Now grind the seeds and the sabudana (javvarisi) to a fine powder. Sabudana makes the idli even fluffier and I always add sabudana or poha (aval) to my idli batter.
Now comes the rice. We use Idly Rice for making idly batter. Its a short grain fat par boiled rice. Par boiled rice is the only way to go for idli. Its also called as Salem Rice in Tamilnadu. Its an unique short fat grained rice. Most of the households in Tamilnadu use Idly Rice only. So its got to be idly rice for me. Add in the soaked and drained rice and add in the ground sabudana-seed powder. Grind the rice mixture for 30 minutes until smooth. Add just enough water while grinding. Do not add more than a 1 – 1.5 cups water while grinding rice.
Once ground, transfer the batter to the dal mixture bowl, add in the salt and mix well. Let there be lot of space for the batter to expand while fermenting. Do not fill up to the brim.
Cover the batter with a lid. Leave the batter in a draft free place to ferment. The batter needs to ferment for 8-12 hours. Once the time is up, the batter should have increased in volume. Take a ladle and mix it well. Your batter is ready.
Line a wet cloth (just wet NOT dripping with water) on top of the idli plates and ladle out the idli batter on the plates. Put some water in an idly vessel and put it on medium flame. Put the idli plates inside the idly vessel and let it steam for 6-7 minutes.
Remove the idli plates and drop it on a plate. Sprinkle some water on the cloth and remove the cloth.
Serve the idlis hot.
Serve hot with your favorite chutney and sambar.
- 1 cup whole white unpolished urad dal
- 4 Cups Idly Rice ( 1 liter)
- 2 tablespoon Salt
- 3 tablespoon javvarisi (sabudana)
- 6 castor seeds (brown outer shell removed)
- 2.5 cups water for grinding
- Soak the dal and rice for 3-4 hours. Drain the water and set aside.
- Add the soaked and drained urad dal to the wet grinder. Add water little by little and grind till the dal is ground smooth and fluffy. Grind for atleast 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, transfer the dal mixture into a bowl and set aside.
- Now grind the seeds and the sabudana (javvarisi) to a fine powder.
- Add in the soaked and drained rice and add in the ground sabudana-seed powder. Grind the rice mixture for 30 minutes until smooth.
- Once ground, transfer the batter to the dal mixture bowl, add in the salt and mix well.
- Leave the batter in a draft free place to ferment. The batter needs to ferment for 8-12 hours.
- Idli batter is ready.
- Author: Kannamma - Suguna Vinodh
- Prep Time: 24 hours
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Breakfast
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
