medu vada recipe with step by step photos – crispy, fluffy and delicious vadas that goes very well with coconut chutney or sambar.
medu vada is one of my favorite snack. medu vada is one snack i loved as a kid and still do. i especially like the crispy and fluffy medu vada dunked in hot sambar with coconut chutney by the side. the combo of vada sambar with coconut chutney is very famous and taste awesome. you can enjoy medu vada with any variety of sambar.
whenever we would go to any udupi or kerala restaurants in mumbai, i would order either vada sambar or masala dosa. these two were always on my top list of south indian snacks.
i love all south indian snacks and back with mom and dad, i am having a good time to have my favorite south indian breakfast tiffin snacks like dosa, rava dosa, appam and of course my top favorite medu vada.
mom made this for brunch and i happily captured the pics. we had medu vada with the sambar and coconut chutney.
medu vada is one of the easiest snack to make. if you have left over sambar and don’t know what to do… just make the medu vada… dip into the sambar and enjoy…
if there is no sambar, then too you can have the medu vada with coconut chutney or even with mint coriander chutney or tomato sauce. you could use any dip of your choice… may be even a tahini dip or any cheesy dip will be great.
if you are looking for more south indian snacks then you may like these recipes:
medu vada recipe
INGREDIENTS FOR medu vada recipe
- 2 cups urad dal (husked & split black gram)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, whole or crushed (optional)
- 1 or 2 sprig curry leaves, chopped
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped (optional)
- 1 or 2 green chilies, chopped
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
- ⅓ cup chopped coconut pieces, optional
- few sprigs of coriander leaves, chopped (optional)
- salt to taste
- oil for deep frying
- some water if needed to grind the batter
HOW TO MAKE medu vada recipe
making medu vada batter
- soak the urad dal for 4 hours or overnight.
- grind the soaked dal to a smooth batter with little water if required.
- if the batter becomes watery, then the instant relief would be to add some semolina or urad dal flour to it. otherwise also you could add some semolina to the batter.
- add the spices, herbs, onions and salt. mix well.
- take a bowl of water. apply some water from the bowl on both your hands. take some batter in your right hand from the bowl. give it a round shape.
- with your thumb make a hole in the center. you can also use banana leaves or zip lock bags to give the medu vada its doughnut shape.
making medu vada
- in a kadai heat oil. keep the flame to medium.
- once the oil becomes hot, slid the medu vada into the hot oil.
- once the medu vada are slightly golden then gently turn over with a slotted spoon and continue to fry.
- fry the medu vada till crisp and golden. the oil should be not very hot, but medium hot. you want the vadas to be cooked from inside. very hot oil will quickly brown the vadas from outside but they will remain uncooked from inside. less hot oil will make the medu vada to absorb too much oil. even if the batter is thin then also the medu vadas will absorb too much oil.
- fry all the medu vadas this way till they become evenly browned and crisp.
- drain medu vada on kitchen tissue to remove excess oil.
- serve the medu vada, hot or warm with sambar and coconut chutney.
RECIPE TIPS
- when making medu vada for fasting, then don't add onions.
preparation to make medu vada
1. soak 2 cups urad dal (husked and split black gram) for 4 to 5 hours. you could also soak them overnight.
2. later drain the water. add the soaked urad dal in a grinder jar. add 2 to 3 tablespoon water or as required. but just make sure that not to make the batter very thin. you can grind in parts and add water as required.
3. grind the urad dal to a smooth batter. the batter should be fluffy, thick and not liquidy. a quick tip is to add a few drops of batter in a bowl of water. the batter drops should float. if they float and do not get dissolved, then that’s the right consistency. if the batter becomes watery or thin, then the instant relief would be to add some semolina or urad dal flour to it. otherwise also you could add some semolina to the batter. but best is to have the right consistency of the batter.
4. remove the batter into a big bowl or vessel.
making medu vada batter
5. measure and keep all the ingredients ready for making medu vada batter.
6. to the batter, add ⅓ cup finely chopped onion, 1 or 2 sprig of curry leaves (chopped) and 2 to 3 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves (optional).
7. next add 1 or 2 finely chopped green chilies, 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger (adrak) and ⅓ cup chopped fresh coconut pieces (optional).
8. also add 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera), 1 teaspoon crushed black peppercorns (kali mirch) and salt as required. addition of black pepper gives a good taste but its optional and you can skip adding it.
9. mix the batter well with the herbs, spices and salt. you do not have to ferment the batter. you can use it right away.
10. take a bowl of water. apply some water from the bowl on both your hands.
11. take some batter in your right hand from the bowl. give it a round shape.
