Kanji Vada is a Rajasthani delicacy and hence, something that is often prepared at our home. It is a special dish made on special occasions and I personally feel it is one of those dishes which require elaborate cooking and great effort. Mom makes Kanji Vada like a pro but it is something for which one would need time and practice to get it perfectly right. It is savory in taste and keep in mind that it needs to be prepared at least a day in advance if it is for a special occasion.
Ingredients:
- Moong Dal (Split yellow gram) – 2 cups
- Fennel Seeds (Saunf) – 1 teaspoon
- Salt to taste
- Oil for deep frying
Servings: 20-25 Vadas
Method
Wash the moong dal well with water and soak it for 3-4 hours. Drain and grind it into a coarse paste without adding any water.
Take a large bowl and add the moong dal paste to it. Add fennel seeds, salt and 2-3 tablespoons of oil. Mix well.
Now take large quantity of oil in a deep frying pan/kadhai and heat it. Heat the skimmer to be used for frying in the oil else the dal paste would stick to it.
This is the tricky and most critical step of the recipe to get the vadas right. Take around 1 tablespoon of the dal paste and put it on a wet cloth. Shape it into a circular shape of around 1 inch size and use a skimmer to pick it for frying. Put the skimmer in the oil which has the circular shaped paste on it and let it fry. Turn so that vada is cooked uniformly till brown. Sometimes, while making the initial vadas, the dal paste may still stick to the skimmer. In that case, use a knife or a spoon to push it into the pan for frying. Keep aside the vada when done. Wipe the wet cloth with little water before making next vada.
Repeat the above step and make all the vadas one by one.
Once the vadas are ready, take 2 litres of water in a container and add 2 teaspoons of salt (or as required according to your taste) in it. Soak the vadas in this water for around 24 hours after covering the container with a lid.
After soaking for 24 hours, the water becomes kanji and turns savory.
Kanji Vada is ready. Refrigerate and serve as needed. You can serve it with green chutney as an accompaniment if you wish to.
Tip: If the vadas are not coming out nice and fluffy, add little more oil to the paste used for frying.