I tried the usual vada recipe with some left over sweet corn and it came out so well. I’m sure many of you may find making Medhu Vadai a bit tedious as the consistency of the batter has to just right not to mention the cleaning of the wet grinder after the grinding part is over. I especially hate that process. Also if you grind the batter in a mixer jar then the vadais will only turn out very hard. If you have faced all of the above difficulties, then try out this vada, as the grinding and shaping part is not only easy but also it will taste just like Medhu Vadai.
Sweet Corn Vada
You’ll need:
- Sweet Corn kernels – 1 cup
- Urad dal – 1/2 cup
- Channa dal – 1/2 cup
- Tur dal – 3 tbsp
- Raw rice – 2 tbsp
- Spring Onion greens – 2 cups
- Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
- Green chillies – 4
- Salt – to taste
- Oil – to deep fry
Method:
Soak together urad dal, channa dal, tur dal, rice for atleast 1 hour. Drain the water completely.
Place the soaked dals, sweet corn kernels, cumin seeds, green chillies in a mixie jar and grind to a coarse paste. If the mixture is too dry just add 1 tbsp of water and scrap the sides with a spoon to evenly grinding. You can also grind it to a fine paste. The texture of the batter is of course your choice.
Transfer the thick batter to a bowl. Add finely chopped spring onion greens, salt and mix well.
Heat oil in a pan. When hot take a lemon sized ball from the batter and place it in on your other palm and gently press to flatten it to a round shape. Drop it into the hot oil and deep fry till golden brown. Drain on an absorbent paper and serve piping hot with any chutney of your choice or with ketchup.
Another Version: The above method will taste just like Medhu Vadai, but incase if you want to convert it to a Masaal Vada flavor, then replace green chillies with whole dry red chillies, cumin seeds with fennel seeds while grinding and along with the spring onion greens, add 1/4 cup of finely chopped sambar onion / shallots. Mix well and continue to proceed.
This will make a very good mildly spiced snack for the evening tea time. But you can also serve this as a part of the lunch as it serves well as a crunchy and soft side dish.
Notes:
- You can also replace the spring onion greens with any greens of your choice. But this combo just rocked.
- If you want more heat, then add more green chillies while grinding.
- Make the vadas immediately after you mix the greens and salt as they both will start leaving out water and will make the batter runny making it impossible to handle.
- If you want, you can grind the batter and store it in the fridge for a day. Just thaw the batter half an hour before cooking and mix in the greens and salt just before deep frying.
This is off to Let’s cook – Kids Special, Bon Vivant – Appetizers