Parippu Vada/ Masala vada (Serves 6)

The best parippu vadas we tasted are those from Shornaur railway station (a small naturally blessed town in Central Kerala) . During my college days at Coimbatore, I used to travel through Shornaur (even though I didn’t have to) to my hometown just to eat those crispy vadas. Parippu vadas are also the sole food of communist intellectuals of Kerala, as hilariously highlighted in the Malayalam movie “Sandhesham”, I am sure every Keralite, who reads this can relate to this movie clip... Today I am sharing you the recipe for the same, but instead of using yellow split peas (dal) alone, I have used equal proportion of both yellow and green peas (dal). Parippu vada was and is still one of our favorite snacks and I make sure we get to munch on them at least once or twice every month …

Green split peas ½ cup
Yellow split peas ½ cup
Shallots 2-3 nos, roughly chopped
Ginger a small piece
Dry red chilly 2-3 nos
Curry leaves 2 sprigs
Asafetida a pinch
Salt as needed
Oil for frying

Preparation

Wash both the peas well and soak for at least 4 hours. Drain the peas completely and reserve 2-3 TBSP whole peas in a bowl. Coarsely grind (pulse for a few times) the rest of the peas along with shallots, ginger, curry leaves and dry red chilly. THE BATTER SHOULD NOT BE A SMOOTH PASTE. Now add the whole peas, salt and asafetida. Mix well and make lemon size balls and set aside.

Heat oil for frying in a pan. When hot enough, flatten each ball and deep fry until crisp and brown turning the vadas occasionally. Make sure not to over crowd the oil while frying.

Cheers!!!
Suji