Masal Vadai

Masal vadai with a hot cup of coffee/tea make a heavenly combo! These crunchy fritters can be served hot any time of the day as appetizers, snacks or as part of any meals. This masal vadai is usually found in menus in almost all south indian restaurants. It can be made with minimal ingredients and is packed with protein. I made these yesterday and we enjoyed a cold day with these crispy masal vadai and some masala chai.

Ingredients
Channa dhal/ Bengal gram dhal - 2 cups
Onion - 1 small sized
Green chillies - 3
Fresh ginger - 1/2 inch
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Asafoetida/ Hing - 1/4 teaspoon (optional)
Sombu/fennel seeds - 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Directions
Soak the channa dhal in water for atleast 1-2 hours.

Remove about 1 tablespoon of the soaked dhal and keep it separately. Grind all the remaining dhal along with salt and the fennel seeds into a coarse paste without adding any water to the dhal mixture.

Chop the onions, green chillies and fresh ginger very finely. In a bowl combine the ground dhal mixture, the reserved dhal, onions, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves and asafoetida and mix until everything is combined together.

In a kadai or a heavy bottomed vessel, heat oil for deep frying. Make small lemon sized balls with the dhal mixture and flatten using both palms. When the oil turns, hot carefully add the prepared dhal mixture. Cook on medium heat for about 2 minutes on each side until the vadai turns golden brown in color.

Drain on paper towels and serve warm!