Ulunda Vadai/ Urud Dal Vada

Ulunda Vadai is a famous south-Indian snack and it is often served with idli/ dosa. The important thing to remember for making crispy ulunda vadai is not to add water while grinding the batter. If necessary you can sprinkle little water while grinding.

Ingredients:
1 cup Urud dal
1 Onion, finely chopped
3 Green chilly, finely chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
Few curry leaves, finely chopped
Oil for frying
Salt

Preparation:
1. Soak urud dal for 2 hours in water.
2. Drain the water and grind it to a smooth paste.
3. Add salt onion, green chilly, curry leaves, ginger and mix well.
4. Heat oil in a kadai.
5. Take a small amount of batter, make a small ball and flatten them on a plastic sheet and make hole in the center(like donut).
6. Fry vadas till it becomes golden color.
7. Serve with coconut chutney.

Paruppu Vadai (Channa Dal Vada)

Ingredients:
2 cup Bengal Gram Dal (channa dal)
2 Onions, finely chopped
4 Green Chilly, finely chopped
A pinch of Asafoetida
Few Curry Leaves, finely chopped
Oil for frying
Salt

Preparation:
1. Soak Channa dal in water for 2-3 hours.
2. In a mixer grind channa dal to a coarse paste.
3. Add onion, green chilly, curry leaves, salt to the channa dal paste and mix well.
4. Make small balls and press with your palm to flatten.
5. Heat oil in a kadai, deep fry them until it turns golden brown.
6. Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Ven Pongal

Ingredients:
1 cup Raw rice
3/4 cup Green gram dal
11/2 tsp Black pepper (optional)
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp broken cashew nuts
A small piece of ginger,finely chopped
A few Curry leaves
2 tsp Ghee
5 cup(s) Water
Salt

Preparation:
1. Wash rice and dal and pressure cook them together in five cups of water for 10 minutes.
2. Heat ghee in a kadai, add pepper, cumin seeds and saute for a minute.
3. Add ginger,curry leaves cashew nut and saute them for a minute.
4. Pour this over the rice-dal mixture.
5. Mix well and serve hot with coconut chutney/sambar.