Eleventeen recipes and counting.....: Parippu vada (Lentil dal fritters)

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Parippu vada (Lentil dal fritters)

My dad is a huge fan of parippu vada and my mom makes the best parippu vada in town.
Parippu vada was an intergral part of our sunday tea time and a regular for any prayer meetings held at home. It actually happens to be every Malayali's favourite I haven't come across anyone who hates them. It also happens to be my paranoid and healthy conscious better half's favourite snack ( I am so glad he does not read my blog!) He loves eating them and cant stop with just one and blames me for making all the fried food and declares that there shall be no more fried food for decades !!! My exaggeration was a bit overboard there well this time I made a small batch of baked paripu vada's (recipe follows) especially for my husband.

Parippu vada is a famous street food in Kerala and Tamil nadu (masala vada) is channa dal/ yellow split peas ground into a coarse mixtures and mixed with onion, ginger, green chillies, curry leaves and fennel and deep fried. Its crispy, crunchy and yummy usually washed down with a steaming hot cup of chai and a baby banana (cherupazham).

Verdict: My husband absolutely loved the baked version he could not tell the difference from the fried ones and my two little dumpling loved it too they both kept coming back for more inspite of bitting into the green chillies and screaming out loud for water with their tounges hanging out!

Parippu vada (lentil dal fritters) recipe:

Notes :

Drain the dal completely before grinding and pulse only for a few seconds to obtain a coarse mixture .
Fennel seeds are totally optional.

Baked Parippu vada recipe:

The recipe is same as above expect for deep frying I baked them in a pre heated oven at 220⁰C for 35 minutes until slightly brown. I shaped the vada and placed them on a greased cookie sheet and brushed them with a little oil. And turned them once half way through baking. They were not as crispy as the fried once but equally delicious and healthier! ( the last picture shows both the fried and the baked vada's)