Chana dal vada | Masala vada | Chattambade recipe

In this recipe post, I am sharing the recipe of the South Indian Masala Vada ( Chattambade) recipe. This crispy dal vada gets beautifully paired up with coconut chutney, sambar, and hot tea. You can also serve it with tomato sauce. My kids love to have it with tomato sauce.

What is chana dal vada?

Chana dal is the Indian term for “split chickpeas or Bengal gram”. In simple words, they are fritters made with split chickpeas, ginger, green chilies, onion & herbs. They are super crispy & taste yum.  

It is a savory fried snack from South India. In South India, there are some variations in the ingredients used to make the vada. In some regions, the recipes are very simple as this one, which I am sharing here.

While in some other regions, the other recipes use spices to make vada. Whatever the way of preparation is, this recipe tastes delicious either way.

How to make the vada

• Bengal gram (Chana dal) is soaked for about 4 hours.
• Then it is ground to a coarse paste.
• They are seasoned with onion, green chilies, ginger, coriander leaves & curry leaves.
• The mixture is then shaped in the form of vada.
• Deep-fried in medium hot oil.
• It tastes best when served hot with spicy sauce or chutney.

Key Ingredients

• Chana dal - Split chickpeas or Bengal gram
• Green chili - Adds spiciness to vada. If you do not prefer spicy, skip it.
• Ginger - Gives vada a nice flavor.
• Cumin - Adds flavor & helps in the digestion of food.
• Onion - Adds sweet flavor to vadas.
• Rice flour - Acts as binding agent & helps to make vadas crispy. You can also use cornflour as a substitute.
• Herbs - Coriander leaves & curry leaves. Curry leaves adds authentic South Indian flavor to the snack.
• Salt

How to make Chattambade with step-by-step photos

Preparations:

1. Soak the dal in plenty of water for 4 hours. Drain off the water.

Making the dal vada

1. Grind chana dal with cumin, ginger & green chilies to a coarse paste (pic 1 & 2).
2. Transfer the coarse ground dal mixture to a mixing bowl.
3. Add onions, coriander leaves, curry leaves, salt & rice flour (pic 3). Combine everything well (pic 4).

   

4. Shape the vadas & keep it aside (pic 5 & 6).
5. Deep fry it in medium hot oil (pic 7).
6. Do not flip immediately. Let it fry for a minute (pic 8).

   

7. Then flip it & fry (pic 9). Continue to flip & fry until it gets evenly fried on both sides (pic 10).
8. Serve hot with coconut chutney or tomato sauce (pic 11 & 12).

   

Tips to make crispy dal vada

1. Soak the dal (Chickpeas) for 4 hours. It is an important step. Legumes like chana dal (Bengal gram) can cause digestion problems when not cooked properly. Soaking it in water before cooking helps to avoid digestion problems. If it is not soaked well then it might cause gastric problems.
2. Drain the soaked dal well. Then grind it to a coarse batter. This helps to make vadai crispy. You should never grind it to a fine paste. Also, drain it properly so that there is no water in it.
3. Do not add water while grinding it. It helps to make the vada crispy.
4. Add rice flour in small quantities to the coarsely ground mixture. The addition of rice flour is optional. But if you are a beginner & making the vadas first time then I suggest you to add it. It will act as a binding agent & you can easily shape the vadas. Also, it helps to make the vada crispy.
5. You can season it as per your choice. Traditionally, it is seasoned with ginger, green chilies, cumin & salt. But the recipe differs from one region of South India to another. I prefer to share our family recipe. So I kept the seasoning simple.
6. The addition of curry leaves gives it a nice aroma. You can make it without curry leaves too. This is a South Indian recipe & the lovely aroma of curry leaves gives this recipe an authentic touch.
7. Fry the vadas in medium hot oil. The dal needs to be cooked when we fry it.

Serving suggestions

Serve it as a snack with coconut chutney or tomato sauce & hot tea.

If you like this recipe, you may be interested in these other snacks recipes:

• Gobi Manchurian
• Potato Nuggets
• Poha Cutlets
• Pizza Muffins
• Gobi 65
• Verki Puri

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