This is a fool proof recipe for beginners who struggle to make traditional style medhu vadai with a hole in the middle.I have included tips and tricks to make perfect donut shaped Medhu Vadas without any special gadgets or skills.

The key to shaping is the consistency of the batter. The most common problem is if the dough/batter is too thin or too dense. If the batter is too dense, you will not get soft vadas, if the batter is too runny then it will be difficult to shape into discs and make a hole in the middle.

Best way to ensure soft vadas is to grind in a high quality blender with very little water. What I like to do is to start with a small amount of dal with enough water and blend it smooth. Once that small quantity of dal is blended, I keep adding soaked dal from top and no additional water. This gives us very well whipped dal which ensures soft vadas. Which takes us to the next aspect of the batter how to keep the batter thick. The minute you add salt to the dal batter, its going to leave water. The solution is to not add salt to the ground dal/ batter directly, instead make salt water concentrate and use that to wet our fingers/palms and dab the dough to flatten it into disc shape as well as to make the hole in the vadas. Also,the temperature of the oil should be medium to medium high, if its not hot enough, they will soak up too much oil if the oil is too hot,vadas will brown too quickly from outside and stay uncooked from inside.

If you plan to make dahi vadas out of these, then simply add salt to the water that we would use for soaking the vadas after frying. I had previously shared my moms recipe of Dahi Gujiyas which is basically dahi vadas stuffed with dry fruits. She uses a wet cotton cloth to help in stuffing and lifting the vadas.

Some other recipes to try out are-

Mixed Dal Instant Dosa- No rice no fermentation

Mixed Dal Appe-South Indian style

Potato filling for dosa

Saravana Bhavan Style Tomato Onion Chatni/Kara Chatni

Moving on to the recipe, here is the written recipe followed by the step by step pictorial one-

Medhu Vada/Ulundu/Uddina Vadai/Urad Dal Vada

Aanchal Gupta

Print Recipe

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Total Time 30

Servings vadas

Ingredients

1 cup Urad Dal rinsed and soaked overnight
1/4 tsp Black peppercorns roughly pounded
1 tbsp green chili chopped fine
8-10 curry leaves torn
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
2 tbsp finely chopped onions optional
Oil for frying

For shaping Vadas

1/4 cup water
2 tsp salt

Instructions

Rinse the Urad dal well till water runs clear and soak overnight or at least 6-7 hours
Next morning drain the water and grind the dal smooth with very little water(I used my Vitamix blender)
Do float test-take a cup of water and drop a spoonful of batter, if it floats, its ready
Additionally, use a cake mixer to incorporate more air into the batter for soft vadas
Add ginger,green chilies,pounded peppercorns, curry leaves and chopped onions to the ground dal
Heat oil on medium high
Mix the salt into the 1/4 cup water till salt dissolves,this is the water we will use to shape vadas
Dab some water on your palm and use wet fingers to place a small amount of batter on your palm
Wet your fingers again and dab on the batter to flatten it a bit
Use your index finger to make a hole in the batter
Again wet your fingers in the salt water, dab vada and release from hand and gently place in hot oil
Make vadas from remaining batter and fry them till golden and crisp on both sides
Remove excess oil by placing on a paper towel and enjoy with coconut chutney and sambar

Notes

This is a fool proof recipe for beginners who struggle to make traditional style medhu vadai with a hole in the middle. Its important to not add any salt to the dal batter. Salt makes the batter very loose making it hard for the batter to hold its shape. The concentrated salt water that we use for dabbing and picking up the batter and shaping provides the right amount of salt to the vadai. If you are going to make dahi vadas then salt can be added to the water thats used for soaking the vadas. Adding onions is completely optional. I have made it many times without onions. Adding 1/2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds can further enhance the taste.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Here is the step by step pictorial recipe-

Rinse the Urad dal well till water runs clear and soak overnight or at least 6-7 hours

Next morning drain the water and grind the dal smooth with very little water(I used my Vitamix blender)

Do float test-take a bowl of water and drop a spoonful of batter, if it floats, its light enough and you will get soft vadas

Additionally, use a cake mixer to incorporate more air into the batter for soft vadas

Add ginger,green chilies,pounded peppercorns, curry leaves and chopped onions to the ground dal
Heat oil on medium high

Mix the salt into the 1/4 cup water till salt dissolves,this is the water we will use to shape vadas
Dab some water on your palm and use wet fingers to place a small amount of batter on your palm
Wet your fingers again and dab on the batter to flatten it a bit
Use your index finger to make a hole in the batter
Again wet your fingers in the salt water, dab vada and release from hand and gently place in hot oil