Nilam Special Uzhunnu Vada

Well, we all know how Sandy and Nilam struck at about the same time, except at different places. So it was one of those rainy holidays on which I had to sit at home. Pras was working and so we had no plans of going out. I woke up and soaked urad dal for making my favorite vada. It is the perfect accompaniment to tea on a cold rainy day or may be any day :)

Ingredients (For 10 vadas) :

1. 1 cup skinless white urad dal soaked in water for about 4 hours
2. 1 medium sized onion chopped
3. 2 green chillies finely chopped
4. chopped coriander leaves
5. 1 tsp whole pepper corns
6. Salt to taste
7. Oil for frying

Equipment needed: 

A grinder/food processor

How I made it :

1. Grind the soaked urad dal with as little water as possible to make a thick smooth paste.
2. To this ground batter add the chopped onions, coriander, green chillies, pepper corns and salt.
3. Heat up some oil in a deep pan/wok/kadai.
4. This step is all about frying but if you want to get the right shape of a vada, read on. Keep a bowl of water on the side. Dip the fingers of your right hand in the water. With the excess water wet the palm of your left hand. Now, using your right hand scoop out a sapota sized ball of batter. Flatten it out on your left palm. Now, dip your right index finger into the water and make a hole in the center of the flattened batter.Drop this into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes a side. 
5. Serve hot with a steaming cup of chai and coconut chutney

Tips :

1. Use as little water when grinding. The more water you use, grinding may be easy but getting the right shape and texture for frying will be tough.
2. If you have added a lot of water, you could add some rice flour to thicken the batter.
3. You could add pieces of coconut to the batter.
4. To test the oil, put in a small drop of the batter. If it rises immediately, the oil is hot. You don't want smoking hot oil either
5. Serve with sambar for breakfast

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My take on the nippattu

My good friend gave me a sample of her baked nippattu one morning and I flipped. It was just so god damned good. I knew I had to give it a try.
Those of you who do know me very well, I am a sindhi who loves her koki. This dish reminded me so much of the koki. Koki is an onion and green chilli mixed paratha. It is a very famous breakfast across all Sindhi households, eaten with curds, pickle or white butter and sugar.
Now, the nippattu is similarly flavoured and hence the instant liking. The original recipe is here but I added my own twist to it. Instead of 2 cups of plain maida, I used just 1. To substitute the remaining 1 cup, I added 1/4 cup makki atta (cornmeal), 1/4 cup rava, 1/4 cup rice flour and 1/4 cup whole wheat flour. I also skipped the baking soda. I never buy baking soda cause it can be quite harmful for the body I hear. However, I also hear that it is a fabulous household cleaner.

I did follow this recipe and tried baking the nippattu. There were two things that went wrong
1. I lost patience as I was able to bake only two at a time in my oven.
2. Mine were quite crumbly in nature cause of the rava that I had added to the dough.

I left half of the dough back in the fridge and today on this cold rainy afternoon, I fried them as small vadas instead and they were yummy and gone in minutes.

Ingredients :
1 cup maida
1/4 cup makki atta - cornmeal
1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup rava/semolina
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 large onion finely chopped
4 tsp white sesame seeds
1/3 cup oil
2 tsp sugar
Freshly chopped coriander leaves - as much as you like
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp melted butter - I used salted
3 finely chopped green chillies
1/4 cup warm water

How I made it :

1. Mix all the flours together. Add the salt, white sesame seeds, onion, green chillies, sugar and coriander leaves.
2. Make a well in the center. 
3. Pour in the melted butter and oil. Mix till the mix resembles coarse bread crumbs.
4. Now add the water cautiously. Add little by little until the dough comes together. You may not need to add the entire quantity. As the author of the original recipe suggests, the little water you use, the easier it is to roll out in the baked version.
5. Cover this with a damp cloth or cling film and keep aside for 30 minutes. 
6. Heat oil in a fry pan. 
7. Make small rounds out of the dough and when the oil is hot, drop these rounds in and fry till golden brown on both sides.

Serve hot. 

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