How To Make Parippu Vada – Lentil Fritters

Parippu Vada also known as Lentil Fritters is a tasty South Indian traditional snack made with ground yellow split peas.

This snack is perfect to enjoy during rainy cold weather with a hot cup of tea. This snack is very popular and widely available in all tea shops in south India.

Lentils are rich in protein and other vital nutrients required for the body. These Hot and crispy Parippu Vadas recipes make the best of evening snacks with a coffee that is healthy, delicious, and on a budget 🙂

What goes in Parippu vada Recipe

Here is what you need:

• Lentils: You can make parippu vada using different lentils. In this recipe, we are using Yellow split peas/Peas Dal. If you don’t have Yellow split peas, you can replace it with 1 cup Chana dal and 1/2 cup Toor dal or 1 cup of Mutter/Peas dal and 1/2 cup of Chana dal
• Onion, cut onion into thin pieces.
• shallots, ginger, green chili (crush)
• red chili (we recommend the seeds to be removed)
• Asafoetida, If you don’t have Asafoetida you can skip it, however adding it would give a nice aroma to the parippu vada.

How to Make Parippu Vada Step by Step

And here is how to make it. Soak yellow split peas at least for 2-3 hours, long enough for them to soak up water and soft.

Drain all water from the soaked Yellow Spit Peas,

Grind Soaked Split Peas Coarsely

Ground yellow split peas coarsely without adding any additional water, small batches at a time. We do not want to make this a smooth batter, so make sure not to over-grind the mixture.

If your blender has a whipping button use that instead of the speed button. If you use the speed button it may ground to a fine paste. Just whip few times until you get the right consistency.

When we say coarsely it means, you could see a few whole peas and varying sizes in the ground mix. 1/3 of the soaked dal is ground well, not smooth for a paste but enough that all pieces are broken down into small pieces.

After grinding the first batch check if you can make a ball easily without it falling apart. Is it glued together? If you’re having trouble making a ball, grind a little finer. You should be able to make the dal into the desired shape without it falling apart.

Prepare Spices

Crush ginger, shallots, green chilies, dried red chilies, and curry leaves. If you don’t have a blender/chopper to crush them you can cut them into small pieces. As you can see below the crushed spice mixture has coarse consistency.

Combine All Together

Transfer it to a bowl and add salt, asafoetida, thinly sliced onion, curry leaves, crushed ingredients and combine the mixture really very well. Only a little bit of asafoetida otherwise it will overtake the flavor. Use hand to mix all together very well otherwise the salt and spices may not mix evenly. Taste a small piece to make sure it has enough salt and desired spiciness. Adjust as needed.

Deep Fry Parippu Vada

In a big pan, add enough oil to immerse the Parippu vadas over medium heat.

Wet your hand before taking a small portion of the dal mixture. Put the mixture in the middle of your palm and then press with the other palms. Press gently, if the dal mixture consistency is correct then it shouldn’t fall apart.

Take a small lemon-sized portion of dal mixture in your palm and carefully flatten to make it flat round-shaped, and slowly add to hot oil and deep fry it. Cook over medium heat. Do not shape them very thick as they will turn fluffy in the middle and take longer to get crispy.

After adding the dal vada, do not disturb them immediately otherwise they will break. Wait for 2 to 3 mins before turning them over to fry the other side. One side should be firm before turning over. You can flip few times to evenly cook until both sides become a golden color. Transfer this to a strainer then to a kitchen paper towel to absorb any extra oil.

You can adjust how crispy that you want your parippuvada. Both sides should have a golden color. Taste one and check whether the middle part of the vada is cooked well.

Deep fry the rest of them in batches by following the same procedure.

The Secret to an Amazing Parippu Vada Recipe

You need to make sure you soak the lentil for 2-3 hrs otherwise it might disintegrate in the oil instead of holding it together.

