Parippu Vada (Lentil/Dal Fritters) Recipe With Step By Step Pictures (2024)

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June 28, 2018April 29, 2012

Here is the recipe…

Soak chana dal for 2-2.5 hours. Drain the water completely…

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Pat dry the drained dal with a clean kitchen towel. Grind the dal in mixie for a few seconds. Please note that that the dal should be crushed and should not be made into a smooth paste.

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Add all the other ingredients, except oil, to the dal and combine it gently. Make small balls with the dal mix.

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Heat oil in a deep pan. Meanwhile, wet your hands and flatten each ball within your palms. When the oil is hot enough add the flattened dal mix…

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Fry the vadas on low-medium heat, till it becomes crispy and a dark shade of brown. Drain the fried vadas on tissue paper…

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Parippu Vada (Lentil Fritters)

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Servings: 10 -12

Author: Maria Jose

Ingredients

▢ 2 cups Chana dal (split bengal gram/kadala parippu)
▢ 1 big Onion (finely chopped)
▢ 2-3 Green chilli (finely chopped)
▢ 1-2 tsp Ginger (finely chopped)
▢ 1/4 tsp Fennel seeds (optional, refer notes)
▢ 3-4 stems Curry leaves (finely chopped)
▢ 1/8 tsp Kayam (asafoetida)
▢ Salt
▢ Oil

Instructions

▢
Soak chana dal in water for 2 hours. Drain the water completely. Make sure that the water is dried well, pat dry the dal with a clean kitchen towel.
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Crush the soaked and drained dal, just run it in mixie for a few seconds. Make sure you dont grind it to a smooth paste. Add all ingredients except oil to the crushed dal and gently mix it together. Make small balls with the dal mix (gooseberry size).
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Heat oil for deep frying pan on high flame. When oil is really hot, reduce the flame to low-medium and add the vada. Before adding to the oil, just flatten each ball in your palm. Wet your hands before flattening the dough. It is better to flatten the dough just before adding to the oil, otherwise it may break.
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Fry till the vadas (fritters) become golden brown or if you like it extra crispy, fry till you get a darker shade of brown. Drain excess oil on a tissue paper. Serve hot.
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You will get around 20-25 parippu vadas of small-medium size, with the above qty.

Notes

It is better to make small size vada, so that it gets cooked well. If you want the authentic taste, use coconut oil. It is important that the water is drained well, otherwise the batter may become runny and you will not be able to shape it well. But if your batter turn out to be runny, dont worry, just drop the batter into the oil using a spoon and fry in the same method. We added fennel seeds to half the qty, as an experiment. It gives a different taste. It's optional to add fennel seeds, may be you can also try adding it to a small qty and see whether you like it. If you are using, add it along with the onions and stuff. If you want the vadas to be really crispy, fry it till it becomes a bit darker shade of brown. In some places, they use peas dal for making this vada. So if you dont get hold of chana dal, you can try it with peas dal. You can also make this in advance, if you want to make it in bulk. Cook the dal and crush it and keep. Chop the veggies. Refrigerate. Dont mix it together, since the water from onion can make the batter soggy. Mix everything together just before frying.

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50 thoughts on “Parippu Vada (Lentil/Dal Fritters)”

