See Dal Vada, South Indian Chana Dal Vada, Masala Vada recipe. You will love the exciting crispness of these delectable dal vadas. Made with a coarse paste of soaked chana dal perked up with onions, ginger paste and the whole traditional team of flavour enhancers and deep fried, these South Indian dal vadas have a unique, rustic texture and warm, hearty flavour that will strike a chord with most people. 

I would like to share some important tips to make chana dal vada. 1. Blend the chana dal to a coarse mixture without using any water. If required, once in between you can scrape the sides of the mixer jar and grind the mixture again. Try not to add water, as you will face difficulty in shaping the dal vada at a later stage. But if it is getting too problematic to grind, then add 1-2 tbsp of water. 2. Mix everything well and our paruppu vadai mixture is ready.

Mixture should not be very moist or dry. If the mixture is too crumbly or too pasty then it would be difficult to make vadas from this mixture. If the mixture has turned crumbly, then grind it once again and if the mixture has turned pasty then add 1-2 tbsp of rice flour or besan to bind together all the ingredients. At this stage, you can taste the mixture and make the necessary changes in the flavour as per your liking. 3. Take care to deep-fry these South Indian dal vadas on a medium flame. Otherwise, they will quickly turn brown outside before they get cooked inside.

These deep fried dal vadas are sure to satiate you in a tasteful way, have them for Evening Tea Snacks accompained with Green Chutney or Tomato Coconut Chutney.

Is Dal Vada healthy?

No, dal vada is not healthy as it is a deep fried food. Made of chana dal, onions, ginger,  coriander and Indian spices. 

Let's see what's good in the dal vada.

Chana Dal : One cup of cooked Chana Dal provides 33% of your protein for the day. Chana dal is Heart and diabetic friendly, also rich in fiber. Read this article on complete benefits of chana dal.

Onions : Yes, its a great Anti Oxidant. The phytochemical present in onions along with their Vitamin C help boost your immunity. The chromium in onions help regulate your blood pressure. The sulphur in the onion which brings you tears is actually good for your eyes. Raw onions keep your heart healthy and see here for total benefits of onions. 

Coriander (kothmir, dhania) : The antioxidants vitamin A, vitamin C and the quercetin present in coriander works towards strengthening our immune system. Coriander is a fairly good source of iron and folate – the 2 nutrient which help in the production and maintenance of RBC in our blood. Good for reducing cholesterol and for diabetics. Read 9 benefits of coriander to understand details. 

So everything so far looks great for dal vada.

What's the problem?

Deep fried foods : This chana dal vada is deep fried. Any food that is deep fried is not suitable for healthy living. You're fat levels increase as deep frying increases oil absorption. Also when you use the same oil again for deep frying then smoking point decreases which leads to the development of blue smoke which is not good for health. It also increases inflammation in the body and shuts down the fat burning process.

Is dal vada safe for diabetics, heart and overweight individuals?

Since the vada is deep fried, it will lead to spike in blood sugar levels. So it is not healthy for diabetics.

What is the alternative to dal vada for diabetics, heart and overweight individuals?

Instead of deep fried dal vada, we have the super healthy snack which is similar to chana dal vada. It's the tava chana dal vada,  Dal Pandoli with all the goodness of dal vada minus the deep frying. So diabetics and others, we have the perfect option for you. These vadas are cooked on a tava. Yes, use a tava for cooking.

 Dal Pandoli

How to burn 91 calories that come from one Dal Vada?

Note: These values are approximate and calorie burning differs in each individual.