Maddur Vade (Traditional recipe from The Hindu)

Maddur Vade (Traditional recipe from The Hindu)

A delicious deep fried , crispy and crunchy snack in Karnataka cuisine. Recipe from today’s news paper The Hindu.

Makes: 15 – 20 vades

Ingredients

1/4 kg  / 250 g / 4 onions

1/4 kg / 250 g / 1 cup  rava (sooji / semolina)

1/8 kg maida (all purpose flour)

Salt to taste (1 teaspoon)

A pinch of rice flour

Groundnut oil (300 ml oil to fry)

Method

Cut the onions into thin strands or threads and pour a little oil on them. Onions are the vadé’s principal ingredient, and the juicier they are and the better they’re cut (first held one way under the knife, then rotated by 90 degrees), the better the dish will taste. Add the rava and salt; the moisture in the onions is sometimes sufficient for them to mix with the rava, but a little water is also added. Maida is now added and mixed well; care should be taken to see that the dough is not kneaded at any point but just gently worked. To make the vadé crisp, a tiny amount of rice flour is added.

It is critical that this dough is now fried immediately; the rava should linger for as little time as possible if it is to retain its coarse nature. The frying (in lukewarm oil) is done in two stages: the vades are first fried for a few minutes (till the air smells of them) so that they lose any moisture; any oil is allowed to drain before they’re fried a second time, this time till golden brown. Eat with chutney.