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Deficient in iron? Love peanuts? Love sweetcorn? If you answer "yes" to any or all of these questions, then this recipe from Kiwi Gee is for you. She says: "Got this recipe from some cookbook in my previous life when I actually had time to pore over such things. Just as well that I remember how to make it, coz I have no idea where that cookbook is now…".
Well, that's the advantage of having a blog - now this recipe need never be forgotten! These are the tastiest vadas I've ever had and it was difficult to stop at just one or two. Good thing the kids were home with one of their friends who's adventurous (food-wise) for his age, with a typical teenager's appetite! Iron-rich though these vadas are, thanks to the peanuts, they are not for the extreme diet-conscious. But once in a while, especially if it's a rainy cold day, they're awesome. Especially when had hot.
Recipe for: KiwiGee's Peanut corn vadas
Ingredients:
Raw peanuts – 200 gms (about a cup)
Corn kernels (fresh or tinned or frozen) – 200 gms
Fresh green chillies – 2-4, depending on chilli tolerance
Corn flour – 2 to 4 tbsp
Rice flour - 1/3 cup (my addition)
Onion – 1 large, chopped
Coriander leaves – a handful
Curry leaves – a handful
Fennel seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
Salt – as per taste
Oil to fry
Method:
1. Soak peanuts in water for half an hour. If corn is frozen, make sure it is thawed completely.
2. Then grind corn and peanuts coarsely along with the green chillies.
3. In the last run of the grinding, add the saunf (fennel) and jeera (cumin) seeds, onion, coriander and curry leaves, as well as the salt.
4. Grind the mixture using no or very little water. It has to be roughly the consistency that can be patted into a flat, round shape that won’t come apart when you fry it – this is a bit of a hit-and-miss, but practice makes perfect.
5. To the ground mixture, add the corn flour and rice flour and mix well (add more flour if necessary, and adjust seasoning). If you have added too much water to your mixture while grinding, then you may need to add some extra flour to thicken the mixture – don’t worry, you can’t go wrong with the flour.
6. Take a small ball of the mixture (size of a plum) and flatten it on an oiled surface (your palm or a plate or whatever) to make a flat round disc of max 1 cm depth.
7. Meanwhile, heat the oil. When the oil is at the right temperature, drop the discs in slowly one by one. Fry till then are a dark golden brown, then drain - and then the best bit – eat hot. Note that because of the peanuts, the vada will be much darker than the normal vada.
Yep, they look nice, dont they? :) They WERE nice. Ever since I saw the recipe for maddur vada on Latha's blog a few weeks ago, by sheer chance (I'd googled "maddur vada"), I'd been hankering to make them. They're simple to make, and really best eaten fresh while they're still fairly crisp. I personally liked their chewy texture a day on, but I think that could just be me, a one-woman fan club.
I used the same ingredients as specified in Latha's recipe, but made a small addition of my own - urad dal that had been soaked for 2-3 hours. I think I had a vague of idea of the really really scrummy "Tirupati vada" that I'd eaten long ago, before the Tirupati laddoo became the only prasadam (holy offering) available. The Tirupati vada was dark brown, very chewy, and had urad dal in it. I havent a clue about the rest of the ingredients in that prasadam - all i remembered was the texture and the fact that there was urad dal in it.
The urad dal DID make a difference to the maddur vada - if only in taste. I'm quite glad I made the addition!
Recipe for: Maddur vada
Ingredients:
1 cup fine semolina
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp red chilli powder
5 tbsp hot oil for kneading
2 onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup urad dal, soaked for 2-3 hours
1/2 cup coriander leaves, chopped
10-15 fresh curry leaves, chopped
Fresh green chillies to taste, minced
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
Method:
1. Heat the oil in a deep pan.
2. Put the rice flour, plain flour, semolina, red chilli powder and salt in a bowl. Add 5 tbsp hot oil and and mix well with a wooden spoon.
2. Add the chopped onions, urad dal, coriander, curry leaves and chillies.
Mix with enough water to make a rough dough. Use your hand for this.
3. Take a small ball of this dough and flatten with your fingers (or use a glass, greasing its bottom well) on a non-stick sheet.
4. Drop into hot oil and deep fry on medium-high heat until golden brown.
5. Serve hot with any dipping sauce.
