Crunchy Rice Vadas (Tandla Vado)

Rice fritters are crispy, crunchy and a great snack. They are called tandla vado in Konkani. You can make them, store them in air tight containers and enjoy them for upto a month. 

A few days before any Konkani wedding these vadas are made as part of the wedding rituals. The day they make these vadas (tandla vado) is called vade tandul duvche in Konkani. It means washing the rice for making these vadas. On 'vade thandul duvche divas’, that particular day before the wedding, the bride and all the ladies of the family gather around to wash the rice grains for making these vadas. And then make these vadas together. 

The rice grains are washed, then ground into a fine powder along with urad dal/split black lentils and made into a dough. The dough is then flattened and deep fried to make yummy, crunchy vadas. That’s how these rice vadas are traditionally made. To save you some effort and time you can also use store bought rice flour, urad dal powder and make these vadas. However, the taste does differ a little, still tastes amazing. The quick, easy recipe is mentioned at the bottom. Here goes the traditional recipe: 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup rice grains
• 1/2 cup urad dal/split black lentils
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds
• A pinch of turmeric
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying
• One aluminium foil/plastic sheet

Serves: 3-4

Preparation Time: 1 hour

Preparation Method:

1. Wash rice well and air dry them on a cloth. 

2. Once the rice dries out completely, grind it into a fine powder.

3. Heat urad dal in a skillet for few minutes until their colour just starts to change to brown. Remove off heat and let it cool completely.

4. Once the urad dal cools down, make a fine powder of it.

5. In a big bowl, mix well the two powders, cumin seeds, turmeric and salt. 

6. Heat up the oil for deep frying the vadas. 

7. Add in 2-3 tablespoons of hot oil, butter, just enough water to make a dough and knead it well into a dough. We need a dry dough like that of chapathi.

8. Make tiny balls of the dough. 

9. Grease a clean plastic, aluminium foil with oil. Spread a few balls of the dough on a plate greased with oil. Keep the oil greased surface of plastic on the balls and flatten them using a bowl or a flat surfaced press. 

10. Once you flatten all the balls, fry them in batches on a medium flame. Fry them on both sides until they turn golden brown in colour. 

Medium flame's inportant or else you get vadas that are extra crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. Medium flame ensures they cook through and then get crunchy. 

11. Fry them for an extra minute if you like your vadas crispy. Fry them a little less if you like them soft to eat them with payasu.

12. Once the vadas cool a little, they get crispy and crunchy. 

13. Store any remaining vadas in an air tight container and enjoy them whenever you wish to. They can stay crunchy for months when made and stored right.

Serving suggestions:

1. Serve rice vadas as snacks any time of the day.

2. Serve rice vadas with mugadali payasu/madgane (chana dal dessert/payasam) and eat it as a dessert. Called as vade payasu in Konkani. 

Side Note:

1. Hot oil is added in step 7 to make the vadas crispy. 

2. To make these savoury vadas interesting you can coarsely grind green chillies, curry leaves and add them while kneading the dough. They give a nice flavour and taste. You can use red chillies, chilli powder too instead of green chillies.

The quick, easy recipe: You do save time and effort. :-)

1. Buy store bought rice flour/powder and urad dal powder. Just heat them for few minutes together in a skillet. We just want them to be a little hot.

2. Once they cool, make a dough adding the other ingredients like mentioned above. Rest of the steps remain the same.

Taste does differ a little from the above traditional recipe. It still tastes great though.

If you try the above rice vada recipes, do share your experiences. I would love to know from you how the rice vadas turned out.

Other good old Konkani household snack - called as dabbe khaan in Konkani are Chakuli, Fried Pumpkin Seeds (Bhajil Dudde Bee) & Plantain Chips (Banana Chips)

Tags: Rice vadas, tandla vado, crunchy snacks, dabbe khann, Konkani snack, Konkani cuisine, Konkani food, Konkani recipe, Udupi cuisine, Mangalore food, vodo