Punjabi Wadi | Vadi Recipe

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Wadi or Vadi are sun-dried lentil and spices dumplings. These are made with different kinds of lentils across Northern India. While in Rajasthan, there is the Mangodi which is made from moong lentils, the Punjabi variant is made with urad dal or moong dal and even fresh green chickpeas. These sun-dried lentils dumplings are further used to add to everyday vegetable curries or rice based dishes.

punjabi-wadi-recipe

About Punjabi Wadi

As I have mentioned above, basically wadis are spiced dumplings made from a thick ground lentil and spices batter that are sun-dried.

The lentils are first soaked and then ground to a thick batter with spices and salt. Small portions of the batter is then sun dried.

After sun-drying, the wadi resembles small nuggets and look dry, thick and dense. They are meaty in texture as well as in taste.

Though not exactly tasting like meat, but a little close. These dumplings are also a great substitute for meat and the Soya Chunks (soya wadi) that we get in India.

Punjabi vadiyan

Plus they are vegan and can be made gluten-free if you do not add asafoetida (hing). You can add them to veggies and rice – even soups, pasta or noodles. They can also be fried and served as a side dish.

They soak up the sauce or gravy in which they are cooked and yet retain their texture, flavor and taste.

Generally these wadis are made in the winters when fresh green chickpeas also called as Cholia in Punjabi hits the market.

My mother-in-law makes Punjabi Wadi every year and here I share her recipe. It is really delicious and healthy.

We make the wadis with fresh green chickpeas/hara chana, moong dal or urad dal. Either use moong dal (hulled mung beans) or urad dal (hulled black gram) when making the wadis in combination with the fresh green chickpeas.

If you cannot get your hands on fresh green chickpeas, simply make these vadis with moong or urad dal.

Punjabi wadi

I have seen my mother-in-law would spending so much time peeling the green chickpea pods still attached to the fresh green bunch, and then making the wadis. In fact I used to help her in making the wadi mixture and then sun drying the vadis.

Oh yes and I do have memories of peeling the chickpea pods with my family back home. We would sit together and remove the chickpeas. Later mom would just boil the fresh chickpeas and have these sprinkled with some salt and chili powder. A warm and comforting snack in the Mumbai winters.

This Punjabi Vadi is spiced but not very heavily like like the spicy Amritsari vadi.

Punjabi wadi recipe

Once you have a whole jar of wadis, you can easily add them to your veggies or rice dishes.

We make the Punjabi wadi chawal or rice. The vadis are also added to potatoes to make the Aloo wadi sabji.

At home I generally add the wadis to Lauki (Bottle Gourd) Sabji and make. I also add them a sautéed dish made with white radish.

In the lauki wadi sabji, the spiced vadiyan balances the bland bottle gourd and it seems that this combo is made for each other. Below is the photo of this dish – a recipe which I have already posted.

lauki-vadi-sabzi

Another point to make a note of: Since this is a homemade recipe, we adds whole cloves to the lentil mixture. So when you are eating the wadi and not careful, you will bite into the cloves and get a not so good strong astringent taste of the cloves in your mouth. So to avoid this, I suggest you to add clove powder to the lentil batter.

If you live in a place where you don’t get enough sun, then too you can make the wadis by oven drying them. Please check the notes section below on how to make oven dried Punjabi wadi.

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punjabi wadi recipe

Punjabi Wadi | Vadi Recipe

Punjabi Wadi are sun dried lentil and spice dumplings made with ground lentil batter. This Vadi recipe is made with fresh green chickpeas and moong dal.
4.25 from 4 votes
Prep Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours
Cuisine Punjabi
Course Condiment
Diet Vegan
Difficulty Level Moderate
Servings 1 medium jar
Units

Ingredients

  • 1 cup fresh green chickpeas – in the absence of chickpeas, simply make the vadis with 2 cups of mung dal (hulled mung beans) or urad dal (hulled black gram) or ½ cup dried green chickpeas soaked overnight.
  • 1 cup mung dal or urad dal
  • 3 to 4 teaspoons cumin seeds
  • ½ teaspoon asafoetida (hing) – the light variety
  • 2 teaspoon cloves or ½ teaspoon clove powder
  • 2 teaspoon black peppercorns or crushed black pepper
  • salt as required

Instructions
 

Preparing the lentil batter

  • Soak the fresh chickpeas in water for 2 to 3 hours.
  • Also soak the mung dal or urad dal for 2 to 3 hours.
  • Drain the chickpeas and grind it with very little water or no water to a fine, smooth and thick paste.
  • Also grind the mung dal or urad dal with very little water or no water to a thick and fine, smooth paste.
  • In a large bowl mix together both the chickpea paste and the mung dal or urad dal paste.
  • Add all the spices and salt and mix well.

Sun-drying Vadi

  • Take a large tray/plate or food safe plastic sheet.
  • Keep the tray/plate on a mat in the sun.
  • Drop spoonful of the the wadi mixture on the plate/tray or plastic sheet.
  • You can shape them in small circles with the back of the spoon.
  • Dry them in the sun for 2 to 3 days till they become hard.
  • When one side is dried, then turn the wadis and dry the other side.
  • You will have to turn these wadis a couple of times to ensure even drying.
  • When done, store all the punjabi wadis in an air tight container.

Adding the vadis to any dish

  • Rinse the vadis in water.
  • Then add them to any veggie or rice based dish.
  • Let them cook for 4 to 5 minutes.
  • The vadis will become soft when cooked.

Notes

A) To make the wadis more spicy, you can add red chili powder or red chilli flakes to the ground lentil mixture.
B) To make the wadis in the oven:
1: First grease an over proof tray with oil or you can line the tray with parchment paper.
2: Grease the parchment paper with some oil.
3: With the help of a spoon drop the wadi mixture in to the tray and shape them.
4: Keep some space between the vadis.
5: Bake the wadis at lower oven temperatures say between 50 to 80 degrees Celsius for 6 to 7 hours or till they get totally dried up and change their color.
6: You will have to keep on checking in between and turn them over as needed so that both sides are dried.
7: The time and temperature will vary from oven to oven.

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This Punjabi Vadi recipe post from the blog archives first published in July 2012 has been updated and republished on December 2022.

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Welcome to Dassana's Veg Recipes. I share vegetarian recipes from India & around the World. Having been cooking for decades and with a professional background in cooking & baking, I help you to make your cooking journey easier with my tried and tested recipes showcased with step by step photos & plenty of tips & suggestions.

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37 Comments

  1. These wadis look so interesting. I have seen the punjabi ones at the Indian Store but never bought them as I did not know what to expect. Now, I dont mind trying them out.

  2. Missing wadiyan this year…did not visit mom..and am too lazy to do the whole process all by myself. May be your post will wake & shake me up a little to make my own wadiyan 🙂

  3. i think these can easily be used to replace the soy based meats in meaty curries! i should ask my mom why we never ate wadis growing up 🙂

    1. yes richa, they can be easily used as substitute for mock meat as well as soy beased meats. they do have a meaty texture. i forgot to mention these points in the post. shall update the post. tell your mom to get some wadis for you when she visits you there.