How to Make Perfectly Shaped & Crispy Medu Vada

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Medu vada - a popular south Indian snack that features not just in daily cuisine but is a necessary part of the menu on festivals and puja days. Medu vada is an urad dal based fried snack also called as Ulundu Vadai in Tamil Nadu.

However, if you are planning to cook medu vada at home for your family getting the shape right is always a task. In addition to that it may or may not turn out to be crispy the way we get it in udipi restaurants. 

#1. Soak urad dal for minimum 2 hours before grinding it in the mixer grinder.

#2. Then while grinding add little water every 2-3 spins & keep wiping the sides of grinder with a spatula.

#3. Don't add salt while grinding. You should add the salt just before frying the vada.        

#4. Make sure that vada batter should be hard enough to hold because if the batter is too light, vada will absorb more oil.

#5. To make them super crispy add add rice flour or semolina flour (rava) to the batter.

#6. To check the vada formation just drop a small spoonful batter in a bowl of water. It should float to some extent.

#7. For beginners , shaping the vadas on the greased plastic cover is the easiest. Grease a plastic sheet with oil.

#8. Take a bowl of water wet your hands and place a portion of dough on plastic.

#9. Now make a hole in centre and shape it in form of round wada.     

#10. Transfer wada on your wet palm and slide wada carefully in oil as oil may splash. 

#11. Deep fry till both the sides are brown.

If you don't want to go through the hassle of shaping them using the plastic sheet then use a "Medu Vada Maker" -

Buy Medu Vada Maker For Just Rs.199

a)       Put medu vada batter (after step #6 above) inside the medu vada maker container.
b)       Press the knob while holding it over hot oil in the kadai.
c)       The batter falls with the hole in the centre just like a perfectly shaped medu vada.