Keerai Vadai | Spinach Vadai

As the name suggests Keerai vadai is the vadai with healthy greens in it. Usually spinach (pasalai keerai) is used in these vadais. But you can add any greens you like. This deep fried fritter is a perfect tea time snack!

I was introduced to keerai vadai during my MIT (Madras institute of Technology, Chennai) days. I first tasted these delicious vadais in the MIT canteen. It was run by a Sourashtrian family. I absolutely loved their tiffin varieties and would never miss their keerai vadai!

These vadais have been in my “to-try” list for a long time and finally I did get time to prepare and enjoy the vadais at home 🙂

Time Taken:
to soak: 2 hrs
to prepare: 30 min
Yeilds: 25 vadai (approx)

Ingredients:
Spinach: 1.5 cups (chopped)
Curry leaves + Cilantro + mint leaves (optional): handful (chopped)
Chana dal: 1 cup
Urad dal: 1/2 cup
Onion: 1 (big sized, chopped finely)
Red chillies: 2-3
Green chillies: 2-3 (chopped finely)
Somph (fennel seeds/sombu): 1/2 tsp
Black pepper: 1/2 tsp
Salt: to taste
Oil : for deep frying

Preparation Method:

• Soak dal in water for 2-3 hrs.
• Reserve small quantity of the water (used to soak dal) in a separate vessel and drain the rest completely.
• Add black pepper, red chillies and salt with the dals and grind it to coarse paste.
• Do not add water while grinding. Sprinkle the reserved water if it gets difficult to grind.

Note: Dal paste should be as thick as possible to shape the vadai. You will not be able to make vadai if the paste is watery/thin. Also lesser the water in the paste, lesser oil will be consumed.

• Add spinach and other greens, onion, somph and green chillies to dal paste and mix thoroughly.
• Heat oil in pan.
• Take small amount of dal paste and shape the vadai by patting it on ur palm.
• Deep fry the vadai.
• Serve hot.

Share & Enjoy! -