Masala vadai | Crispy Kara vadai | Paruppu vadai | Masala Vada recipe

Masala vadai is a South Indian deep fried snack item prepared with Bengal gram dal, onions and masala spices. Learn with stepwise pictures and video.

This Crispy Kara vadai is a popular street-side snack in South India. The crispness and crunchiness of the fried dal is the highlight of this masala vadai despite ground gram dal. Split Bengal gram dal is used for making this masala Vada.

Although this is a special deep fried snack, I would like to enjoy this delicious crispy masala Vada with hot tea often.

One bite of hot crispy Kara Vada with a sip of cardamom chai on a rainy day ;)…wow amazing… This masala Vada tastes great with simple coconut chutney or tiffin sambar also. Furthermore, this yum Kara vadai stays good for the next day also and you can serve this soaked in curd as we do for curd urad Medhu vada.

Masala vadai is a very straightforward recipe involves a few steps with little care like coarse grinding dal without water, adding some whole soaked dal and fine chopping onions.

For similar snack recipes:

Here is a quick video of this masala vadai:

Masala vadai | Crispy Kara vadai | Paruppu vadai | Masala Vada recipe

Sangskitchen

Masala vadai is a South Indian deep fried snack item prepared with Bengal gram dal, onions and masala spices. Learn with stepwise pictures and video.

4.50 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Soaking time 2

Total Time 45

Course Snack, starters

Cuisine Indian

Servings small vadas

Calories 100 kcal

Ingredients

Ingredients:

1 cup gram Dal
1 big onion
2 green chillies
Few curry leaves
Coriander leaves
1 inch ginger
2 red chillies
1 inch cinnamon
1/2 tsp saunf fennel seeds
1/2 tsp jeera Cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp chilli powder optional
1/4 tsp asafoetida
Oil to deep fry

Instructions

Preparation:

Wash and soak gram dal for two hours.
Fine chop onions and green chillies.

Recipe:

First of all, grind red chillies, cinnamon, fennel seeds and jeera seeds coarsely. Masala powder is ready (coarsely ground).
Drain water completely from the soaked Dal.
Keep 1/4 cup(2tbsp) of the soaked Dal separately without grinding to add in the Vada batter at a later stage. This is to give extra crispness.
In a blender take the drained dal, grind into a coarse mix. DO NOT GRIND INTO FINE PASTE.
Now transfer this Dal mix to a mixing bowl and add finely chopped onions, green chillies and chopped ginger.
Add lots of chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves. Also some asafoetida for digestion.
Required salt for the vada.
Put the coarsely ground masala powder and remaining soaked do, which we kept separately.
Combine everything together with your fingers.
Make small balls and flatten them slightly by pressing in your Palms.

How to fry crispy masala vadai:

In the meantime, heat enough oil in a kadai to deep fry.
As I always say, check the temperature by dropping a small pinch of vada batter. It should come up immediately without browning.
Drop the flattened vadas one by one carefully.
After around 5 minutes of frying in medium temperature, flip the sides.
Once when the bubbles settle and golden brown color achieved, remove from the oil and drain using tissue paper.
Serve hot with tea or enjoy with coconut chutney.

Notes

Tips / Notes: 1) Give enough soaking time for the gram dal to become soft. 2) Always coarse grind the soaked dal to get crispy vadas. 3) Drain out the water completely from soaking dal before grinding. Grind without adding water. Furthermore, excess water in the Vada batter makes the Vada to fry for more time and will end up in drinking more oil.

Nutrition

Calories: 100kcal

Keyword Crispy kara vadai, Crispy masala vada, How to make masala vadai, Kara vadai, Masala vada, Masala vadai, Paruppu vadai, vadai

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Preparation:

Wash and soak gram dal for two hours.

Fine chop onions and green chillies.

Recipe:

First of all, grind the red chillies, cinnamon, fennel seeds and jeera seeds coarsely. Masala powder is ready (coarsely ground).

Drain water completely from the soaked dal.
Keep 1/4 cup(2tbsp) of the soaked dal separately without grinding to add in the Vada batter at the later stage. This is to give extra crispness.
In a blender take the drained dal, grind into a coarse mix. DO NOT GRIND INTO FINE PASTE.

Now transfer this dal mix to a mixing bowl and add finely chopped onions, green chillies, and chopped ginger.

Add lots of chopped curry leaves and coriander leaves. Also some asafoetida for digestion.

Required salt for the vada.

Put the coarsely ground masala powder and remaining soaked dal, which we kept separately.

Combine everything together with your fingers.

Make small balls and flatten them slightly by pressing in your Palms.

How to fry crispy masala vadai:

In the meantime, heat enough oil in a kadai to deep fry.
As I always say, check the temperature by dropping a small pinch of vada batter. It should come up immediately without browning.
Drop the flattened vadas one by one carefully.

After around 5 minutes of frying in medium temperature, flip the sides.

The bubbles settle and vada reaches golden brown color, remove from the oil and drain using tissue paper.

Serve hot with tea or enjoy with coconut chutney.

Tips / Notes:

1) Give enough soaking time for the gram dal to become soft.

2) Always coarse grind the soaked dal to get crispy vadas.

3) Drain out the water completely from soaking dal before grinding. Grind without adding water. Furthermore, excess water in the Vada batter makes the Vada to fry for more time and will end up in drinking more oil.

Try these popular recipes from my blog:

sangskitchen

Masala vadai | Crispy Kara vadai | Paruppu vadai | Masala Vada recipe