You need a good food processor to coarsely grind the lentil. 1/3 of the lentil mixture is ground well and the remaining is ground coarsely. You can also add a handful of uncrushed soaked dal for a crunchy feel.

Getting the right consistency is important for perfect vada. Do not shape them very thick as they will turn fluffy in the center and may not get crispy.

It is important to fry on medium flame to get a crispy bite and golden rich color. If you cook on high flame, the outside will be brown but the inside won’t get cooked.

What to serve with Parippu Vada?

It tastes best when served hot and crisp. parippu vada is often served with banana (puvan pazham/palayamkodan pazham) and a cup of tea, a great combination snack in Kerala.

Now, enjoy the crispy crunchy Parippu Vada!!!

Step by Step Guide To Make Amazing Parippu Vada

Parippuvada Lentil Fritters

This is the best Parippuvada recipe I’ve tried and excited to share with you. Parippu vada is crispy, a fried appetizer that is incredibly delicious, there is no doubt everyone will love it!!

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Course Snack

Cuisine Indian

Servings 10

Calories 421 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 2 Cup Yellow Split Peas
• 8 green chili
• 10 Red Chili Pepper seeds removed
• 8 shallots optional
• 1 Onion
• 10 g Fresh Ginger 1 1/2 inch piece
• 1/2 tsp Asafoetida
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 Cup cooking oil

Instructions

 

• Soak 2 cup yellow split peas/chana dal for 2-3 hours.
• Wash and strain the soaked split peas. Keep it aside for few minutes to make sure it is drained well
• Slice 1 medium onion into small pieces
• Remove seed from Red chillies. This can reduce the spiciness but give a flavour of chillies. Adjust the spiciness to your taste.
• Crush Red chillies, green chillies, Ginger, 6 or 7 shallots to a coarse consistency.
• Grind strained dal to a coarse paste without adding any water. If the consistency of Dal is correct it should stick together like a round pattie. If not adjust the consistency before combine with spices
• Add Crushed chilli mixture, Sliced onion, asafoetida powder, curry leaves, Salt
• Mix very well with your hand to make sure everything is combined.
• Check salt and spiciness. Adjust spiciness and salt as desired
• Heat oil in a pan for about 350 degrees F, medium heat. Oil should only fill half the way.
• Oil shouldn’t be too hot otherwise the outside will burn but inside will not get cooked.
• Wet your hand before taking a small lemon size portion of dal mixture. Put the mixture in the middle of your palm and press with another hand. You can adjust the thickness to your taste.
• Place each vada carefully into the hot oil
• Flip after 4-5 minutes and fry the other side for another 4-5 minutes or until golden brown
• Make sure you don’t add all of vadas at the same time otherwise the temperature of the oil will drop and you will end up boiling them instead of frying.
• Flip each Vada a few times to evenly cook and become golden brown on both sides. Open up one and check to make sure the middle part of Vada is cooked well.
• Take them out when it has beautiful light brown colour and crispy.
• Place them on a strainer first, then to a plate with a paper towel as you fry the rest so it absorbs the excell oil

Notes

1. You can keep 2 tbsp Soaked Whole Dal separately, this is to add few larger pieces in case the mixture is ground fine, also to give crunchy consistency.
2. It’s common for the parippuvada to be uneven around the edges after pressing the ball.  If you try to make it perfect on all sides, the edge will be too thick, and it won’t be crispy. It is ok for the edge to be uneven. It allows the oil to enter inside and cook very well, the edge is usually thin.
3. If the oil is not enough the vada absorbs too much oil and becomes greasy. In order to test the oil is warm enough, just add a small piece of vada mixture to the oil and see whether it comes to the top quickly. 
4. Coconut oil or Peanut oil is the best for frying but any oil can be used.

Keyword parippu vada

Watch How to Make It?

Can you Freeze the Lentil Fritters?

Any leftover fritters can be stored in the freezer for months. When you take out, simply heat up in an oven under low heat (200F) or even microwave it. before serving.

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