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Aama vadai in a plate
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5 from 61 votes

Aama Vadai | Paruppu Vadai | Chana Dal Vada

Aama Vadai also called the paruppu vadai is popular on the menu for festivals and weddings. This easy chana dal vada is made with basic pantry ingredients and is a no-onion and no-garlic vada recipe.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Soaking time2 hours
Total Time2 hours 30 minutes
Course: Appetizer, Festival Recipes, Snacks
Cuisine: Indian, Tamil Nadu
Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan
Servings: 20 Vadai
Calories: 95kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Blender
  • 1 fry pan
  • 1 slotted ladle

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Chana dal / kadalai paruppu
  • ½ cup Toor dal / tuvaram paruppu
  • 1 Tablespoon Urad dal / ullutham paruppu
  • 2 Green chilies
  • 3 Red chilies
  • ¼ teaspoom Asafetida
  • to taste Salt
  • few Curry leaves
  • to deep fry Oil

Instructions

  • Wash the lentils well and soak them together for one to two hours. It is usually sufficient to soak it for an hour.
  • Drain the lentils in a colander after the soaking time and let them drain for a few minutes. I usually soak the lentils and then in an hour or so drain them in the colander and let them sit there until ready to grind.
  • Transfer the drained dal to the blender or food processor jar and grind it along with green chilies, red chilies, asafoetida, and salt. Add very little water when grinding. Also, make sure to grind the lentils coarse. I also keep a few whole lentils aside before grinding to add them to the batter.
  • Add the curry leaves to the vada batter and mix well.
  • In the meantime, heat oil to deep fry the aama vadai.
  • Once the oil is hot, add a small piece of vada batter to the oil to check if it is hot enough. The batter should rise up and slowly start crisping up. If the oil is too hot, then the vada will brown outside too quickly whereas the interior will still be uncooked. So the temperature of the oil is very important to make crispy aama vadai.
  • Take a small lemon size batter and slightly flatten it in your palm. Slowly slide the shaped paruppu vadai into the hot oil. Depending on the size of the frying pan, add a few more vadai into the oil without crowding.
  • Using a slotted spoon, flip the vadai and cook on both sides until golden brown.
  • Remove the cooked vadai and drain it in a paper towel-lined bowl.
  • Serve warm.

Notes

Serving suggestion
Vadai tastes amazing with a cup of hot filter coffee.
If you are not a hot coffee person, then serve the chana dal vada with Iced Caramel Macchiato or Vietnamese Iced Coffee.
If serving the paruppu vadai as an evening snack then make sure to make some delicious coconut mint chutney or some kara chutney
Variations of Paruppu Vadai
Since this aama vadai is made for festivals, we make it without onion or garlic. On a normal day, we can make the same paruppu vadai or chana dal vada with onion and a few other spices and make it Masala Vadai.
Vazhaipoo vadai or Paruppu vadai with banana flower is a very popular snack in Tamil Nadu. We can add finely chopped banana flowers and make this aama vadai batter into vazhaipoo vadai.
I love adding finely chopped cabbage to dal vadai. Cabbage vadai is one of my favorites when I can't use onions. We can make the cabbage vadai in the air fryer as well and in the same way, we can make the aama vadai in the air fryer too.
Storage suggestion
Vadais are best when served hot. This is one of the best snacks that taste great right off the pan.
In case we have to make it ahead of time, then we can reheat the aama vadai in the air fryer or oven before serving.
Leftover vadais freezes great. During the festival time when making aama vadai with many other dishes, I always end up having leftovers. I freeze them and then use them later after heating them in the air fryer. The paruppu vadai comes out tasting just as fresh as just fried vadais.

Nutrition

Calories: 95kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 0.4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.02g | Sodium: 18mg | Potassium: 1mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 0.5g | Vitamin A: 20IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 19mg | Iron: 1mg