Vada curry - Steamed version

Vada curry is a famous side dish provided in most of the restaurants. It goes well with idli, dosa, aapam etc. Though i have not tasted in restaurants, i got tempted by seeing this recipe. I have adapted the recipe and modified it to skip few ingredients according to our family taste. The taste was awesome. It is traditionally made with left over masala vadas. But this recipe is made fresh by soaking dal and preparing the gravy. Hence it does not require the oil, which we otherwise would be using for deep frying the vadas.

Vada Curry Recipe

Serves  :  3 - 4 people

Ingredients

• Channa dal  - 3/4 cup
• Onion  -  2 medium sized, finely chopped
• Tomato  -  2 medium sized, finely chopped
• Curry leaves  -  a sprig
• Cumin seeds  - 2 tsp
• Fennel seeds  - 2 tsp
• Red chillies  - 3(long variety), adjust according to the spice level
• Coriander leaves  -  little, for garnishing
• Asafoetida  -  2 generous pinches
• Turmeric powder  -  a generous pinch
• Sambar powder  - 3 tsp
• Red chilli powder  - 2 tsp
• Salt  -  as required
• Water  -  1.5 to 1.75 cups
• Oil   -  2 tbsp

Method

• Clean and soak channa dal in water for minimum 3 hours.
• Once soaked, first dry grind red chillies and fennel seeds and then add channa dal little by little and grind to a coarse paste, just like how we do for masala vada. Add very less water.
• Add little salt for this mixture and grind it once. Add curry leaves to this.
• Make small patties out of this mixture, make a small hole in the middle and steam this in idli plates for 7 to 8 minutes. Check if it is cooked properly by inserting a fork and ensuring it comes out clean.
• Once this cools down, crumble it roughly.
• In a pan, add oil and once it is heated up, add cumin seeds and asafoetida .
• Once they crackle, add onion and saute well.
• Once onion turns transparent, add tomato, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and sambar powder and mix well. 
• Add the salt required for the gravy.
• Once tomatoes turn mushy, add required water and allow it to boil.
• Once water starts boiling, add the crumbled dal mixture and mix well. Check for salt at this stage. 
• Cook for another 5 minutes so that the gravy and dal mixture blend well and the oil separates out.
• Finally add coriander leaves and switch off the stove.
• Serve with idli, dosa or any other tiffin variety.

Notes

• Add very less water while grinding the dal. Else the mixture will turn watery and will be difficult to steam.
• Fennel seeds provides the major flavour for this dish, so do not skip it.
• I used home made sambar powder and the taste was great. You can add plain coriander powder( dhaniya powder) as well.
• Since we are adding both red chillies and chilli powder in this dish, adjust the quantity according to your preference.