Mixed Dal Ambode | Mixed Dal Masala Vada

Festival spread is always special as it contains the wide variety of items ranging from sweets, kheer, vadas, variety rice, kosambari along with the regular menu.Though I am not a big fan of masala vada,hubby dear likes all kind of vadas and it is a rare treat to make all these yummy goodies at home.I recently made these ambode for Navaratri festival.This mixed dal vada is very good as the usage of urad dal makes the vada softer inside and the other dals gives a crispier crunch outside.One can dip them in spiced up curds and make mosaru ambode(curd masala vada) which is even very tasty.

Ambode | Mixed Dal Masala Vada Recipe:
(yields 20 vadas)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Chana dal
1/2 cup Toor dal
1/2 cup Moong dal
1/2 cup Urad dal
1/4 cup chopped Cashew nuts
1 big Onion,finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped Coriander leaves
1 tsp chopped Curry leaves
2 tbsp chopped Mint leaves
5-6 Green chillies
1" Ginger
1/4 tsp Cooking soda
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry
Method:

• Soak all the lentils for 3-4 hrs.Rinse them and drain the excess water.
• Grind green chillies with ginger and salt to a coarse paste.Transfer to a big bowl.
• Grind the dals to a coarse paste in whipper mode.Do not grind to a smooth paste,it should be really coarse and even the dal bites here and there would add nice crunch to the vadas.
• Add cashew nuts, chopped onion,coriander,curry leaves,mint leaves and ground chili paste to the ground dal mixture and mix well.Take care that the mixture should neither be very wet nor dry.
• Meanwhile heat oil in a thick kadai for deep frying the vadas.
• Add cooking soda to the vada mixture and beat well with the hand.
• Wet your hands and take a small lemon size mixture and flatten it with hands and deep fry until golden brown in color over medium flame.

Serve them hot with some chutney/tomato sauce or as it is.

Notes:

• Addition of cooking soda makes the vadas crisp on the outer side and soft inside.So it is essential to get good vadas.
• If your batter is very wet add a tbsp of rice flour to it and mix well and make vadas.
• You can flatten the vadas still thinner and bigger in size than the ones I made.But I like plump small vadas as they look cute.
• If you are making these vadas on a festival day avoid adding onions if you want.But masala vada always tastes better if you add onions to it.
  

Variations:

• You can add 1/2 cup finely chopped dill leaves or any other greens like amaranth,spinach to the vada batter and make greens vada.
• You can even add grated carrot or beetroot or finely chopped cabbage to the vada batter for a variation.