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Medhu Vadai /Urad Dhal Vada

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Ulundu Vadai or vada is a popular deep fried snack or breakfast dish prepared with lentils. It  is usually served with coconut chutney and sambar. You can have it with tomato sauce also. In this recipe, I have soaked 1/2 tsp raw rice and 1/2 tsp fried gram (pottukadalai) along with urad dal for crispy vadas. My mother does awesome vadas and it is her recipe. Vada is delicious as such and even when soaked in sambar or rasam or curd. Let us learn how to make medhu vadai/ulundu Vadai  (South Indian Style) following this easy recipe.

You can make different varieties of vadas like Keerai vadai, crispy cabbage vada  , Banana flower vada

etc. For those who do not eat onion, we have paruppu vadas without onion garlic.

Medhu Vadai | Urad Dhal Vada RecipePlain vada- rasam vada – curd/dahi vada

Watch of video of making vadas in Mixie

How to make Ulundu Vadai

Ingredients needed

Whole urad dal (without skin) – 1 cup
Green chilies – 2
Raw rice – 1/2 -1 tsp
Fried gram- 1/2 tsp (pottu kadalai)
Salt -1 tsp flat (crystal salt) or as required. (If using table salt use less)
Plastic sheet or banana leaf for making vadas
Oil for deep frying.

Method

Soak urad dal along with 1/2 tsp rice and 1/2 tsp fried gram for half an hour and refrigerate it for another 1 hour.

Drain the water completely and grind it along with green chillies and salt to a smooth and soft batter without adding water or sprinkling little water now and then. If needed you can sprinkle very little water and grind. It is better to use the wet grinder for grinding. Your batter is now ready.
(tips- to find out if your batter is ready, wet your hands, take a small ball of batter – the batter should not stick to your hands.)

Heat oil in a deep bottomed kadai. Once the oil is heated, reduce the flame to medium. To check if the oil is hot, drop a little batter, if it comes to the surface immediately, the oil is hot enough to fry the vadas.

Now take a bowl of water, wet your fingers and take a lemon sized vada batter, flatten it slightly on a plastic sheet or back of the banana leaf. Make a hole in the middle.and slowly transfer the shaped dough to your hands and slip it into the hot oil very gently. (be very careful while doing this)

Fry until it turns golden brown on both sides. Remove it from oil and place it on a colander or paper towel to drain excess oil.

Repeat the same process for the rest of the dough. You can fry 3-4 vadas at a time depending on the size of your kadai and the quantity of oil used.

ulundu vadai-vada

Recipe Card for Ulundu Vadai 

3.42 from 12 votes
ulundu vadai-vada
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Ulundu Vadai-South Indian Vada Recipe
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
30 mins
Total Time
50 mins
 

Ulundu vada is a popular deep fried snack or breakfast prepared with lentils. It is usually served with idli, chutney and sambar for breakfast. It can also be had as a snack.

Course: Breakfast, Snacks
Cuisine: South Indian
Servings: 4 persons
Ingredients
Ingredients needed
  • 1 cup Whole urad dal (without skin)
  • 2 Green chilies
  • 1 tsp Raw rice
  • 1/2 tsp Fried gram (pottukadalai)
  • Salt (as needed)
  • Plastic sheet or banana leaf (for making vadas)
  • Oil For deep frying
Instructions
Preparations

  1. Soak urad dal along with 1/2 tsp rice and 1/2 tsp fried gram for half an hour and refrigerate it for another 1 hour.

  2. Drain the water completely and grind it along with green chillies and salt to a smooth and soft batter without adding water or sprinkling little water now and then. If needed you can sprinkle very little water and grind. It is better to use the wet grinder for grinding. Your batter is now ready. (tips- to find out if your batter is ready, wet your hands, take a small ball of batter – the batter should not stick to your hands.)

Method

  1. Heat oil in a deep bottomed kadai. Once the oil is heated, reduce the flame to medium. To check if the oil is hot, drop a little batter, if it comes to the surface immediately, the oil is hot enough to fry the vadas.

