Parippu Vada or parippu vade is a vegan lentil fritter that is popular in the parts of South India and Sri Lanka. It is a deliciously crunchy vegan snack that is filled with protein.
Looking for a vegan snack? Here is one – Parippu Vada or Lentil Fritters . These are popular in parts of South India, and Sri Lanka. This region gets heavy monsoon rainfalls without a break for days at a time. Guess what everyone craves for on days like those? Fried food of course!! The hot favorite among those is the crunchy Paruppu Vada served with a hot mug of Chai !
It is hard to miss the food vendors on Indian railway stations. The trains may not run on time, you might not be assured of a seat, but the Chai Wallah (the tea vendor) is the one you can always count on. Often time they are more knowledgeable about the schedules than the anyone else !! Now if you re visiting South India I would highly recommend checking out the Nilgiri Mountain Rail .
It is not just Chai or Coffee that they sell – there will be assorted snacks as well. These may not come as neatly packaged as the brightly colored bags of lays or Kurkure, but often times these snacks turn out to be better for your health !! Depending on which part of the country you are the snacks too change . Parippu Vada is the popular one in Kerala, so much so that after a few hours in the train my 3 yr old was able to perfectly imitate the tea vendor’s “Chai Chai Vada Vada” chant 🙂
Coming back to the recipe – these are made with split chickpeas or pigeon peas – toor dal or chana dal as usually known in India. The split peas are soaked at least for an hour, long enough for them to soak up water and swell in size. It is drained and ground coarsely without adding any additional water. When I say coarsely, often times you could see the whole peas in the ground mix. The whole pieces fry very crisp and you get a Vada that is extremely crunchy. I do grind mine a bit more , not smooth for a paste , but enough so that all pieces are broken down.
To this ground mix chopped onions, chilies, ginger, curry leaves, asafoetida, and salt is added. Everything should be finely chopped. Mix well, form into patties and fry. Isn’t that simple ?
No one really pre-forms the patties like in the picture above. You portion the mix into lemon sized balls . When the oil is hot one gently flatten to a thick disc and lower into the oil . Please check the video for more details
Fry a small test vada to make sure that the oil is hot enough as well as to taste for the seasonings.
Fry till both sides are lightly brown. Drain and serve with hot tea .
Parippu Vada
Ingredients
- 1 C Split Chickpeas See notes
- 1/4 C Onion Chopped
- 1 – 2 Green/Red Chilies To taste
- 1 Tsp Ginger Minced
- A Few Curry Leaves
- A Pinch Asafoetida Optional
- 1/4 Tsp Salt To Taste
- Oil As Needed to Fry
Instructions
- Soak the dal (peas) in plenty of water for at least 1 hour. Drain and coarsely grind in a blender without adding any extra water.
- Finely chop the onions, chilies, ginger, and curry leaves. Mix the all the ingredients except the oil together to make the vada mix.
- Heat a thick bottomed pan and add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan at least 1/2 inch deep. Make lemon size balls of the vada mix. When the oil seems hot enough take the balls one by one flatten each into a disc and place in the hot oil. Let it cook for a couple minutes until the sides begin to brown. Flip and cook the other side .
- Drain and serve.
Notes
- Fry in batches and do not crowd the pan.
- The beans of choice are split chick peas or pigeon peas (Toor dal or Chana dal). You can use either or a mix of both.
- Asagoetida is available in stores selling Indian spices
- Do not use asafoetida if yo are allergic to gluten – though in its pure form it does not contain any gluten , wheat is usually added to prevent it from caking.
Important: Nutrition Values are estimates. Actuals vary based on ingredients and serving size.
Ejey
Wednesday 27th of November 2019
Yummy and tasty... Keep uploading recipes like this... It will be very helpful???
Syama
Wednesday 4th of December 2019
Thank you!