‘I love Sambar Vadai’ does not even scratch the surface to how much I like the sambar vadai. I can’t remember a time when I did not love the urad dal vadas which were more commonly made in our home during festival season. The leftover vadas ( if any ) would turn into sambar vadas or rasa vadas whichever was handy.
I always loved these fired goodness and I am not kidding when I say that I can eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Actually one of my very good friend used make vada for her weekend breakfast. I guess we were destined to be besties LOL..
So on one of the special occasions I decided to treat myself with the perfect melt in the mouth soft vadai in the piping hot sambar and with the crunchy onion on the top. I will have to say it tasted divine and I did eat it for lunch and dinner 🙂 🙂
But it does not have to be the second choice and never is for me :).
The base for preparation of Medu Vada is the same with – urad dal, green chillis, coriander and curry leaves. Onion or Drumstick leaves or both can be added for flavor. Some time, vadais made of whole black gram with skin and black pepper are offered as prasads God. Specially considered favorite of ‘Hanuman’.
I make my sambar similar to that of the idli sambar i.e by mostly using my sambar powder. But occasionally I do make the vada sambar by the ground method. Here I made the ground style sambar.
Sambar Vadai | Sambar Vada
Ingredients
For Vada Preparation see Medhu Vada.
For Sambar:
- Veggies of choice mixed veggies are good – 1/2 to 3/4 cup
- Toor dal / tuvam parupu/ Pigeon Pea – 1/2 cup cooked and mashed
- Tamarind paste – about 1-2 tbs
- Garlic pods – 2-3 optional
- Curry leaves
- salt to taste
- Suger/Jaggary – 1 tsp
- Water as needed
Masalas to grind:
- Channa dal/Kadala parupu/Split gram dal – 1-2 tbs
- Dhaniya seeds/Coriander seeds – 3 tbs
- Jeera/ cumin seeds- 1 tsp
- Sounf/fennel seeds – 1/2 tsp skip if you don’t like the flavor
- Methi/ fenugreek seeds- 1/2 seed
- Fresh Coconut – 1 -2 tbs
- Onion/Tomato – 1/2 cup
- Red chilli – 4-5 adjust to taste
- roast win little oil and grind to a a smooth paste
Instructions
- Pressure cook the dal with little turmeric for upto 3 whistles in the god old pressure cooker or cook for 10 -12 mins in Instapot. Mash it to while the dal is hot to get smooth consistency.
- Now roast the masala ingredients in little oil in this order mentioned above one at a time to get max flaver and even cooking.
- Once the mixture cools down grind it into a smooth paste
- Now in a heavy bottom pan add the veggies, tamarind paste, salt, turmeric powder and some water and let the veggies cook 3/4th .
- Once its hard to touch yet mashable add in the ground masala paste. Let this cook a bit, about 5 minutes.
- Now add in the cooked dal to this mixture and add little water to adjust the consistency. Little bit runny consistency is fine because the vadas will soak it all. Do not too much water though as this will beat the tartness and the spice.
- Let this mixture simmer in medium heat till a layer of froth forms on the top. do not let the sambar over boil as the flavors will reduce.
- Temper mustard seeds, broken red chills(optional) and curry leaves in some ghee /oil .
Sambar Vada Assembly:
- Have some finely chopped onions and coriander leaves handy.
- Divide the sambar into two 1/2s.
- In one half of the hot sambar add in the hot vadas. It is key that both the sambar and vada hot to get good texture.
- Let it sit in the sambar for 5 mins and set it aside in a seperate bowl.
- Do the same for all the vadas.
- Just before serving heat the other half of the sambar and pour it on your desired portion of vadas and garnish with onions and coriander leaves and serve it hot.
Your sambar recipe sounds delicious & flavorful.