Vada

Ingredients:
1 cup whole urad dal/skinned whole black gram dal/minappappu
10-12 black pepper corns, lightly crushed
1/2 tsp cumin seeds, lightly crushed
salt to taste
Method:
oil for deep frying
- Soak whole black gram dal in water for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
- Strain the water, and grind the dal to a paste sprinkling very little water. Use small portions of dal to grind batch wise as its easier to grind into a soft paste. Add salt, crushed cumin seeds and pepper corns and beat till fluffy.
- Heat oil for deep frying in a heavy bottomed vessel and heat till piping hot. Reduce flame to medium.
- Slowly drop the vada into the hot oil and fry it on both sides on medium flame to a golden brown color. Deep fry 4-5 vadas per batch depending on the size of the vessel.