Meduvada: South Indian Delicacy You Won’t Forget
Meduvada is a delicacy belonging to the southern parts of India. It is an indispensable part of the daily diet of south Indian people, but over the last few decades, it has become a popular dish among other parts of the country as well. Its shape resembles that of a doughnut. Hence, they are also known as Indian doughnut, bit a salty one. A single piece of meduvada can have as much as 100 calories.
This is a great dish for breakfast. You can savour it with chutney or sambar. Adding some veggies to the batter of meduvada gives it a healthy twist. However, you must be cautious while consuming it, since it is a deep fried, it tends to soak a lot of oil. Nowadays, people have found the baked meuvada recipe which is helathier. The traditional meduvada recipe is served with sambar and coconut chutney, but you can also serve it with curd. In Andhra Pradesh, people like eating it with chicken curry and is served with the name of Minappa Garelu. Apart from high protein content, it is also full of folic acid, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron and vitamin B. In order to keep it healthy, you may avoid deep frying it and instead shallow fry it or bake it in an oven.
Origins of Meduvada
Meduvada is known to have originated from Maddur town of Karnataka. Gradually, as Udupi restaurants started opening chains in different parts of India, it became a popular dish all over. The name ‘medu’ means ‘soft’, and ‘vada’ means ‘fritter’. So, the meaning of meduvada is a soft fritter. In many restaurant menus, you will find meduvada just with the name ‘vada’ or ‘sambar vada’. In other parts of the country, it is also known by the names ulundu vadai, garelu, uddina vade, and uzhunnu vada.
What makes a perfect meduvada?
Meduvada is perfect when it has a crispy outer casing and soft and spongy inside sans any oil smell or grease. Here are a few tips you must follow to make perfect meduvada recipe:
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Add some rice flour to the batter to make the crust crispy.
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Get the desired consistency by adding water, make it thick but not of pouring consistency. If you add too much water at once, the batter will become runny and your vadas will not get the desired shape.
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You must whist the batter well to ensure that the vadas turn out to be fluffy. You can test the batter, by adding few drops in the glass of water, if the vada batters comes up, then its ready to be fried.
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While shaping the vadas, make sure to wet your palms a little.
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The urad dal should be soaked in water for at least 4-5 hours.
With these tips you will surely be able to get the right meduvada recipe and make crispy and spongy vadas for your next feast.
