Dahi Vadas
(PERUGU GARELU)

1 cup skinless urad dal. (Remove if there are any stones and wash) 
4 cups water to soak
1-teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 green chili chopped
1 inch piece of chopped ginger
2 or 3 cups oil for frying wadas depending upon the size of the frying pan

4 cups yogurt home made or store bought
3 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon turmeric (haldi)

Tadka/Tempering

1-tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon small red mustard seeds
2 red chilies broken in to pieces
1-teaspoon chena dal (optional)
1-teaspoon urad dal
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
¼ teaspoon asafetida (hing)
¼ teaspoon turmeric (haldi)
curry leaves from 2 long stems
2 green chilies chopped
1 inch piece of fresh ginger chopped

Soak urad dal anywhere from two to eight hours. Pour soaked urad dal in to a colander with small holes and wash again. Put half the dal in to blender and blend with 1/4th cup of water until urad dal becomes soft dough. (You can blend all the dal at once with 1/2 cup water if you are using food processor) Transfer dough in to a medium bowl. Repeat with other half of the dal. Add salt, cumin seeds, green chilies, and ginger to the second batch after dal becomes soft. Blend again until the ginger and green chilies are chopped coarsely. Mix this dough with first batch. Whisk the dough with hand to make the dough fluffy. This process makes vadas soft and makes them absorb yogurt. Keep it aside.

Whisk yogurt, water, and salt in a large bowl. Sprinkle turmeric on top but do not mix.

Heat one tablespoon of oil in a small pan. Add mustard seeds to oil. Fry until seeds start to splatter. Quickly add chilies, chana dal and urad dal. When chana dal and urad dals are light brown add cumin seeds, asafetida, curry leaves, green chilies, and fresh ginger. Fry them for a minute. Add this tadka on top of yogurt and turmeric and mix.

Heat two (or three) cups oil in a small frying pan in medium high heat. Mix ¼ cup water and half a teaspoon of oil in a small bowl. Dip your hand in the water and take lime size dough in to your hand and make ball. Place this ball on a greased plastic bag, or parchment paper or small square of aluminum foil and pat it gently to make it into a two-inch round patty. Make a hole in the center of the patty with your finger. Slide this patty with hole (vada) slowly in to the hot oil making sure not to let the plastic touch the oil. Deep fry vadas on both sides until light brown. Remove vadas with a slotted spoon and put them in to the spiced yogurt. Drench them with a separate spoon. Repeat this process with rest of the dough. Do not over crowd them. If you think yogurt is not enough mix some more yogurt with water (1 to1 ratio) and a little salt. Add this to yogurt with vadas and mix slowly.
One-cup urad dal makes about 20 vadas.

Note: Some people put vadas in water before they put them in yogurt. Vadas absorb lots of water and they don’t have room to absorb yogurt.

If you soak extra urad dal you can make the following variations. 

1. Aawadalu. Grind 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, 1-tablespoon warm water, ¼ teaspoon turmeric, and teaspoon of oil together in to smooth paste. Mix it in to yogurt before adding vadas to the yogurt.

2. Plain vadas: you can also make some plain vadas without soaking in the yogurt and eat with chutney.

3. Medhu vadas: Mix 1-teaspoon of roughly crushed black pepper, small pieces of fresh coconut, and 1 teaspoon of chopped fresh curry leaves to vada dough. Fry vadas in hot oil.

4. Onion vadas: Mix finely chopped inions and fresh coriander leaves with vada dough and fry. 

5. Spinach vadas: Mix finely chopped fresh spinach or fresh thotakura (callaloo, amaranthas) with vada dough and fry.

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