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11 Comments

  1. Great recipe. I have a question – is it ok to use sour curd (yogurt) for preparing this dish or the curd has to be totally bland? Appreciate your answer about this. Thanks

  2. may be because my mom n grandma have always always used a stone grinder, the 45 minute trick works. @ donut shaped vadas… i have seen that in restaurants too but never at someones home… maybe ppl i know.. know that i will bicker about it… :p

    1. even i thought the same. i was thinking about the soaking and grinding part and yes if soaked for more hours, the grinding is easier in a mixie. i have seen the donut shaped vadas in restaurants and in weddings. in the various books i have, they have mentioned making the vadas with a hole. my mom also makes them like donut shaped but her recipe is very different and is like the vadas served in udupi restaurants of mumbai and other parts of maharashtra. could be that the vadas are not made with a hole in some homes as its easier to make vadas without giving it that donut shape, similar to how the north indian dahi vada is made.

  3. hi dasana… this is not the first blog i am commenting on re thaiyir vadai… unfortunately i dont think any one has heeded attention to my comments.. but i hope you will. my suggestions are very fundamental and come from generations of experience:

    1. the biggest mistake is to soak for 4-5 hours. we ( my mom, grandma etc). soak for a maximum of 45- 60 minutes. ideal is 45, n bare minimum is 30. the longer you soak, the more oil is absorbed while frying.

    2. the best way to grind is in a stone grinder. i dont have one in Canada but i see the difference.

    3. thaiyir vadai in most places does not have a hole. atleast not amongst tamilians or palakkad iyers.

    4. when you fry n soak to get the excess oil out.. use a very very diluted buttermilk solution.. that way absorption of curd is better. just dip for 10-15 seconds n gently squeeze.

    5. consider grinding some coconut, green chillies, dhaniya n a small piece of ginger n pinch of hing. add that to the curd. not too much.. but just to flavour the curd and give it texture.

    try these tricks. i am certain you wont go back on these.

    1. thanks divya for these suggestions and tips. it does help.

      1. regarding soaking time. whenever i soak urad dal for less time like even 1 hour, the vadas do not turn out soft. so i do soak them for a longer time. in fact from my experience an overnight soaking gives soft vadas and they do not absorb oil while frying. i have been making urad dal vadas for many years now and never had an oily soaked vada after soaking overnight.

      2. agree with the stone grinder. in fact i have a stone grinder and i have seen the difference when ground in stone grinder and a mixer-grinder.

      3. from what i have seen and eaten, the thayir vadais have always been donut shaped. even here in the south indian restaurants the thayir vadais are like medu vada.

      4. i know about soaking in the buttermilk solution. i forgot to mention in the post. i will add it.

      5. the grinding of coconut and green chilies is there in the recipe.

      i will give a try with stone ground batter. for ease of use and cleaning i use a mixer-grinder. it also helps when making a small batch. i will also try soaking in buttermilk next time and of course making thayir vadas without the donut shape will be easier.