  2. Now take a bowl of water, wet your fingers and take a lemon sized vada batter, flatten it slightly on a plastic sheet or back of the banana leaf. Make a hole in the middle.and slowly transfer the shaped dough to your hands and slip it into the hot oil very gently. (be very careful while doing this)

  3. Fry until it turns golden brown on both sides. Remove it from oil and place it on a colander or paper towel to drain excess oil.

  4. Repeat the same process for the rest of the dough. You can fry 3-4 vadas at a time depending on the size of your kadai and the quantity of oil used.

Recipe Notes

For Rasa Vada/rasam vada

As soon as your remove the vada from oil, soak it in rasam. 

Watch the video on how to grind for  ulundu vada in mixie

Ulundu vada -Urad dal vada-Medhu vadaiEnjoy vadas with sambar, chutney or tomato sauce any time.

Rasam vada

Rasa vada- rasam vada

As soon as your remove the vada from oil, soak it in rasam for rasa vada.

Curd vada/Dahi vada

Thayir vadai-Thayir vada (South Indian)

How to make Thayir vadai-South Indian Style

Ingredients needed (for soaking 2 vadas)

Curd -1 -1 1/2 cups
Green chillie -1
Ginger -1 bit
Coriander powder -1/2 tsp
Cumin seed Powder -1/4 tsp
Coriander leaves -little (finely chopped)
Salt needed

Method

Grind green chillies and ginger to a fine paste and mix it with thick curd. Add salt needed, coriander powder and cumin seed powder to the curd.

Keep a bowl of warm water. As soon as your remove the vada from oil, soak it for a few seconds in water, squeeze out the water and then soak it in the prepared curd.

Let it remain soaked for 10-15 minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy delicious South Indian thayir vadai. You can also garnish it with Kara boondi.

Check out my Punjabi Dahi Vada also.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  10. Dolly

    Wow. love them all. Beautiful Clicks.Look crispy and inviting. IN fact ur Dahi Vada I'll eat right now and Vada Sambhar tomorrow morning. OMG Now I'm craving for them rt now !!!

    Reply

  18. Malar Gandhi

    That looks incredible…lovely pictures…

    Love medu vadas…

    Like the way you displayed them dahi' vada, sambar vada….so yummm:)

    Reply

  19. PJ

    vadais look so delicious! The dahi-wada is just screaming 'make me' 🙂

    Thanks for stopping by my blog dear; you have a great space here with very delicious recipes and nice clicks! I'll be sure to visit again.

    Reply

  31. Siddhi Shirsat

    Hey thnx for visiting my blog n commenting..u hv a nice food blog with very good recipes…this medu vadas luk very tempting…u gave many diff ways of having them…i vl follow ur blog 2 get more good recipes…happy cooking…merry xmas n happy holidays

    Reply

  42. momsnetwork

    awesome recepi:) i tried this recepi. it cam outreally well and everyone in my family enjoyed a lot. pls do post us more recepies as and when possible. i am a daily visitor for your website. great website:)

    Reply

  51. Ranjitha C R

    Dear Padma,

    Thanks for the medhu vada recipe. Tried it today but I used the mixie instead of the wet grinder and split urad instead of whole and didn't add water while grinding. I also used greased aluminium foil but i couldn't make the vada with the hole as the shape was not retained when I tried to transfer it from the foil to my palm, can you please tell me the reason why this happened. So I ended up just dropping the dough with a spoon into the oil. The vadas were crisp outside but slightly hard inside, can you please tell me the reason why this happened? So I added a pinch of cooking soda to the batter and then dropped them in oil, this turned out fine crisp outside and soft inside but not like the ones we find in restaurants. I am desperately trying to perfect this recipe as everybody in my family loves it. Appreciate your help. Awaiting an early response.

    Thanks & wishes,
    Ranjitha

    Reply

  52. Padhu Sankar

    Ranjitha -You can use mixie -that is not a problem. You should use whole urad dal without skin as the batter will be very fluffy and you will get crispy vadas. Also you can add rice and fried gram while soaking urad dal.

