Homemade Authentic Medu Vada Sambhar Recipe With 2 types of Red and Green Coconut Chutneys | Foodhist Journey

 MEDUVADA SAMBHAR RECIPE  

Medu Vada is one of the most popular dishes in India and even in many International countries. "Medu" is a Kannada word for "soft"; "medu vada" thus literally means "soft fritter". In Mumbai, Maharashtra we also simply say Vada Sambhar where it is made popular by many Udipi restaurants. 


This recipe of Medu vada is shared by one of my favorite aunts, Najma aunty who is an expert in South Indian cuisine as she is from Perambur, Chennai and she cooks some really awesome food by old traditional methods. This aunty is so important in my life because she is the main reason I love south Indian food today, as I was introduced to this cuisine by her and I have grown up eating this food. There is this weird connection between me and south Indian food, every time I get this aroma of idli, sambhar, dosa, etc... I get the happiest content feeling I can ever imagine. So if you love South Indian food then i am sure you will love this recipe too. So let's get started....

How to make Medu vada at home?

Here is a Step by Step method of preparing delicious Medu Vada's

Total Cooking Time: 10 mins

Cooking Time including pre-preparation (8 to 10 hrs) 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups Urad Dal (Black gram lentils)
• 2 tbsp Rice flour
• 2 tbsp Rawa (Semolina) (is optional add only when you need to improve batter consistency and want to make medu vada mixture thicker.) or you can even add 2 tbsp of Urad flour
• 1 tbsp Jeera (Cumin seeds) 
• 1 tbsp Grated Ginger (as per taste preference)
• Few Curry leaves
• 1 qty medium size chopped Onions
• Chopped Green Chilies
• 1/2 small cup chopped fresh dry Coconut (as per taste preference)
• 2 tbsp hot Oil
• Small pinch of Hing
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying

Method:

STEP 1 

Method and Steps to prepare Medu Vada:

Wash and soak the urad dal in water overnight for 8 to 10 hrs then strain the dal, wash it again and let all the water drain out. 
Then add small portions of soaked urad dal in the mixer and grind it in batches. Don't add all the urad dal together or you will spoil your mixer. Make sure to grind it into a smooth fine paste texture. Don't add water in the mixer while making this paste, if required only add 1 or 2 tbsp of water. 
Combine all the thick urad dal mixture in a container.

STEP 2

Now take this fine urad dal mixture and add rice flour, rawa, grated ginger, finely chopped chilies, hing,fresh chopped dry coconut, cumin seeds, salt, chopped onion, roughly chopped curry leaves and mix it all together then heat around 2 tbsp of oil and add this hot oil in this mixture. Give it a good stir and check the texture. If by mistake you added more water and then you can add rawa and let the mixture rest for 10 - 15 mins more to get the desired thick mix.

STEP 3

Heat oil in a wide pan for deep frying. Then wet your palms and take one big spoon of mixture in your hands and shape it into a round ball. Then use your thumb and press it in the center of the mixture to make it look like a donut then carefully put this mixture in oil for frying. Make sure it's medium flame and be careful while you put the mixture in hot oil. Once you add the vada's then let the mixture float in oil and fry it till the medu vada turns nice, brown and crispy on all sides. You can also use a ready-made medu vada maker but I feel doing with your hands is the safest option. Just make sure your mixture is thick then it's easier to manage.

Fry till golden brown and then strain excess oil and remove it on paper napkins to soak excess oil.

Sambhar Recipe:

Medu Vada is incomplete without hot scrumptious sambhar. Here is a Step by Step recipe for delicious sambhar. 

STEP 1

Sambhar Masala powder

This is the most important part of making sambhar, the secret ingredient for perfect sambhar is the sambhar masala powder. You can even get ready powder packs of sambhar powder, but i prefer the fresh dry roasted and grinded powder.

How to Make Sambhar Masala Powder?

Total Cooking Time: 10 mins

INGREDIENTS

1 cup dry Red Chilly
11/2 grams Dhaniya (whole Coriander seeds)
2 tbsp mustard seeds
3 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp whole black pepper
2 tbsp urad dal (Bengal gram)
2 tbsp chana dal (split chickpeas)
2 tbsp tur dal (pigeon peas)
2 tbsp rice
1 tbsp hing (Asafoetida)
1/2 cup curry leaves
1 1/2 tbsp Fenugreek seeds
1/2 tbsp turmeric powder

Method

Leaving Turmeric powder , dry roast all the other ingredients one by one in a pan. Remove it in a bowl and let it cool, then add turmeric powder. Give this a mix and add all the ingredients in a mixer grinder and grind it into a fine powder. Now our Sambhar Masla is ready you can store this in a container for about a month. We need only 2 full spoons of this powder for sambhar.

