Ambode

Happy Diwali to all my fellow bloggers! Festival of light is calling for a special recipe and what better than Ambode to get started. Ambode or dal vada or masala vada is a great appetizer to kick start any party. Straight to  the recipe below -

Ingredients -

Chana dal (split gram dal): 1 cup
Green chilies: 4-5 or to your spice level
Grated ginger - one spoonful
chopped onions - 1 cup
Curry leaves: few
Coriander leaves (Cilantro): few
hing powder - a pinch
Oil - for deep frying purpose
Salt: to taste


Method - Soak channa dal for 2-3 hrs. Later, grind channa dal into coarse paste. Add chopped oinion, chopped chillies, curry leaves, chopped ginger, coriander, hing and salt to the paste. Mix well. In a frying pot, heat oil. When hot enough, take a spoonful of channa paste, roll it into a ball and pat it flat about an 3/4 inch. Drop it into the hot oil. Repeat it for 6 time or until the pot is semi full. Fry them until golden brown. Take off from my oil and enjoy vada once they are warm enough to eat.

Helpful hints - Do not add lot of water while grinding channa dal. I find wet grinders to be very useful for grinding dals for this recipe. Do not mix chopped onion and salt if you are not deep frying the channa dal paste immediately. Onion and salt make the paste watery and hard to deep fry.  If in case the paste turned out to be watery, then add rice flour to make it solid. You can also add chopped mint or dill leaves to this recipe. Onion is optional if you don't want to use it.