Dal vada (Moong dal vada)

Dal vada recipe with moong dal, spices and herbs. To make festive time fun-filled and special, most of us prepare toothsome foods. These moong dal vada are super easy, delicious and can be made during any festivals or even as a tea time snack during the monsoon.

These dal vadas are easy to make and just takes little time to prepare except for soaking. You can use any variety of split lentils to make these. Also you can flavor them up with whatever you desire, like with garam masala or just red chilies and some cumin powder.

This is my mom’s recipe and we would use a handful of drumstick leaves, spinach, methi or coriander leaves. They just turn out good. Here I just went ahead with a mix of coriander and curry leaves. The classic South Indian herb, curry leaves add a lot of aroma here.

These dal vada do not soak up much oil since the ground mixture is made to a tight consistency. These can also be offered during any puja, just skip the onions, ginger, garlic and chilli.

Dal vada can be deep fried or even air fried. These days I have been air frying. So I have included the instructions for the same below.

These dal vada are best served with a good Chutney like coconut chutney, mint pudina chutney or green chutney.

More recipes,
Batata vada
Masala vada
Medu vada
Alasanda vada
Sabudana vada

Preparation for moong dal vada

1. Add ¾ cup moong dal to a large bowl.

2. Add ¼ cup chana dal and 2 tablespoons split white urad dal. You can also simply skip these and add another ¼ cup moong dal. Chana dal is used for flavor and texture. If you don’t know how good fried chana dal tastes, then you have to try it. If you prefer to air fry these moong dal vadas, then simply skip the urad dal.

3. Rinse them well and soak for 2 hours.

4. Crush red chili in a grinder. This step is optional, but the chilies add a pungent flavor and heat. I haven’t used them here.

5. Drain the water completely and add them to the same grinder. Keep aside 2 to 3 tablespoons of dal for later use.

6. Pulse to make a coarse mixture. If it is too dry, you may sprinkle very little water but I don’t.

7. To the mixing bowl, add daal that was set aside along with the ground moong dal.

8. Add chopped onions, garam masala, ginger garlic paste and cumin.

9. Next add curry leaves, coriander leaves and green chilies.

10. Mix everything well. The mixture must be moist and must bind well when you make a dal vada. If the vada fails to bind well, it means dal hasn’t been blended enough. You can blend about 4 tbsps of this again and mix with the rest.

How to make moong dal vada

11. Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying. Grease a cling wrap or a foil or a parchment paper. Take small portions of this mixture and make 10 small balls. Flatten them on the sheet. Do not make them too thick. You will be able to make 10 dal vada.

12. When the oil becomes hot, drop a small portion of the mixture to check if the oil is hot. It has to rise without browning instantly. This is the right temperature. Grease the fingers on your right hand. Lift one corner of the sheet, transfer the vada on to your fingers and drop them in the hot oil. You can make these in batches of 3 to 4.

13. Do not disturb them from 2 minutes. Then use a perforated ladle and turn to the other side. Fry till golden and crisp. Remove moong dal vada to a colander.

Air fryer dal vada

These are the air fryer dal vadas. I place them on the tray/rack and air fry for 15 to 17 minutes at 180 C or 360 F. I do not spray oil or preheat the fryer as mine does not require. But if needed, preheat for 10 mins and then spray them with oil. I brush the hot dal vada with ghee otherwise they will be too dry.

Serve dal vada hot with your favorite chutney.

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