Vegan Dahi Vada

Introducing you to this infamous Odia street food dish – Dahi Vada with Dum Aloo that originates from a state in Eastern India. This post is part 1, the Dahi Vada, of the complete dish. In the light of emphasising the lesser-known dishes of India, here’s @ beextravegant bringing to you Vegan Dahi Vada – lentil fritters soaked in yoghurt mix and tempered with spices. It is usually served with a spicy potato curry of sorts called Aloo Dum. The ingredients used are basic, at the same time, come together beautifully.

The street food culture in India is ingrained in many Indians, and the vendors are the true essence of the country’s food culture. Indian street food is the go-to answer to any problem or achievement, and it surely takes you on a culinary journey of flavours and fusions. Dahi Vada is one of those dishes that is available in every other state and the toppings change as you cross each state border. Each state has a different story to tell – the Maharashtrians have a different way of serving their Dahi Vade. The flavours take a spicy turn when the Delhi-ites serve Dahi Balla with lots of spices and so on. I chose Odia Dahi Vada to expose you to a different flavour palate of the lesser-known regions of Eastern India. Let’s break down the recipe to the T.

What is Dahi Bara or Vada?

Vadas are crispy, fluffy and yummy doughnut-shaped lentil fritters that have variations all over India and the pronunciations differ from region to region. And Dahi if you know from my previous recipes means yoghurt or curd (in India). Vadas are fluffy golden-coloured doughnut-shaped fritters that are served with coconut chutney in many South Indian cities.

The Vadas are made from soaked and ground urad daal and shaped into doughnuts, then deep fried in neutral oil.

Dahi Vada is when these Vadas are soaked in a yoghurt mix. In this recipe, we will soak them in Hing spiced water for a little while to get them moist and ready to absorb the yoghurt mix.

How to make Vegan Dahi Vada? (tips and tricks)

This Vegan Dahi Vada recipe is a three-part recipe and requires some of prep time. This recipe involves:

1. Making the Vadas or lentil doughnuts
2. soaking the Vadas in yoghurt mix
3. tempering the Dahi vada

Making Crispy Vadas

Soak the urad daal in enough water for up to 4-5 hours, until they soak up water and double up in size.

Note : Like I always say – use the leftover water to feed your plant babies. It makes them happy, and healthy AND it saves the environment. 🙂

2. Blend the Urad dal with little water in a high-speed blender. Here, make sure to use minimum water to keep the batter thick. Add salt and Rava, then mix well and set aside.

3. Take a medium bite-sized amount of the mixture to your palms. Shape the batter into a doughnut shape using your finger. Keep them aside.

4. Heat enough oil, with a high smoke point , to deep fry (around 170C) and drop the Vadas one by one. DO not overcrowd the pan and spread the Vadas apart to make sure they don’t stick to each other. Once all the Vadas have turned golden brown on both sides, remove and set aside to let the oil drain out.

5. Soak the Vadas in Hing and salt-spiced water for 2-3 minutes or until they have soaked up the water. We want the vadas to become soft but not soggy. Finally, Remove each vada one by one, while squeezing out the water as much as possible. Set aside.

Note : Do not over soak. The Vadas will crumble apart if they have been soaked in water for too long

For tempering

1. Heat oil in a tempering pan, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, green chillies, red chillies (dry), and thing, curry leaves.
2. Make sure the mustard seeds have popped well, otherwise you will be left with a bitter taste.
3. Let this cool down while you prepare the yoghurt mix.

For Yoghurt Mix

1. First, in a bowl add soy yoghurt, water, grated ginger, hing and salt to taste. Note : If your yoghurt isn’t sour/tangy enough, add a tbsp of lemon juice to it!

2. Secondly, mix well until the texture looks syrupy. Add the tempering on top and then drop the squeezed Vadas in it one by one.

3. Next, let the vadas soak in the Dahi or yoghurt mixture for some time before serving. You can serve the Dahi Vada warm or cooled down. Make sure that the Vadas are soft enough and have soaked up the soy yoghurt and temper well.

4. Pair these Dahi Vadas with Aloo dum topped with chopped coriander, chaat masala, chopped onions, red chillies powder and a squeeze of lemon and you have the perfect Odia Street Food right at your home.

