Black Eyed Bean Fritters/Vada - An Indian Snack
Why I Love This Recipe
Vada is a deep-fried fritter made from Black Eyed Beans. It is a traditional south Indian snack. (They can also be made from black gram, soya bean or chick peas). They are generally prepared on festive occasions or social gatherings as appetizer.
I wanted to share this recipe because, it is easy to make and very dynamic, means you can customize it according to your taste. You can can add more spices or replace an ingredient (Ex:- replace beans with chick peas, replace chillies with red chilli powder or just pepper powder) or ignore an ingredient if you don’t like/find it (Ex:- mint leaves, curry leaves).
Submitted by: "Kavitha Narendra"
Ingredients You'll Need
This recipe makes around 20 fritters/vadas.
(You can find all the powders / Masala’s in Indian groceries; anyway they enhance the taste, but not mandatory for the recipe and if you don’t find you can skip those.)
Black Eyed Beans 1 cup (i.e., Soaked Beans 2cup)
Green chillies 2 nos (adjust as per your taste)
Ginger small pc (grated 1tsp)
Garlic 2 (grated 1tsp)
Onion ½ cup (finely chopped)
Curry leaves few (finely chopped)
Mint leaves few (finely chopped)
Coriander leaves few (finely chopped)
Salt 1tsp (adjust as per taste)
Oil for deep frying
Optional Ingredients:
Cumin Powder
Coriander Powder
Garam Masala
Chat Masala
Pepper powder
Directions
Soak Black Eyed Beans overnight, if not for 4 hours.
2] Drain water completely.
3] Grind the beans, green chilies, ginger and salt coarsely without adding water. (You can either grind ginger & garlic with beans or finely chop and add in the next step)
4] Add grated or finely chopped garlic, chopped onions and chopped leaves (mint, coriander, curry) to the grinded beans and mix well. If you like, you can add any of the optional ingredients.
5] Make uniform sized balls from the batter and flatten the same to the required size and shape (like patties).
6] Drop the patty into hot oil and deep fry under medium to medium-high heat until they turn golden brown. Be patient as it takes some time to fry.
Tip: You should get bubbles when you put the patties in oil, otherwise wait for some time. If the inside is not cooked properly then reduce the heat. If they are taking too much of oil then try increasing the heat.
7] Drain excess oil by keeping the VADAS on a paper towel and Serve Hot. ENJOY hot VADAs! :)
Vadas can also be enjoyed with tomato ketchup, any Indian chutney or Indian Pickle.
