Parippuvada!!!

Its raining!

What best could one do on a rainy day? Hot parippuvada with a steaming cup of coffee/tea..hmm my mouth is getting watery with the very thought of it. Some people like having parippuvada as it is , but for me having it with bananas makes me feel content.

These remind me of the childhood days when we used to travel by train to kerala to spend our summer vacations. The train would reach Palakkad station and the noise of the chaiwala's would wake you up. The Parripuvadas and Pazham poris would be in the scene, offered with a small glass of chai.

Well, you don't necessarily have to travel by train to have these :). This Palaharam, is a must in any tea shop in Kerala. So if you happen to visit Kerala any time, do drop by a small tea shop by the road side to enjoy this authentic treat.  

Ingredients

1. 11/2 cup of Chana Dal/Split Bengal gram/Kadala Parripu
2. 1 tbsp of finely chopped ginger
3. 2-3 green chillies finely chopped
4. 4-5 tbsp of finely chopped onions
5. Few curry leaves - cut in small pieces
6. Salt to taste
7. Oil to deep fry

Method

• Soak the Chana Dal for about 5-6 hours.
• Grind the Chana dal in a grinder. Do not grind them into a paste, but get them in a form such that it has few whole Chana dal in it as well as rest of them grinded into small bits.
• Add the chopped onion, ginger, green chillies, salt and cut curry leaves to the ground dal and mix well.
• Heat the oil in a deep frying pan. Once the oil is hot, turn down the heat to medium.
• Meanwhile make small balls of the mixture and press them in between your palms gently. Drop them into the heated oil and fry them untill the surface of the vada turns brown. 
• Drain off excess oil from the vada and place it on a paper napkin. Serve it hot.
• Yields around 15-20 Parripu vadas.

Tips

1. You could choose to add a little water while grinding the dal. But too much of water wouldn't let you get the desired shape and also would absorb oil to a greater extend.
2. While giving the vadas the shape, by pressing them between the palms, do make sure that there are no cracks formed on the vadas. Else, they may break and may not result in the desired shapes.
3. In tea shops, they fry the vadas a bit more to get a darker texture. But I love the texture and colour as is given in the picture. You could choose to fry a bit more if you would like it the way you get in the tea shops :).

Try making parippuvada on a rainy day to enjoy with your tea and I am sure, every other rain would remind you of it :).