Cabbage Vada was one of my Dad's favorite crunchy foods. My dad was the one who shopped for the vegetables as his office was in Byculla, and he used to love to go to the main Crawford Market to buy in bulk, for our large family. When cabbage was brought home, we invariably knew what was one of the dishes that would be served, and we waited eagerly for Amma to make them. We loved them so much! Here is the recipe, Enjoy!
1. Traditional Recipe
Ingredients:
1⁄2 cup Raw rice
1/2 cup Yellow lentil/Tur dal
2 medium sized Onions finely chopped (more or less as per your choice)
2 and ½ cups chopped Cabbage
4 -5 Red chillies (or more according to your taste)
2 tablespoons Grated coconut
1/4 - 1/2 tsp Tamarind concentrate or 1 teaspoon of tamarind pulp (more pulp if you like)
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
Steps:
Wash rice and tur dal; soak them together for 2 hours.
Drain the water and grind the rice-dal mixture with the red chillies, tamarind, grated coconut and salt into a coarse paste without adding any water. Coarsely ground batter with very less or no water will give a nice crunch to the ambados. I use my food processor to make this, to make sure that the batter is coarse and not pasty. It should be fine sooji consistency, as that ensures that the vaDas are crunchy.
Finely chop onions and cabbage and add to the batter, add the salt to taste, and mix it into a thick mixture.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan.
While the oil is heating, roll the mix into slightly flattened lemon sized balls. Once the oil is hot, drop these flattened balls one by one into the pan, and fry on medium heat till they cook uniformly inside and outside.
Serve hot.
2. Quick Method
Many times, we don’t have the time to plan and want something quick and easy. I have made cabbage ambado in a hurry many times, as I forgot to soak the dhal and rice or just because I wanted to eat something spicy and crunchy. Here is how I make it, I play around with the recipe until I have a consistency I can make into a flattened ball and drop into the oil.
Ingredients:
1 or 2 finely chopped Onions
2 cups finely chopped Cabbage
1 heaping tsp hot Chilli powder (more or less as per your taste)
A pinch of Hing (asafoetida) pd
A pinch of Ajwain (carom seeds)
Salt to taste
2 – 3 heaping tablespoons Rice Flour
2 – 3 heaping tablespoons Besan
1 tablespoon Rice rawa or sooji(optional)
1/4 tsp Tamarind paste
Water – Only if needed
Oil for frying
Steps:
Mix all the ingredients except the flours, sooji and water, and keep aside for a few minutes. The onions and salt will release moisture.
Slowly add in the rice flour and besan alternatively and sooji (optional) and mix well together, adding water only of necessary, until the mixture comes together and reaches a consistency where you can form the flat balls for frying.
Form the balls and fry in hot oil on medium flame till nice and crunchy. Enjoy!
Notes:
• Do not fry them on a high flame, as you may get end up with “a crispy outside and raw on the inside ambado”! Make sure you fry on medium heat once the oil is hot.
• These can be eaten as an appetizer or an accompaniment with lunch or dinner.
3. Air Fryer Method
The mixture number 1 or 2 can be air fried too. I have blogged it separately as Air Fried Cabbage Vada. It's just as good, I guarantee. I have learned to love it, as I am happy I am eating tasty as well as healthy.
Just a note: If you are air-frying, please add less of the chilli powder as it tends to taste spicier, since you are not frying in the hot oil. I think deep frying mellows the spice level a bit, so I make sure I add a little less chilli powder.
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