Masala Vada {Baked}

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Masala Vada {Baked}

Masala Vada is a popular Indian tea time snack. This vada is crisp & crunchy in texture. This is originally a deep-fried dish, but here I'm sharing a healthier baked version of this snack with out loosing the goodness of deep-fried version. This recipe can be customized easily with your choice of ingredients. Other than baking & deep-frying you can also shallow fry them with out loosing any goodness of this vada.

Prep Time-40mins {30mins of soaking + 10mins}
Cook Time-30mins
Serves-8 to 10 vada's
Ingredients
1/4Cup channa dal
1/4Cup toor dal
2 Tsp jeera
2Green chili's
2Tsp grated ginger
1/2Cup chopped onions
Few curry leaves
1Tbs oil
1Tsp chili powder
1/2Tsp baking powder
Salt to taste
Directions
- Soak chana dal & toor dal for minimum of 30mins & maximum of 3hrs.
- Pre-heat oven @350F & line up a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Strain water from dals & add them to a blender along with jeera, green chili's, ginger, curry leaves & onions finally.
- Coarse grind the mixture & transfer to a bowl. Mix in salt, chili & baking powder.
- Scoop up a small ball of batter & lay it on the baking sheet. Press a little to make a nice round shape as shown above. Repeat the same with rest of the batter.
- Place sheet in oven & bake them for 10mins. Remove from oven brush on little oil on each side of the vada's. Back in to oven for another 15mins or less @400F.
- You can see a brown crust on top & when you flip it will be light brown too.
- Remove from oven & allow them to cool on the counter.
- Serve warm with ketchup or any spicy chutney of your choice.
Note
- I changed the temp of oven as it will help in perfect baking.
- You can bake @400F thru out but the bake time will be sure reduced. Keep an eye to prevent from burning vada's.
- In addition to the ingredients you can add in 1Tbs of ginger garlic paste for more flavorful vada's.
- Don't add extra water for grinding. We need a thick batter for crisp vada's.
- You can replace curry leaves with coriander or mint leaves. It's your choice.

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