Parippu Vadas/Lentil fritters

Soak some split chickpeas for a couple of hours. Then drain it completely and set aside till all the water is drained from it. Once the water is drained, pulse this drained dal with adequate salt in your grinder or food processor. Do not make it runny by adding any water/do not make it a paste either. Grind it in such a way that your get a coarse texture and you can actually see the split dals here and there.

Chop finely some onions,two green chillies, shredded ginger,dry red chillies-two/three,tear a few curry leaves and set it aside with some hing(asafoetida) and cumin seeds. You must taste and see at this juncture if the spice and salt is right, if not add a tsp of chilly powder for spice or salt if required!

Add this ground mixture to your pulsed dal/lentil. Give it a good mix so that everything would mix well. Make the shape that you desire, usually they are flattened on your oiled palm and made into roundels...please feel free to innovate! Do drain any excess oil after frying, I've just done mine on some newspaper to capture a good image!

They are then deep fried. I think there is a steamed version, I am yet to try it, will update as and when I do that...till then enjoy your fritters with a nice cuppa ginger tea/coffee. Ideal during the rains.

Steamed Version:- Steam the same shaped vadas in your steamer. Break them down later on and add them to a spicy curry/gravy so that you would get a nice vada curry.