Medu Vada

Before you start

• Soak the urad dal 4 hours, no longer — over-soaked dal drinks oil.
• Drain it thoroughly and let it sit in the colander 10 minutes; wet dal needs extra water to grind and gives flat vadas.
• Chill the ground batter 20 minutes if your kitchen is warm — cold batter holds its shape on the fingers.
• Add the salt only just before frying; salted batter goes watery within minutes.

Method

1. Grind the drained dal with 2 to 3 tbsp of ice-cold water, in short bursts, to a thick fluffy paste.Every extra spoon of water costs you crispness. Scrape down rather than adding more.
2. Beat the batter with your hand for 3 minutes until it lightens in colour and feels aerated.
3. Test it by dropping a pinch into a bowl of water — it should float within seconds.If it sinks, beat for another 2 minutes; unaerated batter fries dense.
4. Fold in the pepper, cumin, ginger, chilli, curry leaves, coriander, hing and salt.
5. Heat the oil to 170C — a drop of batter should rise steadily, not shoot to the surface.
6. Wet your palm, take a lime-sized ball of batter, flatten it and make a hole through the centre with a wet thumb.
7. Slide the vada off your palm into the oil from close to the surface, and fry 4 or 5 at a time.
8. Fry 4 to 5 minutes, turning once, until deep gold and the sizzle drops to a quiet crackle.That quietening means the water has cooked out and the shell has set.
9. Drain on a rack rather than paper so the underside stays crisp, and serve immediately with coconut chutney.

Storage

Best within the hour. Leftovers keep a day refrigerated; refresh in a 180C oven for 6 minutes rather than a microwave, which turns them leathery.