Sambhar

STEP 2

How to cook Sambhar at Home?

Total Cooking Time: 30 mins

INGREDIENTS

Vegetables: 

1 or 2 qty diced Carrots

1/2 qty diced Pumpkin

3 to 4 qty diced Brinjals 

3 qty Drumsticks (clean and cut into long pieces)

2 qty diced Potato

Few beans (clean and cut into long pieces)

1 cup Tur Dal (split pigeon peas)

1/2 teaspoon Mustard Seeds

4 to 5 onion shallots diced

7 to 8 curry leaves

2 to 3 Whole dry Red chilly

3 to 4 qty Diced tomatoes

3 tbsp Sambhar Masala Powder

1 tbsp Ready made Tamarind paste or best would be to make fresh tamarind pulp and use it.

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

Pinch of black salt

Salt to taste

Oil for cooking

Method

STEP 3

First take all the vegetables put it in the cooker add water to submerge the veggies and bring it to a boil with 1 whistle. Remove the veggies and keep it in a bowl. 

Then take 1 cup Tur dal/ arhar dal add in the cooker with 2 cups water, little salt, turmeric and bring it to a boil with 3 whistle to get a thick consistency.

STEP 4

Take a pan and add 2 to 3 tbsp of oil , then add whole dry red chilly, curry leaves, mustard seeds and let it pop on medium flame. Then add onion shallots and give it a stir. Cook till onions become translucent after that add tomatoes and give it a stir. After that add a pinch of black salt, turmeric powder, salt, and 3 spoons of Sambhar masala powder. Don't let the dry masala burn let it cook in tomatoes moisture, cover it with a lid for few mins at this stage. At this stage add the boiled tur dal and boiled mixed vegetables. Give this a nice stir and add water at this stage to increase the sambhar quantity , you can add upto 1 cup of water and bring it to a nice boil. Now cover the dal and let it cook on low flame for 10 mins. 

Serve hot with hot fried Medu Vada's 😋

Now Medu Vada's are still incomplete without that perfect coconut chutney. So here i have 2 variety of coconut chutney's to serve with this dish. Green Chutney and Tomato chutney. 

Green Coconut Chutney

How to make Green Coconut Chutney?

Ingredients

1 cup chopped or grated fresh coconut 

2 tbsp Chana Dal roasted

1/2 tsp Urad Dal 

1 or 2 Green Chilly 

2 to 3 Garlic 

Salt to taste

Method
Take all the ingredients in a mixer grinder and grind it into a fine paste. Once this paste is ready then prepare the ingredients for tempering. 

For Tempering 

Oil 
1/2 tsp Mustard 
Pinch of Hing
Few Curry leaves
1/2 tsp Urad dal

Few dry whole Red chilly broken

Heat oil in a tadka pan and add the above ingredients in high to medium flame. Add this tadka over the green coconut chutney for tempering. 
The Green coconut chutney is ready to be served with hot Medu Vada Sambhar.

Red Tomato Coconut Chutney

How to make Red Tomato Coconut Chutney? 

Ingredients

1/2 cup fresh coconut grated or chopped. 

2 qty tomatoes 

3 qty dry red chilies

1 tbsp chana dal

1/2 tbsp urad dal

2 to 3 qty garlic 

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 qty onion

salt to taste

Method

Take the above ingredients and add it in the mixer grinder , make it into a fine paste and then prepare the tempering. 

For Tempering 

oil

1/2 tsp urad dal

few curry leaves

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

pinch of hing 

half whole dry red chilly broken 

Heat oil in a tadka pan and add the above ingredients in high to medium flame. Add this tadka over the red tomato coconut chutney for tempering. 

The Red tomato coconut chutney is ready to be served with hot Medu Vada Sambhar and green chutney. 

If you like peanuts you can even add peanuts and grind it along with the chutney's for the nutty texture and flavor. You can add fresh lemon juice in both chutney's as per your taste, but I prefer to add lemon juice separately as the chutney cannot be stored for long and it spoils soon. 

Check out this video of the amazing Medu Vada Sambhar and 2 variety of chutney's. 

Hope you found this recipe helpful, you can even check out my other recipes or read restaurant reviews on my blog. 

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Thank you and Happy Cooking 💖
Lots of Love 
Ambreen Shaikh 
Aka Foodhist Journey.

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