And here is how you make this famous Indian street food with a few steps. Do try out my recipe for Dahi Vada and let me know how it turned out to be. I would love to know how you liked it. It really makes me happy to see you try out my recipes. Don’t forget to tag @beextravegant on Instagram if you share a post or a story. See you at the next one!

Check my other Soy yoghurt based recipes here:

1. How to make Soy yoghurt
2. Vegan Sambharam/Chaas or buttermilk
3. Vegan Salad or Raita from scratch

Vegan Odia Dahi Vada

Ingredients1x2x3x

For Vada

• 200 gram Urad dal (Whole) soaked
• 2 tbsp Rava sooji
• 1 tsp salt
• Oil to deep fry the Vada

Water to soak the Vadas

• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp Hing
• 1 tsp salt

For the yoghurt Mixture

• 2 cups soy yoghurt
• 1 knob ginger grated
• 1 tsp Hing
• Salt to taste

Tempering

• 1 tsp Neutral oil
• 1 tsp mustard seed
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon Urad dal Split
• 2 Dry red chillies
• 1 green chilli Split lengthwise
• 10 – 15 curry leaves

Toppings

• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp chaat masala
• Red onion finely chopped
• Coriander/Cilantro finely chopped

Instructions

For Vada

• Rinse and soak the urad daal in enough water for upto 4-5 hours.
• Grind the urad daal into a thick paste. Avoid adding too much water and keep it on the thicker end.
• Add Salt and Rava, mix well and set aside.
• Shape the batter into donut shape using your palms and finger. Dip your hands in water to help the batter from sticking to your hand.
• Heat enough oil to deep fry, close to 170C, and drop the Vadas one by one. Do not overcrowd the pan and make sure they don’t stick to each other.
• Once all the Vadas have turned golden brown on both sides, remove and set aside to let the oil drain out.
• Soak the Vadas in Hing and salt spiced water for 2-3 minutes or until they have soaked up the water. Do not oversoak, we want the vadas to be soft, not soggy.
• Remove each vada one by one, while squeezing out the water, without ruining the shape. Set aside.

Tempering

• In a tempering pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves, urad daal, dry red chillies, and green chillies.
• Once they turn fragrant and start chasing colour, turn off the heat and let it cool.

Yoghurt Mix

• In a bowl add soy yoghurt, water, grated ginger, hing and salt to taste. Mix well until the texture looks syrupy.
• Add the tempering on top of the yoghurt and mix well.
• Drop the squeeze Vadas in it one by one. Leave it in for some time before serving. Serve with a side of Aloo dum and toppings mentioned here.

Notes

Nutrition

This Bengali Roasted Mung Dal is a delicacy in the state/region of India called Bengal, in the east. In India, it isn’t common to roast lentils before boiling them, but it I love this version from Bengal where it is done. Also, traditionally, this recipe uses local ginger, called mango ginger or aamada, with a unique flavor that closely resembles galangal. You can use ginger as well for this recipe, as I did.

What is Bhaja Moong-er Daal?

Bengali Roasted Mung dal or Bhaja Moong-er Daal is a Bengali delicacy typically prepared in almost every Bengali household. I only know this from reading cookbooks and talking to Bengali friends. This Daal is made without Onion or Garlic. Bhaja typically refers to “Fried” however, this Daal is prepared with dry roasted Moong Daal. The roasting provides this dish a delicious nutty aroma and is a significant characteristic of this Daal.

Ingredients to prepare Bengali Roasted Mung Dal

The recipe of Moong er Daal calls for very few basic ingredients apart from the skinned and split Mung dal :

Spices (ground and whole) : red chili powder, ground turmeric, cumin seeds, dried red chillis, and bay leaf

Aromatics : ginger or galangal paste and green chillis.

Oil/Vegan Ghee : Typically this recipe relies on the flavour of ghee, you can recreate that with a vegan ghee replacement or avocado oil.

Extras : the recipe also calls for a bit of sugar and plant milk. The sugar adds a hint of sweetness and balances out the spices and savouriness of this dish. The plant milk makes this dish slightly creamy and also balances out the spicy dal.

Steps to make Bengali Roasted Mung Dal recipe:

• Heat a skillet over medium heat, and add the moong dal and roast for a few minutes until golden brown.

• Remove from the heat and allow to cool, then rinse under cold running water.
• Bring 5-5.5 cups (1.2 liters) water to a boil in a large pan, add the dal, ground turmeric, and red chili powder

• Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes.

