Paruppu Vadai w/ Coconut Chutney

We had our friends visiting us over the weekend after a long time.Since they are not from southern part of India , I decided to make the dinner completely South Indian .We started off with Vadai - Chutney for appetizer and followed with Idly , Pongal,Hotel Sambhar, Chutney  and some spice kothu parotta.Here is the recipe for Paruppu Vadai.


I used only channa dal to make these paruppu vadais for a long long time until one trip to the grocery store with my late father in law.He picked up a packet of "Pattani Paruppu aka Yellow Split Dal" and said 'This is what we should use for authentic Paruppu Vadai' . Since then I have used only this dal .

Paruppu Vadai

What do you need

Yellow split dal aka Pattani paruppu - 1 cup
Red chillies - 4
Asafoedita - a pinch
Curry leaves - as needed
Onion - 1/2 (chopped)
Green chillies - 2 (chopped)
Jeera - 1tsp
Salt - as needed
Oil - for deep frying

How you make it


Soak yellow split dal along with red chillies and jeera for about 2 hrs.After 2 hours , take out 2 tbsp of dal and keep them aside. Grind the rest of the soaked dal into a coarse paste in a mixie(  using very very less water).Add salt ,asafoetida and 2 tbsp of soaked dal (that we kept aside) into this mix . Now add chopped onions, green chillies , curry leaves and make them into small patties. Heat oil for deepfrying in medium flame. Once the oil is hot enough start deep frying these vadai-s until they are golden brown. Serve them hot with coconut chutney.

Note  :Make sure you don't use too much water while grinding dal. Even slightly watery batter won't make good vadais. If at all you think the mix is slightly watery , you can use couple of tbsp of rice flour to adjust the thickness.

Coconut Chutney

What do you need

To grind

Coconut  -  1 cup (shredded)

Green Chillies - 2

Tamarind - a small gooseberry size piece 

Garlic - 1 small pod

Salt - as need

For tempering

Oil - 2tsp

Mustard seeds  - 1/4 tsp

Urad dal - 1/4tsp

Curry leaves - a few

How you make it

Grind the ingredients listed under " To grind" into a paste using little water . Check salt at this point and add if needed.The consistency of the chutney should not be watery,Heat a pan and do the tadka aka tempering with ther ingredients listed under "For Tempering". Serve this side for Idly , Vada, Dosa etc.