yummy everyday meal: Vadacurry/Vadakari/Vada Curry

Today is letter V under our mega marathon themed Journey through Tamil cuisines and its a popular accompaniment,vadacurry.
Vadcurry is an accompaniment served for idly,dosa and idiyappam.Mini masala vadas are dunked in a creamy rich onion,tomato based gravy.
As this curry was introduced in a hotel at Saidapete in Chennai and gets popular.Since then its called as Saidepete vadacurry/vadakari.
Low fat steaming version of vadas can be made and add in the gray.But in hotels deep fried vadas are crumbled and used.So I followed the recipe and deep fried the vadas,used it.Off to the recipe........

Vadacurry/Vadakari/Vada Curry

Basic Information

Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking time 35-40 minutes

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

For the vadas

Ingredient	Quantity
Channa dhal/kadala paruppu	1/2 cup
Ginger/inji	1/2 inch piece
Garlic/poondu	2 cloves
Red chilly /varamilagai	2
Fennel seeds/sombu	1 tsp
Salt	1/2 tsp
Oil	to fry

For the gravy

Ingredient	Quantity
Onion/ vengayam(finely chopped)	1 (medium size)
Ginger&garlic paste	1 tbs
Tomato(pureed)	2 (medium size)
Red chilly powder/milagai podi	1 tsp
Coriander powder/dhaniya podi	2 tsp
Turmeric powder/manjal podi	1/4 tsp
Green chilly/pachamilagi	3 (slit lengthy)
Thick coconut milk	1/2 cup
Curry leaves/karivepillai	few leaves
Coriander leaves	1 tbs(finely chopped)
Salt	1.25 tsp
Oil	1 tbs

For the tempering

Ingredient	Quantity
Fennel seeds/sombhu	1/4 tsp
Cloves/lavangam	3-4
Cinnamon/pattai	1 inch
Bay leaf	1

Method

Soak the channa dhal in water for couple of hours,after soaking drain the water completely.Take the soaked channa dhal,fennel seeds,ginger,garlic,red chilly and salt.Grind it to a coarse paste without adding water.Transfer it to a bowl.Heat oil in a pan and once it becomes hot take a handful of batter. Pinch out a small gooseberry size batter and drop it in the oil.Fry it till it becomes nice and golden.

Remove it from the oil and drain it on a paper towel.Crumble half of the vadas and keep it aside.Heat 1 tbs of oil in a pan to make the gravy and do the tempering with the given ingredients.Add the onion,green chilly and curry leaves along with a pinch of salt.

Saute it till transparent,add in the ginger&garlic paste and fry it util the raw smell disappears..Add in the pureed tomato and cook it until mushy.Add in all the spice powders and salt,give it a mix.

Let it cook for a minute.Add around 1.5 cups of water and cook it for 5 minutes,let it simmer for another 2 minutes.At this stage add the coconut milk.

Let it boil for 2 minutes or raw smell goes off.Now add the crumbled vadas and vadas to the gravy.Let it cook for 2-3 minutes in a medium flame.Add in the chopped coriander leaves and put off the flame.

Serve it with idly or dosa.

After adding the vadas to the gravy,it tends to absorb more gravy so adjust the consistency of the gravy while cooking.
For steaming the vadas,take the prepared batter in a idly plate and steam for 5-7 minutes.
Instead of coconut milk,coconut paste can also be used.