• Remove the scum from the surface with a slotted spoon from time to time.

• Add salt and the chopped green chilies and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the dal is soft.
• Heat the vegan ghee or oil in a mini skillet over medium heat, add the cumin seeds, dried red chilis, and bay leaf, and stir-fry for about 2 minutes, or until the chilis turn a couple of shades darker.
• Add to the dal, immediately cover and simmer for a further 3 minutes.
• Add the ginger/galangal paste, sugar, and milk, and cook over low heat for about 2 minutes to allow the dal to absorb the flavors.
• Serving with rice and a side of vegetables/sabzi.

I hope you give this recipe a go! I would love to hear about it if you do. Send me a few pictures over on Instagram 😀

Try out my other dal and legume recipes from the blog:

• Dal Tadka – Smokey and Restaurant-Style
• One pot dal recipe
• Easy Chana Masala

Roasted moong dal with ginger – Bhaja Moong-er Daal

Ingredients1x2x3x

• 1 ⅓ cups moong dal (skinned and split mung beans), rinsed and drained 250 g
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• 4 green chiles chopped
• 1 tsp vegan ghee or vegetable oil
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 dried red chillies
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tsp ginger paste use galangal paste if available
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• A few tbsp vegan milk
• salt to taste

Instructions

• Heat a skillet over medium heat, and add the moong dal and roast for a few minutes until golden brown.
• Remove from the heat and allow to cool, then rinse under cold running water.
• Bring 5-5.5 cups (1.2 liters) water to a boil in a large pan, add the dal, ground turmeric, and red chili powder
• Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
• Remove the scum from the surface with a slotted spoon from time to time.
• Add salt and the chopped green chilies and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the dal is soft.
• Heat the vegan ghee or oil in a mini skillet over medium heat, add the cumin seeds, dried red chilis, and bay leaf, and stir-fry for about 2 minutes, or until the chilis turn a couple of shades darker.
• Add to the dal, immediately cover and simmer for a further 3 minutes.
• Add the ginger/galangal paste, sugar, and milk, and cook over low heat for about 2 minutes to allow the dal to absorb the flavors.
• Serving with rice and a side of vegetables/sabzi.

Nutrition

Aloo Dum is a spicy potato-based recipe with variations all around India. This is the Odia version made with simple ingredients and cooking techniques. This Aloo recipe is very similar to other Indian gravy-based dishes except that it is slow-cooked. The dish has a spicy and tangy onion tomato base that coats the potato chunks and is served with roti , basmati rice or a famous Odisha Stree Food – Dahi Bara with Aloo Dum.

My Inspiration

When I started my journey as a vegan, every time I tried to recreate a new recipe in my kitchen – I would be in awe of the flavours, spices, taste and texture that would come alive on my plate. And I couldn’t wait to share these lesser-known recipes with the rest of the world.

Although there is enough representation of Indian cuisine, there are some regions of India that are less discovered. One of those regions is the East of India where the flavours and dishes change with every state. So, here I am trying to make my recipes as inclusive and diverse as possible so that you too get an explosion and fusion of flavours in your kitchen.

Dahi Vada and Aloo Dum are delicious combinations of creamy, soft Vadas soaked in spiced yoghurt with Aloo coated in garlic, onion and tomato-based gravy. You can check out my recipe for Dahi Vada and I would highly recommend you make both and have them together.

How to make Aloo Dum? (Tips and Tricks)

Prepping the Vegetables:

This recipe required the potato pieces to be on the chunky side and cutting them up into smaller pieces will not give the same effect. So, keep the potato pieces close to an inch or bigger. on the other hand, the onions are finely chopped. The science behind cutting up your veggies in particular sizes is that onion releases more of its flavours when finely chopped. This flavour is what creates the base of the aromatic gravy and coats the potato pieces.

Method

1. Peel and chop your potatoes, onions and tomatoes. In a heated pan, add vegetable oil. Once it’s hot add bay leaves and dry red chillies. Roast until flavourful.

2. Add ginger garlic paste to this mix and cook until the raw smell goes away. Then add chopped tomatoes. Add a pinch of salt over the tomatoes, to cook them quicker, basically adding salt makes the tomatoes release their water faster making them soft.

3. Once the tomatoes are done, add turmeric powder, red chilli powder coriander powder and mix well. Add the chopped potatoes and mix well until all the masalas have coated the potato pieces.