    Reply

  57. Smiling Ninja

    As per above method moment i put vadas in oil they was bursting. Next time i didnt refrigerate simply soaked whole urad dal without refrigeration and there was no bursting of vadas in oil. Don't know what's wrong in your method

    Reply

    • Padhu Sankar

      I have done this several times, not even once it bursted for me. This recipe has been tried and tested by many readers with success. You have to refrigerate the whole urad dal and not the batter. Keeping it in the refrigerator is optional.There is nothing wrong in my method. Maybe while transferring the batter from your hands to the hot oil, you might have dropped it along with a little water accidentally.

      Reply

  59. CMCK

    Hi Padhu,
    Been an ardent follower of your blog. This recipe however did not work for me. Couldn't get the vada shape with my batter and they weren't crispy. Tasted good though. I think the problem might have been with the proportion of urad dal. By one cup, did you mean the actual measure of a cup or a general cup sized vessel's measurement?

    Reply

  60. Padhu Sankar

    Thank for being an ardent follower of my blog. Actually we make this vada frequently for festivals. I presume that the problem is with your grinding. The batter should be light and fluffy. You should not add too much water, then you will not get the vada shape.That is the reason for your vada not being crispy. As far as possible try to grind without adding water, if required just sprinkle once or twice. I use only my standard My measuring cups and spoons for all my recipes. Your problem is not with the measurements.

    Reply

  61. Priya

    Thank you for posting this. Tried this recipe and the vadas came put well. Soft inside and crispy outside. One question though – the outer layer was very slightly thick. What should I do next time to prevent this?

    Reply

    • Padhu Sankar

      Nice to know that the vada came out well. Regarding your question – It depends on grinding the batter, quality of urad dal and also you should take very less batter and flatten it for making vadas.

      Reply

  62. ramasubramaniam bhaskaran

    Tried it out yesterday following the recipe and instructions. Ground it in mixie (i dont have a grinder) without water but the problem was the batter was highly sticky to the hand and couldn't remove it from the sheet as well.
    So couldn't succeed in trasnfering to the oil and get the vada fried.
    I used all items and steps exactly as given in the recipe.Could u help me
    to solve the problem.Thanks .

    Reply

    • Padhu Sankar

      Rama – If the batter is sticky, you must sprinkle water and grind for some more time. Correct consistency is – when you dip your hands in water and take a ball of batter, it should not stick.Probably u did not grind it properly. Also while making vadas- you should dip your fingers in water every time when u take a ball of batter.

      Reply

  63. ramasubramaniam bhaskaran

    Padhu Madam,
    Being a novice after some months of hesitation,tried it out yesterday,Followed all the recipe guidelines meticulously,ground the dal to fluffy paste without a single drop of water,did the wet hand non stick padham test,dipped hands in water,took and flattened the batter on polythene sheet and then tried to drop it in oil.But alas it was gettting struck to the hands and refused to leave the sheet. Tried it again and again but in vain. Finally made vada balls and ate it.
    Pl guide me where I could have gone wrong as I am keen to perfect this receipe for my kids.
    Many of your other recipes have been tried by me and were instant success in first attempt itself.
    Thanks in advance,
    ramasubramaniam

    Reply

  65. Padmavati Visweswara

    Dear Padhu, I love browsing thru u r receipes. They are simple, easy and of course yummy. Am introducing my daughter in law to your website. Adding pottukadali for medhu vadai is new to. me. Will try your recipe for this Ganesh Chaturthi. V Padma

    Reply

  66. indreamsandinlove

    Hey Padhu,
    I'm a real fan of your blog… I started following it last year when I started cooking by myself. Tried so many dishes and everything turned out really great! – – Lots of love, newbie cook.

    Reply

  67. HARI V

    Hi Padhu,

    Unga recipe simple and fast. I used a mixie and was able to knock it out in less than an hour and a half with all the oora vechifying and arachufying.

    Diwali concluded on a really nice note , away from home.

