Crunchy,healthy and delicious deep fried lentil fritters using beetroot.
Vadai is a popular snack in southern India. It is super addictive snack. Perfect party snack and also it taste best with tea time snack. So, when I was asking my best friend, Divya casually what to make with beetroot that I have at home, she suggested Beetroot vadai. And 🙂 the next day I made this. 🙂 Thanks to you my sweety! 😀
And if you make these for parties, sure it is a great hit. The tips to make these vada tasty are by adding the shallots, and fennel seeds. And also people think it’s hard to make these. If you make them once, you will know how easy it is to make them. But make sure to not add water when you grind them. I have mentioned some tips in the notes. Do look at it 🙂 to make it perfect.
This red color vegetable is linked up with lot of health benefits like better stamina, improved blood flow and lower blood pressure. The beetroot has a sweet taste and is earthy and tender to eat. Beets are highly nutrious and healthy. It is a great dish for kids. Kids don’t love beetroot a lot, so it  is a good way to sneak it into their diet. Even beetroot tikki, Beetroot Halwa, Beetroot coconut stir fry, Beetroot paratha are good ideas to make them have this veggie.
- • Channa Dal – 1 cup
- • Shallots/Small onions – 1 cup, chopped
- • Red Chillies – 3, broken
- • Beetroot – 2, small, grated
- • Curry leaves – 1 sprig
- • Green Chillies – 2
- • Fennel seeds/ Soambu – 1 tsp
- • Ginger – 1 inch piece
- • Garlic – 6 cloves
- • Rice flour – 2 tbsp
- • Salt – 1 ½ tbsp
- Soak channa dal with red chillies for an hour.
- First grind ginger, chillies, garlic and fennel coarsely in a blender jar.
- Drain channa dal completely and keep aside 5-6 chana dal whole. And blend the rest of the soaked dal with the ginger paste in the same blender jar. Do not add water at all when you blend the dal.
- Mix the blended batter with finely chopped onion, grated beetroot , coriander, salt, rice flour and curry leaves.
- Heat oil in pan/kadai.
- Meanwhile Keep a bowl with water and wet both hands. Make equal sized balls first for uniform sized vadas. Shape each ball to flat patties of medium thickness.
- The oil should be hot and when it is hot, Drop the vadas. Simmer the heat and deep fry them in hot oil until golden brown in color, flipping once in between. It is always good to cook in medium flame to ensure even cooking and golden red colour.
2. Make sure to soak vada for three to four hours. It is hard to grind them otherwise and also if it is not soaked well, it may turn hard and too crisp.
3. Rice flour helps to make it crispier. It is optional. You can soak 1 spoon for rice with the dal and grind instead.
4. Garlic is optional too.
5. Shallots can be replaced with normal red/white onions. But shallots give great texture and flavor.
