Methu VADA/ VADE/VADAI - Simple Indian DONUT

wada/vade/vada/vadai call by any name it's same hot crunchy flitter, very famous snack in India.  They are usually a morning food, but in street stalls and in railway stations, as well as inside the Indian Railways, they are available as a snack all through the day. I love to have them any time.

Ingredients:
For basic vadai:
Urad dal-1cup
Coconut- shreaded-2ts (optional)
salt to taste
Pepper powder-1/2ts
Method:

• Soak 1 cup of Urad dhal for at least 6 hrs.
• Drain the water and grind it in a blender to a smooth batter
• Use very little water in the course of blending.
• More water will ruin the vadai shape & texture
• At the end, add 1/2 ts pepper powder, salt per taste and grind again.
• Add shreaded coconut and beat the batter with hand or blender for  about 2 min on low speed to aerate your batter.
• TIP: To find if the batter is well aerated, just drop little batter in a bowl of water. If it sinks, batter needs to be aerated. If it floats, it is well aerated. 
• Aeration will yield fluffy soft vadas. 
• Heat a pan of oil - keep it in medium flame
• To check if the oil is hot enough, drop a small pea sized batter in the hot oil - if it sizzles and rises to the  top immediately, oil is good to go
• Wet your hands in cold water, gently scoop the batter with your bare fingers, and roll up into a ball and gently make a hole using your thumb, drop it into the oil 
• In couple of minutes, flip the vada  upside down and let it fry until both sides turn golden brown
• Drop the vadas minimum 3 in a batch and using a perforated laddle scoop them all onto a paper towel to absorb the excess oil
• Serve hot with chutney
• To keep the vadas crisp for few hours, you may either preheat the oven to 250 degrees - turn it off  and keep the vadas in or just keep cover the hot oil pan (after frying) with plate and place the vadas over the plate and cover up with another plate.

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