Ingredients:

• 250g – Bengal Gram dal
• 1 big – Onion (finely chopped)
• 5 pearls – garlic, peeled
• 4 – Green chillies
• 2 inches – fresh ginger, cleaned and peeled
• 1/2 cup – finely chopped fresh Coriander leaves
• 1/2 cup – finely chopped Mint leaves
• 1/2 cup – finely chopped dill leaves
• 2 inch stick – Cinnamon
• 1 tsp – Cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp – salt
• oil

Method:

1. Soak Bengal gram dal for one hour.
2. Chop onion and herbs and keep aside.
3. Grind 2 tbsps of the soaked dal with ginger, garlic, green chillies and cinnamon into a smooth paste.
4. Drain the remaining dal and add it to the paste and run the mixer for a minute to get a thick and coarse batter without adding water.
5. Mix the batter evenly with a spatula and run the mixer for a few more seconds if necessary.
6. It is fine if some dal is still left uncrushed.
7. Scoop out the dal mixture in a bowl and mix in the chopped herbs and onion, salt and cumin seeds.
8. Heat oil in a kadai.
9. Make a small ball out of the batter and flatten it on your palm into a vada, and slide it into the hot oil.
10. Vadas can be cooked in batches of six or eight depending on the size of the kadai.
11. Do not disturb until you see a colour change around the vada.
12. Gently flip the vadas and cook on the other side.
13. Cook until the vadas become a golden reddish brown in colour on all sides.
14. Take them out using a perforated ladle and drain them on a paper towel.