Cumin and black pepper seasoned Black gram Vadai – Milagu muzhu ulundhu Vadai

Specked with cumin and black pepper, this black gram vadai is crisp on the outside, a little chewy on the inside and an excellent tea-time snack. It tastes great with coconut chutney. It’s a nice way to use up your whole black gram other than Dal Makhani. I like most dals but unfortunately not the rest of my family. If you’re like me and you don’t have many takers for Dal Makhani in your family, because your family is the idli-vadakari kind and not the roti-dal kind, then here is one great way to spin the black gram.

 



Prep Time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins:
Serves: 7-8

Ingredients

Whole Black gram – 1 cup soaked overnight in water
Cumin/Jeera – 1 tsp
Whole Black Pepper – 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Method

1.      Rinse the soaked black gram in 2 changes of water. Grind the rinsed whole black gram in a mixer grinder without adding any water to a thick, coarse batter in batches. With the last batch, add the cumin, whole black pepper and salt and grind.

2.      Have a medium bowl with water handy for wetting your hands in between making vadais. In a deep kadai, add oil for deep frying. When the oil is hot, take a lemon sized ball of the batter and flatten on your palm. Make these vadais as thin as possible and make a hole in the centre of the vadai and gently drop the vadai into the oil. Make more vadais and drop into the kadai making sure not to crowd the kadai too much. Reduce heat to medium-high.

3.      Flip over the vadais halfway through. When the vadais turn golden brown use a slotted spoon to remove the vadais to absorbent paper.

4.      Make vadais with the rest of the batter and fry in batches. Serve hot with coconut chutney.