Moong Dal Dahi Vada and Happy Diwali

Wish you all Shubh Deepawali. Happy Diwali. 

May festival of light bring loads of happiness and peace to you and to yours..........

Each Diwali morning when I get up, it always makes me nostalgic, reminding me of our childhood, and festivals without its share of memories are incomplete. We all have shares of those unlimited dose of banters which we keep recalling from time to time, reminding us of good old times. 

I would often see my mother busy preparing different varieties of sweets and savoury for festivals and Deepawali was one such festival. The day before’’ Choti Deepawali’’, Ma would soak up all diyas in water for couple of hours. 

And then would dry up later in air outside over old news paper, a habit which now has been passed on to me unconsciously .This and many other similar activities would add up to the momentum towards the Deepawali evening. Every Deepawali evening, when we light up diyas, we also pray that it eradicates all the darkness in ones heart as well. 

Diyas glowing in dark gives me hope and sense of calmness.

We were fond of eating dahi vadas and Ma would make big batches of these during that time.

 Although she would make it with Urid dal mostly.

This mong dal vadas , I started making recently , they are light as compared to urid dal vadas.

I have used washed yellow lentil or dhuli mong dal for these vadas.And who doesn’t like chat. I have used store-bought mint chutney and tamarind chutney though , now to recipe…

Moong Dal Dahi Vada

Recipe requirements

For mong dal vadas

• Moong dal – 2 cups  
• 1 inch fresh ginger roots
•  2-3 green chillies
• Salt as per taste

For assembling and seasoning

• 3-4  large cups of yogurt

And following as per taste

• Cumin powder
• Red pepper powder
• Chat masala
• Salt as per taste
• Tamarind chutney
• Tomato ketchup
• Mint chutney
• Cooking oil for frying vadas
• Coriander leaves
• Papadi namkins (3-4)

Method

• Soak mong dal in water for about 6-7 hrs or better soak them overnight. Next day make paste of the yellow lentils/moong dal  with ginger, green chillies and salt as per your taste with very little water , just to rotate the blades of grinder. 
• Take out the dal paste in a clean bowl and mix the batter very well for about 3-4 mints. 
• You can add chopped ginger and green chillies pieces, if you don’t like to grind them with dal paste.
• Now put add cooking oil in a fry pan. Drop the batter with the help of spoon into the hot oil. Deep fry the lentil balls very well.
• Take out these fried lentil balls and dip them in warm water for about 5-6 mints.
• Take about 2 cups of yogurt and add bit of water and make it thin in consistency (more like buttermilk ),  depending about the yogurt required for soaking all the lentil vadas.I made roughly 15-16 moong dal vadas out of  2 teacups.
• Take out the lentil vadas and now put them in yogurt. The yogurt should be little thin in consistency. Keep the lentil vadas in yogurt for about 3-4 hrs at least.
• Meanwhile dry roast cumin seeds and make powder in grinder.Or use ready-made cumin powder.
• At the time of serving, rest of the yogurt should be evenly mixed with a spoon.Add bit of water , but not much.
• Put vadas in a serving bowl/platter. Add in stirred yogurt. 
• Now add in tamarind chutney, mint chutney and tomato ketchup (Each to owns taste)
• Sprinkle cumin powder, red pepper powder, chat masala and salt.
• Add in chopped coriander leaves.  ( I also made papadi)
• Add crushed papadi as well, it adds up to the crunchiness of these sweet-sour-spicy starters.
• These are absolutely lip-smacking, and I don’t need to add anything more.

Wish you all a very Happy Diwali