Hi Maria
Your site is my ‘go to’ website for recipes that taste authentic and are always dependable. Like this Parrippu Vada recipe which i am trying for the 3rd time.. always spot on.. !! Hence, I was a trifle miffed to read some of the comments posted on this recipe.. dear visitors, pls appreciate that MM gives you FREE access to TRIED and TESTED recipes.. ask me.. ive tried recipes from other sites with not so good results.. at least let her make some revenue in the form of Ads.. cause i sure dont want her to go charging for access to the site? please try and be nice when you post your comments.. so that it becomes a learning exp for new cooks visiting the site.. and yes.. We all know that print ink is POISONOUS.. i am sure Maria didnt run out of dishes for the photoshoot? its called ‘creating the mood’ in photography…
Seriously people.. does it take a lot to be kind??
Reply
- Hi Joseph,
  See Also
  Pazham Pori Recipe in Malayalam Ela Ada Recipe in Malayalam THAEN MITTAI RECIPE - INDIAN SWEET/ HONEY SUGAR CANDY Quick Onion Chutney Recipe | Vengaya Chutney
  Thank you so much for your lovely message! Great knowing that MM is your “go to” place for recipes. Thanks for supporting us, appreciate it very much!
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Pre vada recipe describes the changes in Kerala ambience. I feel that change has extended to the recipes also. I grew up as a marunaadan malayalee in central India and still remember the parippu vada frying in Kurian Uncle’s cafe. No fennel or toor dal. Plain parippu accessorized with onions, chillies and ginger. Your pic took me down memory lane. Looks yumm.
Reply
Please don’t use reading newspaper to keep oily food, The ink in the paper is poison. News paper is for reading not to be used as a food container.
Reply
- Hi Anu,
  Thanks for your concern. I do agree with you completely. This was done just once for the photographs, trying to recreate the “chayakada” effect. I normally use kitchen tissue for the same.
  Reply
I always liked Maria’s recipes, but now I stopped looking at the blog just because it has got way too many advertisemepnt andtr the the page won’t load properly. Please try to improve on this. You are a good cook Marsoia, let people learn cooking from you.
Reply
- Hi Somi,
  Thanks for your mail. I understand your feeling, but we do need advertisem*nt to cover our costs. There is an ad free option here, please check it out. https://mariasmenu.wpcomstaging.com/club
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Tried the recipe today .. Everyone loved it. Definitely will make this recipe a lot more times in the future.
Reply
How to do parippuvada for a large number of people. Pls explain the last part of your recipe (cook dal and refrigerate…).planning to do it for Christmas carol. Your recipes are my motivation in cooking, thank you so much. Maria Mathew
Reply
- Hi Maria,
  You can double the qty and follow the same recipe for large number. As I’ve explaine din the recipe, you can cook the dal in advance (one or two days) and refrigerate it. Add all the other ingredients to the dal on the day of cooking, before frying. If you combine everything in advance, the mixture may become soggy. Hope it’s clear now.
  Good to know that you find the site useful, thanks :)
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Hello Maria,
If I need to make a lot more than 10 vadas, should I evenly increase the ingredients? I am just worried about adding too much chillies or kayam. I am looking to make a quite a bit more for a small party (between 50 – 70). Thanks.
P.S. I also tried your Sambar (Traditional with coconut fry) and it came out very well. I will be trying lots more of your recipes over the summer.
Reply
- Hi Dawn,
  The above qty will give you 20-25 vadas, depending on the size you shape it. Honestly I’ve never made such big qty, so I’m not sure about the proportion. But I think it’s better not to go for even increase in qty of other ingredients, may be you can increase it by half or 3/4 th. Do a taste test by test frying 1 or 2 vadas and add more chillies or kayam or other ingredients, if required.
  Hope it helps and I do hope it comes out well.
  Happy to know that you liked the sambar recipe, thank you :)
  All the best for making vada! Please let me know how it turned out.
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Hi Maria,
Thanks for your recipe.
I was wondering if we can use Toor dal instead? If yes, is there any special precaution we should take? Please let me know.
Reply
- Hi Sijo,
  I haven’t tried it with toor dal, but I guess you can do that. just like chana dal, make sure you dont grind it too much.
  Hope you get to try this soon.
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Hi maria i love your site and its my top favorite next to facebook.. I know you have to pay for the upkeep of the Site.. But seriously those Ads which keeps redirecting to Play Store is getting on my nerves and makes me visit some other Food Blog instead. Please put the Ads some where on footer or header. Just a humble request from a fellow malayalee and Food lover.. :-)
P. S parippu vada looks awesome going to make it for the first time in the next week.
Reply
- Hi Liza,
  Thank you so much! Really good to know MM is one of your fav sites :)
  About the ads, we are sorry for the inconvenience. It was caused by a malware from Google Network.
  We’ve notified the ad network about the same and it should be fixed by now.
  Hope you continue to visit MM regularly and enjoy trying out the recipes. All the best for your parippuvadas :)