    Thanks 🙂

    Reply

  68. Kalpana Rao

    Hi tried making the vada yesterday but it burst out of oil. I soaked dal and rice for an hour(lack of time), dint refrigerate and grinded it in mixie. Dint add pottu kadalai either. Added ginger green chilli and curry leaves while grinding. What could be the mistake?

    Reply

    • Vishrushvijay S

      hi, some times vada could burst out. i've seen this when my mom tried once. the reason behind this is not about choosing mixie or grinder, it is about the quality of the urad dhal we buy. a best quality of urad dhal will never burst.

      Reply

    • Jamwanti Bhat

      Hi Samanyaa,

      Vada bursting is very common. Reasons are varied. No fault of yours. Or the daal's.

      It happened to me two days ago. With the same urad daal I had prepared perfect vadas the previous weekend.
      Now, I was googling for reasons of vada bursting, and found many. Could be because of more water, too hot oil, due to rice flour, and so on.

      Just be very careful.

      Reply

  71. Vevel

    Hiii padhu …

    Thanks for this wonderful receipe . I did try this . it was awesome. I was initially very hesitant to try , bcos I was in an idea that only experts can do vada .. but u gave me the confidence .. and broke away all the elderly ideas thru u r blog and thru u r correct instructions . God bless u and u r family for helping so many individuals like me. … now coming to the vada , I dont have a grinder here in states . so I used the miXie and as per u r instructions I added very little water and tried with little urad dal . and it was awesome. I myself was all in praises for u and (lol ) me.. but next time being over greedy I wanted to have more vadai and used higher quantity of urad dal .. and by mistake have added more water also unknowingly. Now I m not getting vadas at all.. only oil drenched urad balls are available. I don't feel like throwing the flour . I have brought the dal from India with much difficulty. Can u suggest any idea so that I can make use of the ground urad dal to some useful receipe. Leave out vada any other eatable recipe would do . Pls do help .

    Reply

    • Padhu Sankar

      Vevel – Thank you for your nice words.As it is only urad dal batter, you can mix a little ragi flour or kambu flour and make dosas. I have not tried it but I think it will work out. Add water if required and mix well to get dosa batter consistency and make dosas. First try with little batter. If it comes out well, you can add flour to the rest of the batter and make dosas. If it turns out well, do leave your feedback.

      Reply

  73. Piscean

    Padhu I tried the vadai and it was good, thank you! But it was a little dense and not light. I refrigerated the dal for 2 hours instead of 1. Could that be the reason or can you please tell me the possible mistakes I might have made?

    Reply

    • Padhu Sankar

      If the medhu vada was a little dense, it might be due to the consistency of the batter. The batter should be light and fluffy. It should not be too thick. You can mix the batter well with your hands to incorporate air into the batter.

      Reply

  74. Raji Ramakrishnan

    i soaked the dal and could not prepare the same day hence kept in fridge and second day i made vada. it absorbed quite a good amount of oil. what is the reason and where i went wrong. normally, i soak it for 30-60 mts and grind it and make it immediately.

    Reply

  75. pcp c17

    Hi Padhu. I just follfollowed ur instructions but the vada was little hard so I had to soak them in sambar for about 15 mins for the soft output. Please help me out

    Reply

    • Padhu Sankar

      For the medhu vada to be soft, you have to grind it well. It should be soft and fluffy. It is best to use wet grinder for grinding for vada. You should not add water but can dip your hands in water and sprinkle lightly.

      Reply

  76. Raji Ramakrishnan

    some one had posted it was bursting. Once it happened to me as there was whole urad dal in it. it was a disaster for me.It never happened in my life like this since then i am very careful while grinding.

    Reply

  79. Unknown

    Tried as per your method .My lifelong dream to make nice crispy handmade shapy Vadas was fulfilled following your recipe style….thanks for the wonderful recipe.Big fan of your recipes for nearly 10 years now thanks a lot

    Reply

  81. Spoonbill

    You are a star! These days I just follow only your recipes….everything so far has come out well….I was thinking of making vada…so thought of checking up your site and there it is…love u gal…for all these…cheers to u and hope my vada turns out well…

    Reply

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