Aval Vadai / Flattened Rice Vada

Hi All, After attending the IFBM at Bangalore and a week of rejuvenation I’m back. Krishna Jayanthi is fast approaching and everyone would expect recipes related to it and to fulfill your expectations, here is my recipe. As on date, no recipes are in my hand related to any upcoming festival, but I’m planning to prepare few on Independence Day. But before that I have simple and quick vada recipe which I can post now for the upcoming festival.

Krishna Jayanthi is a big festival in my mother’s native, a village near Kovilpatti. During childhood, we would regularly attend the village celebration. During the festival day, a slippery pole (Vazhukku maram) is generally kept in front of the temple. At the end of the day, Lord Krishna is decorated with loads of flowers and come for veedhi ula (Sevai) / street procession of the deity. After the veedhi ula and just before entering into the temple back again, the village association organizes a mini event (i.e.) People climb to the slippery pole and try to get pothi (reward / cash sack) tied on top of the slippery pole. While they attempt to climb the pole, others pour water on the climber thus trying to bring him down. Finally the smartest and the strongest one wins the event.

The fun never ends here. Families which hail from our village but have settled in various parts of the state / country normally hop back to our village once a year during this festival and the entire village celebrates it as a gala event. Missing all those wonderful things here at my city Chennai. People of our village generally prepare various snacks as tradition says, snacks are very much liked by Lord Krishna and we offer him the snacks on this auspicious day. We also draw footprints (those that resemble a toddler) of Lord Bal Krishna believing that he visit our homes and accepts our offerings thereby blessing us with prosperity and good health. Generally aval, pori, butter and few pachanams (snacks like Murukku and Seedai) would be offered to him on Krishna Jayanthi.

And so for this reason, I now present a recipe using aval which is Aval Vadai / Aval Vada. I prepare aval vada often as it doesn’t require hours of soaking time and can be prepared instantly anytime.It would also workout as a great offering to god  and can also be eaten as a snack anytime.

Basic Information:

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Aval / Poha / Flattened Rice / Beaten Rice – 2 cups (I used 1 cup thin and thick aval each )

Red Onion – 1 no., large, finely chopped

Green chillies – 3 nos., finely chopped

Curry leaves – 2 spring

Coriander leaves – 2 springs

Ginger – 1 inch piece, finely chopped or grated

Cumin seeds – 1/2 teaspoon

salt – to taste

Asafoetida – a generous pinch

Rice flour – 1 to 2 tablespoons (optional)

Method:

1) Clean Aval in a running water very quickly and soak in it water for 10 minutes. Make sure the water level is just above the surface of the Aval.

2) After 10 minutes, squeeze out the water from the Aval, by pressing it between your palms and transfer to a bowl. Mash it well to get thick dough consistency.

3) Add onion, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, coriander leaves, asafoetida, cumin seeds and salt. Mix well.

4) Pinch a small ball of dough and shape it like patties. If you are not able to do this add a tablespoon or more of rice flour to the dough.

5) Heat oil in a deep frying pan. When it is hot and not smoking, add one or two vada at a time and fry it till it gets the golden brown crust outside. When frying, if the vadas are breaking out, then you may require to add more rice flour to bind the vadai properly.

6) Serve hot with tomato sauce or any chutney.

Notes:

1) I used a cup of thin brown Aval and a cup of thick white Aval.

2) Make sure the water from Aval is drained out properly, otherwise it tends to absorb more oil. If you are not able to squeeze out the water properly, add riceflour to make it bit dry.