Keerai Vadai – Dal fritters with greens

Its raining cats and dogs in this part oft he world. The monsoon rains made us crave enough and suddenly hit us hard with heavy downpours. As there was not much disturbance to everyday life still the weekend makes cravings for hot deep fried food. A bunch of ponnanganni greens which was originally planned for a kootu were forced to morph into these crispy vadais. They turned to be fabulous. I know, greens when deep fried looses all their good qualities but forgive me for this occasional indulgence 😉
Keerai vadai can include any greens but high-water content ones are not recommended. Thse ponnaganni greens were perfect for vadais. Jumping on to the recipe…
Ingredients:
Ponankanni greens (leaves only, washed and pat dried tightly packed) – 1 cup
Chana dal – 1/2 cup
Toor dal – 1/4 cup
Dry red chillies – 3
Sombu – 1/2 tea spoon
Peanut oil for deep frying – 1-2 cups
Salt to taste

How to make it ?
Soak the dals in water for half an hour. In the sumeet style mixie grind a dd the sombu and salt and red chillies and grind it coarsely. Add the dals coarsely. Do it in pulses else it would soon become mushy. 5-4 pulses would do. Now take out the mixture and add the greens. Do not shop the l leaves as they might taste bitter.

In a thick bottomed kadai heat peanut oil till 2 inches deep until smoking point. Take the dough in table spoon and drop it in ot oil. Fry till they turn golden and remove with a slotted spoon. Drain them on a kitchen towel and serve warm with a cup of masala chai 😉

Sit by your window sill and enjoy the rain drops chattering with the vadai and chai !
This is my entry to MLLA-17 hosted by dear Sra originally found by Susan