Channa Dal Vada (Chattambade)

Chattambade is a very popular tea time snack from Udupi-Mangalore. These split chick pea fritters are absolutely yummy, crispy, crunchy and spicy. 

Soaked split chickpeas or bengal gram is ground into a rough paste with few spices and is then deep fried to get crispy, golden brown fritters. These crispy vadas with crunch from few whole lentils and the aroma from spices makes Chattambade a special treat with a hot cup of coffee or tea and a great tea time snack.

You can serve Chattambade on their own or with any coconut chutney, tomato ketchup or any sauce of your choice. However, it tastes best as is or with mint corrainder chutney.

Chattambade is also called split chickpeas fritters, bengal gram/chana dal vada or masala dal vada. Chattambade is a simple, easy to prepare snack with very few ingredients. Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of split chickpeas
• 4 green chillies
• 4 leaflets of curry leaves
• 1/4 cup urad dal
• 1'' inch ginger
• 7-8 garlic cloves
• 1 big onion chopped
• Fresh corrainder (optional)
• Dill leaves (optional)
• Grated mango (optional)
• A pinch of asafoetida melted in water/asafoetida powder (optional)
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

Serves: 2-3

Preparation Time: 50 minutes

Preparation Method:

Making the batter to make chattambade's:

1. Soak the urad dal and split chickpeas/chana dal separately for a minimum of 1 hour.

Soaking urad dal and chickpeas separately is important. We want to grind urad first into a smooth paste so that it binds together the other ingredients. Or you get a very dry chattambade mixture in the end.

Soaking the dals for an hour is very important. I had guests coming over one evening & soaked them in luke warm water for 35-40 minutes. Chattambade turned to be very crunchy and hard as the dals weren't soaked enough. 

2. Once they soak up for an hour, strain all the water from both the dals and keep them aside for atleast half an hour.

This helps get rid of any water that's present and preps the dal to give the desired texture to chattambade. Skipping this step gives you chattambade without crunch from the dals. You can set them aside for 1-2 hours, the longer you keep them aside the crunchier your chattambade gets.

3. After keeping the dals aside for atleast half an hour, grind urad dal first until they breakdown a little, then add in chana dal/split chickpeas and pulse the blender for few seconds. Grinding has to be done WITHOUT using any water, or else chattambade absorbs a lot of oil.

Grinding the split chickpeas/chana dal only for few seconds is crucial. The longer you grind the smoother the mixture gets and chattambade loses its character. We need majority of the chana dals intact and whole to add crunch and character to chattambade. If not you end up with soft chattambades.

4. Transfer the ground dals into a bowl. Do not add any water while or after transferring the ground dals into the bowl. 

The amount of water present in the batter is directly propotional to the amount of oil it'll absorb upon deep frying.

5. Peel and chop the ginger into tiny pieces and nicely smash them. 

6. Dice green chillies into as small pieces as possible.

7. Chop curry leaves into tiny pieces and add them along with chopped green chillies and smashed ginger into the bowl with the ground mixture.

8. Add salt, asafoetida melted in water or asafoetida powder and mix well.

These ingredients will give you simple yet yummy chattambade.

9. For more taste you can add finely smashed garlic along with their skin on, finely chopped onions and finely chopped dill leaves into the above mixture and mix well.

10. You can also add grated mango and finely chopped fresh corrainder for added taste.

Deep frying the batter to make chattambade's:

11. Meanwhile heat up the oil for deep frying.

12. Once the oils hot, take a handful of the mixture and make them into balls.

13. Flatten them a little using your fingers and drop them into rolling hot oil.

14. Fry them on both sides until golden brown.

15. Make sure you set the flame to medium once the oil's rolling hot so that the chattambade are cooked through uniformly. If not you end up having crispy outside and soft inside.

Serving Suggestions:

1. Serve these delicious chattambade hot on their own with a hot cup of coffee or tea.

2. You can also serve them with any coconut chutney, mint corrainder chutney, tomato ketchup or any sauce of your choice and enjoy!

P.S: Empty the chattambades withinin a few hours of preparation as they tend to get soft and lose thier crunch with time.

Find more Udupi, Mangalorean tea time snack recipes here.

Tags: Chattambade, masala vade, dal vada, channa dal vada, spicy, tea time snack, bengal gram fritters, masala dal vada, Konkani food, Mangalore food, Udupi cuisine, Konkani cuisine, Konkani recipe, Udupi Mangalore street food, Ganesh chaturthi.