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Hi Maria…how are u doing? Ive grown up eating these yummy vadas that my dad used to make for us on sundays! Was extremely nostalgic today while making it…after having tried my hand at some complicated receipes I thought this one would be a breeze to replicate…but I was so wrong! I adhered to your recipe to the T but somehow my vadas just were not turning brown!!! The oil was hot and the mix was fine too…I just dont know where I went wrong…would you be able to help me pls?
Btw yours looks exactly how my dad would make them:))..but being truly loyal…I’d say his tastes the best to d ones ive had till date :D your recipes are droolworthy and I keep trying some every now and then…thank you would be a small word for the wonderful job your doing to help so many amateur cooks including me:)) lots of love- Shiney
Reply
See Also
beetroot pachadi recipe | kerala style beetroot raita
- Hi Shiney,
  I’m doing good dear, thanks. Sorry to hear that vadas didnt turn out perfect for you :((
  hhmm.. I’m also not sure why it didnt brown if the oil was hot enough, let me check with my mil and get back to you..
  The food cooked by your loved ones tastes the best always by default :)
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Hi Maria, Can you please increase the DOF (depth of field) while taking the photos so that the entire dish is in focus? I can see only a little bit of the parippuvada :) your photos are great otherwise.
Regards,
Sofiya
Reply
- Hi Sofiya,
  I’ll try my best :)
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
- Hi Sofiya,
  I’ll try my best :)
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Hi Maria, Can you please increase the DOF (depth of field) while taking the photos so that the entire dish is in focus? I can see only a little bit of the parippuvada :) your photos are great otherwise.
Regards,
Sofiya
Reply
Hi Maria, Can you please increase the DOF (depth of field) while taking the photos so that the entire dish is in focus? I can see only a little bit of the parippuvada :) your photos are great otherwise.
Regards,
Sofiya
Reply
I think soaking for an hour or half is enough…otherwise dal might absorbs a lot of water and difficult to drain water out of it and shape vada ..
source:my own experience
Reply
Thanks a bunch Nitha :) Nice to know that you liked them.
Cheers
Maria
Reply
hai…maria…. i tried dis,and it vas very nice….if u add little bit coriandel leaf,maks it more tasty
Reply
- Thank you Deepa and thanks for the tip too :)
  Reply
Hello maria, you are a superstar in cooking :-) thanks a lot for all these amazin recipes
Reply
- aww, that’s so sweet of you to say that, thanks a bunch dear :)
  Reply
Very good recipe, you have given clear instructions. Tempting………
Reply
- Thanks Vijaya dear! Please do try it sometime..
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
thanks for simple and tasty recipes , I’ve tried many recipes of yours and everything was success, chicken stew and korma were amazing at the first time itself , staying in bangalore i was badly missing those tastes of home kitchen .. now i made it here … and let me tell you one thing , your recipes are really practical .. thanks for that .
Reply
- Hi Tom,
  Thank you! Great to know that you try recipes from here regularly. I’m glad that it reminds you of your home kitchen :) Thanks for taking time to share your feedback here.
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Nice to see this… incidently i made parippu vada the other day at home, and today i see it in your blog… nice! I did not add jeerakam, so shall try that out next time :)
Reply
- Hi Ida,
  Thank you! yeah try with jeerakam, next time, it gives a diff flavour.
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Parippu vada with chaya-it cannot get better than this!
Reply
- Hey Divs,
  yeah it’s a super combo! Btw, I was about to msg u today, because I didnt see you in FB much these days, so thought of checking up with you and today morning first thing I saw was your comment :)
  Hope all’s well with you…
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
OMG,i can smell the parippu vada at 11.20pm after seeing the snaps in your blog .
Reply
- Hi Anupama,
  hehe, I liked your comment very much :) Thank you!
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Hi Maria ,
Thanks a ton for this recipe..my paripu vadas were always a flop.But your tips came to a rescue this time..n I could make yummy vadas Enjoyed reading the intro too.Keep
writing and keep posting..
:)
Reply
- Hi Nidha,
  Thank you very much! I’m really happy to know that this recipe was of help to you :)
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Dear Maria,
I searched the whole place looking for your parippu vadai recipe…finally found it…whew!! Trying this weekend…
Reply
- Hi Sharmila,
  I just posted it last week dear.. Hope you got to try it and liked it too :)
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Hi Tina,
Thanks dear! I do hope you get to try this soon :)
Cheers
Maria
Reply
Hello Maria,
This pics,parippuvada covered in news paper and tea in KANNADI glass(thats how wecallthose kinda glass)gives anostalgic vibe to all SADA mallus out there : )Great Effort Maria .Keep up the good work
Cheers
Reply
- Thanks Rose! How are you? It’s been sometime, right?
  Btw, we too also used to call it kannadi glass :)
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply
Mariaaaa…I just love the way you write…and for sure ur recipes too…
and even the pics are classy!! Hats off to u!!
Reply
- Thanks a lot Hiba dear! Hope you are doing good.
  Take care..
  Maria
  Reply
Loved the picture! Those kuppi glasses with the frothy tea…now that reminds me of the Kerala chaayakadas. I grew up on parippu vadas too – they made a great snack on rainy evenings!
Reply
- Thanks Mini! How are you?
  Yeah its really nice to sit and watch rain while having hot parippu vadas n chai!
  Cheers
  Maria
  Reply