Masala Vada

About Masala Vada

Masala means a mixture of spices & vada is a fried lentil snack. So masala vada translates to a fried snack made with lentils and spices. These are made by coarsely grinding soaked chana dal or bengal gram. Then spices, onions & herbs are added to the dough. This dough is then shaped to small disc or patties & deep fried.

Massala vada is also known as chana dal vada in some parts of India. These are crispy, very flavorful & addictive in taste. The street style masala vada is much loved by most south Indians & are enjoyed with a cup of masala tea.

If you are looking for a street style masala vada, then this recipe is absolutely for you. This recipe will yield you flavorful, super delicious & crispy chana dal vada!

Masala vada from the street stalls are very flavorful due to the addition of mint and coarsely crushed spices, especially cinnamon adds a unique aroma to these. This recipe yields chana dal vada that comes very close to the ones served in south Indian street stalls and restaurants.

Air fryer & Oven baked

This year I got to make these more often as my family loved these air fryer masala vadas a lot. Though the texture is not the same as the deep fried ones, they still taste great & will be loved if you love healthy foods. I used to make a lot of the dough and refrigerate this for 4 to 5 days.

So making them was a breeze anytime as I only had to pop them either in the oven or in the air fryer. Make the patties and place them on a rack or on a parchment paper. If your air fryer needs preheating pre-heat it for 15 mins at 180 C or 350 F.

To bake them in oven, preheat your oven to 200 C or 390 F for 15 mins. Air fry or bake for 10 mins, turn them to the other side and air fry for another 6 to 8 mins. Brush them lightly with oil or ghee. In the oven bake them for 12 mins and then check.

I do not preheat mine as mine don’t need preheating. If air frying, I don’t spray or brush oil in the beginning. When I bring them out, I brush them with ghee generously. They will be too dry so they need some oil or ghee. If you are serving with coconut chutney, then you can skip brushing them with ghee. Oven baked masala vada will have some cracks on top.

Notes to air fry or bake

• I felt these masala vadas turn out much better with 4 hours of soaking time (lentils). This keeps them moist from inside and prevents them from turning dry or hard on the outside.
• The dough keeps good in the fridge for 4 to 5 days but don’t add onions when you make the dough. I add everything else except the onions which I skip most times.
• Adjust the air frying and baking time. I felt the chilled mixture gets done faster than the fresh ground mixture.
• Mine takes exactly 16 to 17 mins with chilled dough and 19 mins with fresh ground room temperature dough in air fryer.
• In the oven I had varying results with different pans, with & without parchment paper. If the dough is too loose and too moist it will get stuck to the tray. For the consistency check the video.
• Adjust the air fryer and baking time depending on the kind of oven/ air fryer.
• If they are not removed in time, they will become too hard.

Pro Tips

1. Soak the chana dal just for 2 hours. Chana dal vada made with over soaked dal will not turn out crispy. I usually do it for 1½ hours, drain the dal and then prepare the rest.

2. Do not skip the spices & mint leaves as they are the key to make the vadai flavorful. If you do not have mint you can still make them by adding some coriander leaves but the unique aroma will be missing.

3. If you are making for a festive meal or do not consume onion & garlic. Simply skip them, but do not skip ginger.

4. Blending the chana dal to a coarse and thick consistency is very important. If the dough has lot of moisture then the masala vada will not turn crunchy.

5. Traditionally no flour is added to the masala vadai dough. But by mistake if your dough becomes too soggy with lot of moisture then add little rice flour or powdered poha. Adding rice flour does alter the taste of the chana dal vada and should be used just to fix the consistency.

6. The shape of the masala vada must be flat and slightly on the thinner side. Do not shape them very thick as they will turn fluffy in the center and not taste good.