South Indian Vada Curry Recipe (Vadakari) is a speciality from Tamil Nadu which is made from masala vadai (Bengal gram fritters). Vada Curry is served as a side dish along with idli, dosa or even with Parottas.
It is believed that vada curry was created by a small-scale hotel chef in Tamil Nadu. The chef had a lot of leftover masala vada from the previous night. Next morning, while looking for ideas to use the leftover vada, the chef came up with this brilliant recipe where he crumbles the vada into smaller bite size pieces and dunked them in an onion-tomato masala curry.
He served Vadakari with idli and dosa for breakfast to the hotel customers. People who tasted it liked it so much that they started coming back every morning asking for the same curry. The traditional Vadakari uses masala vada prepared the previous night. And trust me the curry prepared in traditional way tastes the best. Delicious, full of wonderful flavours and a perfect side dish for the breakfast along with idli’s/dosas.
About Jyothi: From a shy, nervous, novice blogger to a confident and established food blogger, Jyothi surely has come a long way. Jyothi Rajesh is an engineer by profession. She loves to cook, style and photograph food. She spends half of the week teaching Robotics to children and the remaining time in her kitchen. She is surely a multi-tasker, a doting mother of two lovely tiny toddlers, an expert teacher, and a passionate food blogger, she has many feathers in her cap. Her blog Curry Trail is the illustration of her culinary journey.
Learn how to make South Indian Vada Curry in few simple steps:
Ingredients
Ingredients for masala vada
- ▢ 1 Cup channa dal bengal gram
- ▢ 1 small-size onion finely chopped
- ▢ 3 tablespoon coriander leaves finely chopped
- ▢ 1 sprig of curry leaves chopped
- ▢ 1 green chili finely chopped
- ▢ Salt to taste
- ▢ Oil for deep frying
To be grind into paste
- ▢ 4 dried red chilies
- ▢ 4 cloves of garlic
- ▢ 1 inch piece of ginger
- ▢ 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Ingredients for the curry
- ▢ 2 onions finely chopped
- ▢ 1 Cup tomato puree
- ▢ 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- ▢ 2 green chilies slit
- ▢ 1 bay leaf
- ▢ 4 cloves
- ▢ 1 inch cinnamon stick
- ▢ ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- ▢ 1 tablespoon red chili powder as per preference
- ▢ ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ▢ 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ▢ Salt to taste
- ▢ 1 ½ tablespoon oil
- ▢ Water as required
Instructions
- To prepare the vada, wash and soak channa dal in water for 3 hours.
- Fine chop the onions, green chilies and coriander leaves. Keep aside.
- Grind all ingredients mentioned under the list ‘to grind’ along with 1 teaspoon of water into a coarse paste. Set aside.
- Drain water from channa dal and grind it into a coarse paste. Avoid using any water to grind the dal.
- To the ground channa dal, add onions, coriander leaves, ground masala paste, salt and mix well.
- Heat oil in a deep heavy-bottom pan.
- Shape the vada round and slide gently into the pan of hot oil.
- Deep fry them until golden brown.
- Drain on a plate lined with kitchen towel.
- Instead of deep-frying you can steam the shaped vadas in idli steamer for about 12 minutes.
- To make the curry, heat 1 ½ tablespoon oil in a pan.
- Add bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves and fennel seeds to hot oil. Fry till aroma of spices is released.
- Add onion, green chilies and cook till onions turn translucent.
- Add ginger garlic paste. Cook until raw smell of the paste is gone.
- Add tomato puree (first blanch tomatoes in boiling water for about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove tomatoes from water, peel the skin and blend into puree).
- Cook until oil separates from the sides of the pan.
- Add all the spice powders along with salt, stir to combine.
- Add about 1 cup of water and bring the curry to boil once.
- Crumble the deep fried vadas into smaller pieces before adding it to the curry. You can add the whole vada as well in the curry.
- Simmer the curry over medium heat and let the vadas absorb the flavor of the curry. This takes about 12 to 15 minutes.
- Once the gravy is thick, turn off the heat.
- Garnish Vadakari with fresh coriander leaves.
- Serve Vad Curry warm as side dish for idli or dosa.
We follow a strict NO SPAM Policy
South Indian Vada Curry Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients for masala vada
- 1 Cup channa dal bengal gram
- 1 small-size onion finely chopped
- 3 tablespoon coriander leaves finely chopped
- 1 sprig of curry leaves chopped
- 1 green chili finely chopped
- Salt to taste
- Oil for deep frying
To be grind into paste
- 4 dried red chilies
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 inch piece of ginger
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
Ingredients for the curry
- 2 onions finely chopped
- 1 Cup tomato puree
- 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
- 2 green chilies slit
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 cloves
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 tablespoon red chili powder as per preference
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- Salt to taste
- 1 ½ tablespoon oil
- Water as required
Instructions
- To prepare the vada, wash and soak channa dal in water for 3 hours.
