No Fry Dahi Vada

No Fry Dahi Vada are melt in mouth lentil fritters soaked in a sweet, spicy, and tangy yogurt sauce. This pillowy soft, delicious, and gluten free dish is absolutely easy to make. Serve this protein rich dish on hot summer days to satisfy your taste buds. 

Dahi vada is a popular Indian dish in various regions. It is made with slight variations in different states of India. The dish is also known as “Dahi Bara” or “Dahi Bhalla”

If you add an equal quantity of moong dal and urad dal in the recipe then it becomes dahi bhalla. Adding urad dal or black gram dal in the recipe makes it a dahi vada recipe. 

This popular dahi vada recipe makes a perfect crowd pleasing dish to celebrate summer gatherings, Holi, or Diwali get-togethers. The dish is usually liked by everyone from kids to elderly. 

In the traditional dahi vada recipe, black gram fritters are deep fried in a hot oil. To make a healthy and nutritious dish, I have used a appe, paniyaram, or aebleskiver pan with a very little oil. You are free to deep fry the fritters if you wish by following the recipe with the same ingredients and ratio. 

What Is Dahi Vada?  

“Dahi” means Indian style cultured yogurt. “Vada” means deep fried fritters. Black gram dal is soaked and grind into a smooth paste and later on deep fried into the fritters. Dahi is combined with some spices, sugar, and salt to make a flavorful sauce. Vada is covered and soaked in a yogurt sauce and later on sweet tamarind chutney, green mint chutney, and sev is sprinkled on the top just before serving the dish. 

Ingredients

For The Vada

• Urad dal 
• Water
• Green chili 
• Ginger
• Salt
• Oil 

For Yogurt Sauce

• Yogurt
• Roasted cumin powder
• Red chili powder
• Black pepper
• Chaat masala
• Sugar
• Salt
• Rock salt

Toppings

• Tamarind date chutney
• Green mint chutney
• Roasted cumin powder
• Red chili powder
• Coriander leaves
• Sev 

No Fry Dahi Vada Step By Step Recipe

Making The Vada

Triple wash the urad dal and soak into 2 cups of water for 5 hours. 

Drain out all the water from the urad dal and transfer it to a blending jar. Add some salt, green chili, and ginger with ¼ cup water. Grind the mixture into a smooth batter. 

Transfer the batter to a bowl. Beat the mixture with a whisk for about 6-8 minutes in one direction, until it turns light and air pockets are formed into the batter. 

Frying The Vada

Heat the appe pan on medium and add a few drops of oil in each of the cavities of a pan. 

Once the pan is hot, lower the heat to medium low. 

Add a spoonful of batter in each cavity. Cover the pan with a lid and increase the heat to medium. 

After 2 minutes or after the vada puffs up, take out the lid and flip the vada with a wooden stick (Popsicle stick). Cook the other side for about 1 minute and take out all the vadas and transfer them on a plate. 

Soaking The Vada 

In a separate bowl, add 2 cups of lukewarm water, ½ tsp salt, and mix. Transfer 5-6 vadas and let them sit in the salt water for about 5 minutes. 

Gently press the vada between your palms to squeeze out all the water from them and transfer them onto a plate. Repeat the same process with the remaining vadas. 

 Making The Yogurt Sauce

In a bowl, whisk together some yogurt, spices, salt, and sugar with the help of a whisk until smooth. You may add 1-2 tbsp water if you find the sauce is too thick. 

Assembling

Place around 4-6 vada on a serving plate. Pour some yogurt sauce on the top. 

Drizzle some green mint chutney and tamarind chutney. Sprinkle some roasted cumin powder, red chili powder, coriander leaves, and thin sev on the top. 

Tips For Making No Fry Dahi Vada

• Soak the urad dal for minimum 4 hours or maximum 8 hours. 
• Add a little water at the beginning while grinding the dal. Make a smooth and thick batter like the pancake batter. 
• If your batter becomes more watery, add a spoonful of semolina at a time to thicken the consistency of the batter. 
• Whisk the batter for 6-8 minutes. You can use a stand mixer or hand mixer with a whisk attachment to make the batter light and airy. 
• While adding the batter into a hot appe pan, lower the heat so the batter will not splutter. Cook the vada on medium heat, do not cook them on high or they will not get cooked from the inside. 
• Make sure to soak the vada in some lukewarm water for about 5 minutes in batches or transfer all the vadas in a large bowl of salt water. 
• You can soak the vadas in some flavored yogurt for 10 minutes and then add the toppings before serving them. Vada will absorb some yogurt and taste amazing. 
• Add the spices, sugar, and salt according to your taste in the yogurt sauce. 
• You can buy a store bought tamarind chutney or mint chutney for convenience or checkout the recipes in my blog posts by using the links provided. Tamarind Date Chutney and Green Mint Chutney is in my Sweet Potato Chana Chaat Recipe.

Variations

• Use equal quantity of Urad dal and moong dal for making dahi bhalle recipe. 
• You can use ¼ tsp of fruit salt (ENO) in the batter and gently mix it before making the vada. 
• You can deep fry the vadas if you wish and follow the rest of the procedure in the same way. 
• Add some milk or water in the yogurt sauce if the yogurt is too thick. I have used my homemade creamy yogurt for this recipe. 
• Adding the sev is completely optional.
• Pomegranate arils will taste so good as a topping on dahi vada. 
• You can completely omit adding both the chutneys if you wish. 

How To Store No Fry Dahi Vada?

Store the cooked vada before the water bath in an airtight container for not more than 4 days. You can freeze them in a freezer safe bag or airtight container for 3 months.

When you are ready to serve the dahi vada, place the refrigerated vada in a lukewarm salt water for about 10 minutes. Freezed vada can be soaked in warm water for about 30-40 minutes until they are completely thawed and soft. Squeeze out the water and serve according to the recipe. 

If you want to serve dahi vada for get-togethers, soak the vadas in the yogurt sauce in a serving dish and keep them refrigerated for 30-45 minutes. Take them out and add all the toppings and keep them ready to serve! 

How To Serve No Fry Dahi Vada? 

Serve the dahi vada as an appetizer along with onion pakora, rava dhokla, aloo tikki, or samosa. These make a great side dish along with some pav bhaji, misal pav, or ragda pattice. 

It goes very well as a side dish along with some veg or paneer biryani for a fulfilling meal option. 

Make them for a chaat party night along with some sev puri, pani puri, ragda pattice, and bhel puri. 

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