4. Cover and let the potatoes cook for 7-10 minutes on medium-low heat. Allow the flavours to coat the potatoes.

5. Add 1 cup water and cover again. Cook until the gravy is semi-thick. Serve hot with roti or on the side with Dahi Vada.

And there you go. Dum Aloo is ready to get demolished. The best way to eat this is with Dahi Vada ( If I haven’t mentioned it already :P) but you could also eat it with fried puris, hot Rotis or steaming hot rice. Try this Aloo Dum with Dahi Vada combination and let me know how you like it. Drop a comment if you have any feedback. If you want to reach out to me on my social media, head over to @beextravegant. 🙂 See you in the next recipe. Ciao!

Check out my other Breakfast recipes from around the world:

1. Punjab – Aloo Parantha
2. Assam – Til Pitha
3. Gujarat – Khaman Dhokla

Aloo Dum

Ingredients1x2x3x

Dum Aloo

• 2 pieces dried red chillies
• 1 big bay leaf
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 2 small tomatoes, chopped
• 2-3 large potatoes, cut into large chunks
• 1 tsp Salt or to taste
• 3 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
• 1 tsp coriander powder

Garnishing

• 1/2 cup Corriander leaves chopped
• 1 small onion – finely chopped

Instructions

• In a heated pan, add vegetable oil. Once it’s hot, add bay leaves and dried red chillies. Roast until fragrant.
• Add chopped onions to this and sauté until golden brown on a medium to low medium heat.
• Add ginger garlic paste (or minced ginger and garlic) and sauté until the raw smell goes away.
• Add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt and cook until the tomatoes soften, about 4-5 minutes on medium heat.
• Add red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder and mix well and cook that for about 2 minutes.
• Add the chopped potato pieces and mix until the spicy tomato base coats the potato pieces.
• Cover and cook for about 8-10 minutes minutes on a medium to low heat, until the potatoes turn soft.
• Then, add half a cup of water and cook again for 2-3 minutes.
• Serve with roti, basmati rice or Odia Dahi Bara. Garnish with corriander leaves, red chilli powder and finely chopped onions

Nutrition

Vegan Odia Dahi Vada

Ingredients1x2x3x

For Vada

• 200 gram Urad dal (Whole) soaked
• 2 tbsp Rava sooji
• 1 tsp salt
• Oil to deep fry the Vada

Water to soak the Vadas

• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp Hing
• 1 tsp salt

For the yoghurt Mixture

• 2 cups soy yoghurt
• 1 knob ginger grated
• 1 tsp Hing
• Salt to taste

Tempering

• 1 tsp Neutral oil
• 1 tsp mustard seed
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon Urad dal Split
• 2 Dry red chillies
• 1 green chilli Split lengthwise
• 10 - 15 curry leaves

Toppings

• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp chaat masala
• Red onion finely chopped
• Coriander/Cilantro finely chopped

Instructions

For Vada

• Rinse and soak the urad daal in enough water for upto 4-5 hours.
• Grind the urad daal into a thick paste. Avoid adding too much water and keep it on the thicker end.
• Add Salt and Rava, mix well and set aside.
• Shape the batter into donut shape using your palms and finger. Dip your hands in water to help the batter from sticking to your hand.
• Heat enough oil to deep fry, close to 170C, and drop the Vadas one by one. Do not overcrowd the pan and make sure they don’t stick to each other.
• Once all the Vadas have turned golden brown on both sides, remove and set aside to let the oil drain out.
• Soak the Vadas in Hing and salt spiced water for 2-3 minutes or until they have soaked up the water. Do not oversoak, we want the vadas to be soft, not soggy.
• Remove each vada one by one, while squeezing out the water, without ruining the shape. Set aside.

Tempering

• In a tempering pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves, urad daal, dry red chillies, and green chillies.
• Once they turn fragrant and start chasing colour, turn off the heat and let it cool.

Yoghurt Mix

• In a bowl add soy yoghurt, water, grated ginger, hing and salt to taste. Mix well until the texture looks syrupy.
• Add the tempering on top of the yoghurt and mix well.
• Drop the squeeze Vadas in it one by one. Leave it in for some time before serving. Serve with a side of Aloo dum and toppings mentioned here.

Notes

Nutrition