Recipe Index

Ingredients

• 1 cup urad dal
• 3 Tbsp. plus 2 tsp. Diamond Crystal or 1 Tbsp. plus 3¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, divided
• Vegetable oil (for frying; about 4 quarts)
• 2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt (not Greek)
• 6 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 cup tamarind purée
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
• Cayenne pepper, chaat masala, and cilantro leaves with tender stems (for serving)
• A deep-fry thermometer

Method

1. Rinse the urad dal in a sieve, cover it with room-temperature water in a medium bowl, and soak it for at least 5 hours and up to 12 until softened.
2. Drain the soaked dal and blend it with 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal or 1/2 teaspoon Morton kosher salt and 1/2 cup water until the purée feels completely smooth rubbed between your fingers.
3. Scrape the dal purée into a container with room to rise, cover it loosely, and ferment it in a spot held near 115° for 3 to 4 hours until doubled.
4. Heat about 4 quarts of vegetable oil in a large heavy pot fitted with a thermometer until it reaches 350°, and stir the fermented batter gently.
5. Drop scoops of batter into the hot oil in four or five batches and fry them for 9 to 11 minutes, turning and basting them with oil, until they puff, hollow and turn deep golden brown.
6. Drain the fried vadas on paper towels, then stir 3 tablespoons Diamond Crystal or 1 tablespoon plus 2 1/4 teaspoons Morton kosher salt into 4 quarts of hot water in a large bowl.
7. Soak the vadas in the salted hot water for about 30 minutes until pale and spongy, then squeeze each one gently in your palm to press the water out.
8. Whisk the yogurt with the sugar and the last 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal or 1/2 teaspoon Morton kosher salt until both dissolve into the yogurt.
9. Spread most of the sweetened yogurt over a platter, arrange the squeezed vadas in one layer, and drizzle the remaining yogurt over them.
10. Pour the tamarind purée and fresh lime juice over the yogurt-covered vadas, dust them generously with cayenne pepper and chaat masala, and scatter cilantro leaves across the top.

Total: 5 hours (plus 4 hours for fermenting)

Nutrition (per serving, where published)

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central ingredient data