Chattambado or Daal Vada

Chattambado or Daal Vada is quite a common fried food in my home. The best ones I have eaten are the ones made by my aunty, hence I chose her recipe for the Vade with a simple variation of adding onions and cilantro chopped for that extra zing. She fries them in Coconut oil for the extra flavour. Some also address it as Daal Vada. Typically, this was made at our home when we had guests as a tea-time snack. It was a matter of great pride and happiness if Chattambado was made. Needless to say, one needs to enjoy them hot from the frying pan and the disappear in minutes once transferred to the cooling plate. I see this dish slowly dwindling nowadays, very rarely someone makes it at home. I would not be surprised after 20 years this could become an ancient vintage dish. I have loved the one served at Mitra Samaj, Udupi and the small restaurants dotting Car Street - Udupi, which we devoured with cousins and friends with ample amount of giggles and laughter thrown in. After all, this was Ajja's (konkani for grandfather) treat and you would want to enjoy it to the brim.

You can say it is very similar to the infamous Maddur or Madhur Vade, this is a crispy palm-sized Vade which originate from a place called Maddur; its a small town located on Bangalore-Mysore express train strip. Once the train halts off for a quick pit-stop break at Maddur, you would see men and women carrying these hot Vade's in colorful buckets of blue and green strolling around in the compartment's hoping to find a seller for these home-made Vade's. If you end up buying one, a huge flattened Vade spread on a newspaper A4 sized paper if offered to you, costing only 6/- and tasting crunchy with the occasional bites and mish-mash of onions and daal. Ok, stop to wandering thoughts, digress and deviate and back to Chattambado. :)

Chattambado, the way its made at my home is a round mass, small and thick. These are much softer and give you ample chance to enjoy the core and the crust as well. Want it crispy, flatten them with palm and they come almost close to Maddur Vade. My Mom's version of Chattambado has Urad dal and Chana Dal in 1/2:1/2 proportion, I would save this recipe for another post. Serve with some coconut chutney and enjoy them with a cuppa Ginger Tea.

On a separate note, Konkani Foodie completes 2 years! Yay! Cannot fathom that I have come this far with the blog; Some highs and lows, the blog is marching on. Special thanks to all my blogger friends who played a pivotal role in this journey.

Preparation time: 4 hours

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Yield: 6-8 Vadas

Ingredients:

Chana Dal - 2 cups

Onions (chopped) - 1 cup

Cilantro leaves (chopped) - 1/2 cup

Green Chillies (chopped) - 2

Asafoetida - Just a pinch

Ginger (minced) - 1" piece paste

Curry Leaves (chopped) - 4-5

Salt - As per taste

Cooking Oil - For frying

Turmeric powder - 1/5th teaspoon

Red Chilli powder (optional) - 1/2 teaspoon

Water - As per requirement

Method:

Wash and soak Chana Dal for 3-4 hours in water. Drain the water out completely and grind to a coarse mixture. Keep in mind that the Vada has to have bites of Daal, bit ground and bit whole so do not grind it to a pasty consistency. The better your paste, the tastier the Vada. Add onions, cilantro, ginger, salt, curry leaves and turmeric powder. The batter has to be dry and should not have water in it. Make small patties - about 1 1/2 " diameter and flatten them. Heat oil in a deep frying pan, deep fry the vada's in batches till they have a crispy reddish brown crust. Adjust the flame on medium-to-low, don't overheat and overcook or vice-versa. Drain on a paper towel and enjoy them hot with Ginger Chutney (Aalle Chutney) or Coriander (Kothmiri) Chutney.