- Fine chop the onions, green chilies and coriander leaves. Keep aside.
- Grind all ingredients mentioned under the list ‘to grind’ along with 1 teaspoon of water into a coarse paste. Set aside.
- Drain water from channa dal and grind it into a coarse paste. Avoid using any water to grind the dal.
- To the ground channa dal, add onions, coriander leaves, ground masala paste, salt and mix well.
- Heat oil in a deep heavy-bottom pan.
- Shape the vada round and slide gently into the pan of hot oil.
- Deep fry them until golden brown.
- Drain on a plate lined with kitchen towel.
- Instead of deep-frying you can steam the shaped vadas in idli steamer for about 12 minutes.
- To make the curry, heat 1 ½ tablespoon oil in a pan.
- Add bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cloves and fennel seeds to hot oil. Fry till aroma of spices is released.
- Add onion, green chilies and cook till onions turn translucent.
- Add ginger garlic paste. Cook until raw smell of the paste is gone.
- Add tomato puree (first blanch tomatoes in boiling water for about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove tomatoes from water, peel the skin and blend into puree).
- Cook until oil separates from the sides of the pan.
- Add all the spice powders along with salt, stir to combine.
- Add about 1 cup of water and bring the curry to boil once.
- Crumble the deep fried vadas into smaller pieces before adding it to the curry. You can add the whole vada as well in the curry.
- Simmer the curry over medium heat and let the vadas absorb the flavor of the curry. This takes about 12 to 15 minutes.
- Once the gravy is thick, turn off the heat.
- Garnish Vadakari with fresh coriander leaves.
- Serve Vad Curry warm as side dish for idli or dosa.
Bombay Potatoes Recipe (Masala Aloo) is the best ever Indian-style roasted potato recipe. And this delicious recipe has been generously shared by Richa with us. Who is Richa ? A self-taught cook, baker and a food photographer. Richa is the force behind a buzzing food blog My Food Story . Her heart-warming smile and a contemporary approach towards the conventional Indian food recipes are the two things for which you should not miss out being a regular visitor to her blog. If you spot a drool-worthy food image compelling you to dive into the computer screen and grab the food then Richa might be the person responsible for that. When we approached her to share a guest post with the readers of the blog, she readily accepted the invite and hence – Bombay Potatoes Recipe happened.
Richa says ,’Hey guys! I’m so happy to be guest posting here on behalf of Hina, and it’s an absolute privilege to be here. I love the space that Hina has created with Fun Food and Frolic and it’s always a pleasure to go through her stories, follow her journey and gawk at the delicious pictures on the blog! Today I’m sharing the recipe for Masala Aloo or Bombay Potatoes as they are popularly called outside India because the recipe has a special place in my life. My husband is not big on eating vegetables and would be happiest if there are none on the dinner table. Except for potatoes. If given a vegetarian option, he’d happily pick potatoes over other Indian food recipes. Which is why, I end up making them regularly at home, and getting creative with them.
This Masala Aloo is something that is a regular at our dinner table. I love it because it’s so quick to prepare, looks amazing, is spicy and has oodles of flavour. If you already have boiled potatoes in the refrigerator then you can have this on the table in under 10 minutes. All you need is the ground spices which are fried lightly in oil before potatoes are added to them. We really enjoy these Bombay Potatoes with simple dal and chapatis on the side. We also love smashing them into rice because they already have so much flavour that there is no need for another dish.’
Learn how to make Bombay Potatoes (Masala Aloo) in few simple steps:
Ingredients
- ▢ 500 grams Baby Potatoes boiled and peeled
- ▢ 2 tablespoon cooking oil
- ▢ 1 teaspoon cumin seeds jeera
- ▢ 1 teaspoon red chili powder
- ▢ 1 tablespoon coriander powder
- ▢ ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- ▢ 1 teaspoon raw mango powder amchur
- ▢ ½ teaspoon Garam Masala see recipe here
- ▢ Salt to taste
- ▢ Chopped Coriander Leaves for topping
Instructions
- Heat oil in a pan or kadhai, and add cumin seeds.
- Once they start spluttering, reduce the heat and add all the spice powders.
- Sauté for a few seconds and add 2 tablespoons water along with potatoes and salt.
- Mix well so that the spices coat the potatoes. Cover and cook on low flame for 5 minutes.
- By this time the water should have evaporated. Sauté the potatoes till they are well
- coated with the spices.
- Turn off the heat and top Bombay Potatoes with the chopped coriander.
- Serve Bombay Potatoes warm.
Recipe Notes:
We follow a strict NO SPAM Policy
