Karuppu ulundhu vadai | Black gram fritters

Enjoy a pillowy soft medhu vadai with a crispy exterior made with whole black gram. Make this for all the festivals upcoming and some extra for your snacks.

When you think of South Indian food, that idli vada combo stands out. That crispy exterior with the pillowy soft bites reign far above any doughnut lures that you can provide me. Recently I started making medhuvadai with whole black gram, rather than the skinned ulundhu. This purely was because I had a whole bag to finish and there is only so much I can feed the family as sundal or dal. As a surprise, it was a superhit. The karuppu ulundhu vadai turned out to be exactly as the medhu vadai. Infact, other than the colour there was no difference between the two.
So here is the recipe for your trials.

What is a vadai?

Vadai is a lentil based fritter. This is prepared by soaking specific lentils till they are tender and then grinding them. This batter is later deep fried to make fritters. Depending on whether it is a coarsely ground batter or a fine ground one, we differentiate by calling the parippu vadai and medhu vadai. The lentils used in both cases are different. Medhu stands for soft.

Why does medhu vadai have a hole in the centre?

The medhu vadai is made of a smooth batter. As soon as hits the oil, the batter tends to condense at the centre giving the center a puffiness. When the rest of the vada ( or vadai) cooks the center will be slow to cook. So putting a hole in the center will increase the surface area and then cook the vada uniformly.

Please note: not all types of vada have a hole in the center.

Ingredients to make karuppu ulundhu vadai.

Black gram: Vigna Mungo or black gram is a very common ingredient in Indian cuisine. Commonly called as urad ( Hindi) ulundhu (Tamil /Malayalam) uddina bele (Kannada), this is a native of Indian subcontinent. This is more relate mung bean than the true black lentil. The whole bean has a black skin coat where as the cotyledons are white. Often the white polished bean is the one popular in cuisine like making the idly, dosa or tempering. The whole black ones are used to make dal. The skin does contain a log of fiber so I tend to use this as much as possible.

Flavourants: the fritter is savory so salt is an essential ingredient. To the vadai batter chopped ginger, green chilli and curry leaves are added. If you like you can add onions too. Sometimes crushed black pepper is added to the batter. Asafoetida ( hing) added along with salt, this aids in reduced bloating and flatuence from the lentils.

Oil for frying: this is actually a personal choice. Any oil that tolerates higher heat is good for frying these vadas. I have used sunflower oil.

Let’s make black gram fritters

Soak the black gram: the black gram is a tough seed. It needs to be picked (to remove any dark stones that maybe present, then washed thoroughly. With excess of water added the bean is best to be soaked for 4 to 6 hours.

Grind to a batter: once the beans are soaked the outer coat turns deep green, the seeds arr plump and can be separated into cotyledons by crushing between the fingers. At this stage, drain out the water. Add the soaked bean to the blender (Indian style blender is better as you can grind with no water added). Add salt and grind the batter in a smooth paste. Coarse paste is not suitable so run it again if needed till you get it very soft. Once the batter is ready chop green chilies, ginger, curry leaves, onions if using into a fine mince and add to the batter. Mix well and set aside. Or grind it long with the black gram like we have done.

Deep fry: set the oil for heating in a deep kadai.  The oil should oy be a maximum of half the height of the pan as it will rise and bubble when the batter is added for frying. To check if the oil is ready, drop a tiny ball of the batter in the oil. If it sizzles and rises to the surface immediately the oil is ready.

Shaping the vadai: this is the toughest part of medu vada making. To free form the doughnut shape with the perfect hole in the center is a trial and error. Read below for more details on how to get some of this achieved. If the shape goes wrong the taste will still be there, so try again.

How to shape karuppulundhu vadai?

Making that perfectly shaped ulundhu vadai is an art. As you can see in our images, we are working on this. If you are a beginner, here are a few ideas that will get your vada making skills a bit better.

Get a vada shaper: there are vada making apparatus available in the market. In this you have a funnel like area where you load the batter and then press to punch out a doughnut shaped vadai. Sounds simple, may need a bit of practice.

Use a sieve: the tea straining serve of cup diameter is good for making vadas. Dip them in water and shape the vada batter on the convex part of the sieve. Invert and dip in the hot oil so the batter can release itself.

Using a bowl and cloth: a small bowl,katori, preferable steel is used for this process. Wrap a clean thin kitchen cloth around the bowl creating a flat tight surface at the face of the bowl. Secure the rest of the kitchen cloth at the back with some rubber bands so as to create a handle.  Dip the flat surface in water and add a small bit of the batter on it. Shape the batter into the vada. Take this bowl close to the oil and slip the vada into the hot oil. The batter will easily slide if the cloth is wet and the batter is made well.

Hand shaping the batter: now this is what we are working on. I have seen how expertly my mum and mother in law shape these by hand. So here are the tips and tricks from them that worked for them. Keep a bowl of water next to your batter. Wet your hand, or a piece of banana leaf. Scoop a big of the batter, about a lime sized ball, place it on the palm or the leaf and make a hole in the centre a bit bigger than you expect it to be at the end. Slip the batter on to your other hand when close to the oil and slide it it. Yes, here it is all about practice. Some may close holes or lose shape that’s ok in the beginning,  as you keep going they will just be perfect.

Storing for later

My people love crispy vadais any time of the day,but if you have leftover save them up in the fridge. To reheat, bake at low temperature or roast on a pan on a low heat.

Leftover vadai makeovers

Leftover vadas in most South Indian houses get transformed as sambhar vadai or rasa vadai by dunking into sambhar or rasam respectively. You could also make tasty thick curry by chopping up the leftovers and sauree them with buna masala.

Other whole black gram recipes

Black gram is usually seen used as the peeled dal than the whole. However, the peel is edible and nutritious. So here are a few recipes that we love to make with it.
Kali dal:whole black gram based dal with a basic onion tomato base.

Karuppu ulundhu sundal: a south Indian classic stir fry with coconut tempering

Ulundhu saadam: a traditional recipe made ith soft cooked rice and the black gram

Karthigai deepam adai: a special lentil crepe made during Karthigai with cumin and flack pepper to flavour it.

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