12. with your thumb make a hole in the center. you can also use banana leaves or zip lock bags to give the medu vada its doughnut shape.
frying medu vada
13. in a kadai heat oil. keep the flame to medium. once the oil becomes hot, slid the medu vada into the hot oil. if you really do not care about the appearance of the doughnut shape of the medu vada, then just drop spoonfuls of the batter directly in the oil.
14. once the medu vada are slightly golden then gently turn over with a slotted spoon and continue to fry.
15. fry the medu vada till crisp and golden. the oil should be not very hot, but medium hot. you want the vadas to be cooked from inside. very hot oil will quickly brown the vadas from outside but they will remain uncooked from inside. less hot oil will make the vada to absorb too much oil. even if the batter is thin then also the medu vada will absorb too much oil.
16. once the medu vadai is crisp and golden, then remove with a slotted spoon draining the extra oil. fry the rest of vadas in the same manner.
17. drain medu vada on kitchen tissues to remove extra oil.
18. serve medu vada hot or warm with sambar and coconut chutney. enjoy.
Nice. I have seen a lot of videos in youtube.com for making vada. But even though there is no video here, its clear and to the point. Thank you.
thank you. your comment has cleared my confusion of videos vs stepwise photos. i am glad that the steps and photos worked here. very few readers comment on the layout or on the structure of the post or recipe. so it does help when we get comments like yours. thanks once again.
Hi dasana
Is 2 cups urad dal not too much for 4 persons.
hi vijaya, you can halve the recipe and make for 4 people. this recipe was posted and made when there were 8 people living as a family. but you can easily halve the recipe by changing the servings to 4. i have now updated the servings to 8 which was a typo error. i will soon update this recipe with better pics and changed recipe ingredients ratio.
Please post the recipe of veg egg curry.
have taken your recipe request and will try to add.
Hi Dasana, The explanation is too good and perfect. I made medu vada yesterday and they came out well. It is just that they were a bit harder to break. I have gone through all the comments and now I know exactly what went wrong. Although the batter was floating,it was not fluffy enough. I will give it one more try. Thanks a lot for sharing such wonderful recipes.
thanks shaily. if the batter is ground very well than the vadas become soft. the batter should be light and fluffy and in resemblance look like similar to whipped cream. this consistency is achieved easily in a table top wet stone grinder. for a mixer-grinder one just need to grind the lentils till fluffy and smooth. in case the mixer or grinder gets heated up, then wait for some minutes and start grinding again. a powerful grinder also does a good job.
Yes Sure. I will keep this in mind next time and let you know how it turns out !!
sure, do let me know.
Hi, i want to know if the batter can keep in fridge?? Waiting for your mail. I like ur meetu vadai recipe…. Tq
yes you can keep the batter in fridge, but use within 1 or days.
I am a big fan of yours. If there is one website I trust when it comes to cooking, then it yours. I know for sure that the cooked item will turn out great. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes. Tried medu vada today. They came out really well. The batter was slightly watery. So I slightly fried them. Then made a hole and refried to get donut shape :D.
Welcome Swathi. Thanks for your kind words and the trust you have on the website. I try all the recipes before posting them. Thanks for sharing positive feedback on medu vada.
Hi Dassana,
My earlier attempts to make medu vada(not your recipe) in the past had resulted in the vadas bursting during the process of deep frying them.Since then I haven’t had the courage to try them again though my hubby loves vadas…can you think of why these would burst in hot oil?
ashwini, if the batter is thin the vadas will burst in oil. the batter has to be thick to medium consistency. after grinding try add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of batter in a small bowl of water. the batter should float. if the batter dissolves in water, then add some rava or rice flour to it.
Hi Dassana! I’ve tried many of your recipes including this recipe for Medu Vada and they are all really tasty! Thanks for all the recipes you’ve shared and I hope you’ll continue to share! (p.s. You have the best recipes for Indian veg cuisine)
welcome jing yi. glad to read your positive feedback on recipes. thanks for this awesome feedback.
Hi dasana,your recipes are very helpful for me,I tried your medu vada recipe,the taste n shape of vada were perfect only it was too hard to break the vada.can u help me to make soft vada’s…
Thank you
afreen for making medu vadas, always use urad dal which is fresh. the more aged the urad dal is the more hard the vadas will be. also soak in enough water and when grinding, grind to a smooth fluffy batter. the batter has to be ground really well. it should look fluffy somewhat similar to whipped cream texture. in a mixer-grinder, this cannot be achieved as the grinder will get heated up. so try to grind in intervals and grind till you get a nice smooth consistency in the batter. if required, then you can add a few tablespoons of water while grinding. hope these suggestions helps.