Paruppu Vadai (Indian Chickpea Fritters)
Servings: 4 servings (5 fritters each)
Calories: 357kcal
Cost: $1.09 for 5 fritters
These crispy vegan chickpea fritters are an Indian street snack called ambode or paruppu vadai. The batter is mixed in a blender or food processor, then fried or baked.
Print Recipe
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
- Oven and baking sheets (for baked version)
- Dutch oven or high-sided skillet (for fried version)
Ingredients
- 1 cup dried chickpeas, preferably split chickpeas aka chana dal
- ½ cup fresh dill, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
- ½ cup fresh curry leaves (*optional)
- 1 large onion, quartered
- 1 inch piece ginger or 2 tsp dried ground ginger
- 3 dried Kashmiri chili peppers or 2 tsp chili flakes (add more if you like it hot)
- 3 tbsp rice flour
- 1 tsp fine salt or 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp asafoetida (*can sub with garlic powder)
- ½ tsp turmeric
- grapeseed oil or sunflower oil (1 cup for deep frying or 1/4 cup for baking)
Instructions
- Soak the split chickpeas. For baked vada, soak them for at least 8 hours; for fried vada, 2 hours of soaking is enough. (You may need to soak longer if using whole chickpeas.)
- Add all the ingredients except oil to a blender or food processor. Blend on low speed until ingredients are very finely chopped, but with some whole chickpea chunks still visible. (If you overblend, you'll lose some of the chunky texture but the recipe will still turn out nicely).
- Form the mixture into balls slightly smaller than a ping pong ball. Gently pat them between your palms into patties around 1/2-inch thick.
Frying Instructions
- Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet over medium heat. If you have a laser thermometer, the oil should read around 350 °F (175 °C); it will drop down to 300 °F (150 °C) when you add the fritters.
- Place the vada into the skillet. Fry for 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown on both sides. Add more oil for subsequent batches as needed. I ended up using 3/4 cups (150 g) of oil to cook all the fritters.
Baking Instructions
- Place vada onto baking sheets and use your hand to flatten each to 1/2 inch thick. Drizzle 1/4 cup oil over top.
- Bake at 425 °F for 25 minutes, flipping halfway.
Waffling Instructions
- Spray waffle iron generously with oil and cook the vada until golden-brown.
- Serve with hot ketchup, spicy chutney, or red pepper jelly!
Nutrition
Calories: 357kcal | Carbohydrates: 45g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 16g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Sodium: 601mg | Potassium: 606mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 560IU | Vitamin C: 61mg | Calcium: 93mg | Iron: 4mg