Kalpesh being an avid pizza buff, we sometimes go to fast food joints where french fries is the only option for Devansh. At such times, I feed Devansh his meal at home before we leave. So he sits nibbling on french fries but doesn’t eat too many. I don’t really mind Devansh having french fries occasionally. But I’ve read so much about some global fast food giants adding tons of preservatives to their fries I’ve become cautious about ordering fries even at local fast food joints.
When I haven’t fed Devansh his meal and he’s actually going to eat with us, we prefer to go to an Indian-khana type of place. Earlier we used to order Idli for him if it was snack-time. Devansh likes Idlis, but at most places the sambar and chutney are spicy, and he doesn’t really like dry idlis. He’ll nibble on some but doesn’t eat them properly. So I thought of trying Dahi Vada Recipe for him as he really loves curd. Devansh loved Dahi Vada, so now we invariably order that for him unless he’s got cold.
Which daal to use for dahi vada?

Dahi Vada | Dahi Bhalla | Curd Recipes
Ingredients
- 1 cup urad dal preferably organic
- 1/2 cup moong dal preferably organic
- 1/4th tsp hing asafoetida
- Approx 3 cups curd
- Approx 2 cups buttermilk
- salt to taste
- Oil for frying
- Approx 1 tsp powdered cumin seeds jeera powder
- sweet chutney made using tamarind and jaggery
- chopped coriander for garnishing
Instructions
- Wash the lentils (urad dal and moong dal) thoroughly, and then soak them in water for at least 5 hours. (I soaked them overnight.)
- Drain water from the lentils and grind them to make a thick paste. Don’t add water while making a paste. You can always add a little water later if you feel the batter’s too thick. Keep the batter aside and allow it to ferment for 4-5 hours.
- Add salt and hing, and mix it well. You should be able to move the spoon around freely; if you can’t add very little water. If you are making dahi vadas for adults or older kids, you can add lightly roasted cumin seeds at this stage.
- Add a little salt to buttermilk and set it aside.
- Heat oil in a pan, and drop vada-sized portion of the batter in it using a spoon. I used two spoons; I scooped out batter using one spoon and then used the second spoon to push the batter from the first spoon into the oil. Note: Don’t let the oil get too hot before dropping the batter. Otherwise, the vadas will start to brown from outside too fast without being cooked properly from inside.
- Fry the vadas until they turn golden brown and then soak them in warm water for 2-3 minutes.
- Squeeze out the water and put vadas in salted buttermilk. I saw this cool tip in one of the videos on YouTube. The chef put the vadas in buttermilk directly. When I tried that for the first batch of vadas, I felt the vadas tasted slightly oily. So from the next batch onwards I soaked them in warm water first to squeeze out oil and then transferred them in buttermilk.
- Repeat the above 3 steps till you use up all the batter.
- Take a bowl and whisk curd in it, add some salt and mix it well. (You can use chilled curd for older kids and adults.)
- Place the vadas in a plate, pour curd on top, and then sprinkle some jeera powder. (For older kids and adults, you can also sprinkle chili powder and black pepper powder.)
- Pour sweet tamarind chutney on top, and then garnish with chopped coriander. (You can omit adding coriander for toddlers as they find it difficult to chew raw coriander.)