Baked Medu Vada/Uzhunnu Vada/Urad Dal Vada

Ive soaked Urad dal today to make Medu Vadas  in the evening. Well, today I will be making the fried version and suddenly I remembered I have the baked version somewhere in my draft. The pics are not perfect coz I wasnt planning to blog it (psst psst, I took these pics on my mobile fone). Well, you cannot compare the baked version to the fried one. The fried one tastes better any time but this DOES come close plus the added benefit of guilt free snacking- coz u must be knowing that the fried medu vadas absorbs a LOT of oil. And in case, you want to take a look at the Fried version, here is the recipe. But still, I have to tell you when I baked it last time, it was over in 15 minutes..My kids absolutely loved it. So maybe they didnt realize it was baked...or maybe didnt mind the fact that it was baked.. :) whatever...!!!!

Urud Dal: 2 cups

Shallots Chopped: a handful (8-10)

Ginger: 1 tsp minced

Green Chillies: 2 chopped

Pepper: 5 crushed

Curry leaves: 1 sprig

Salt: as needed

Oil: 3 tbsp

Soda Bi carbonate: 1 tsp

Baking Powder: 1 tsp

Soak the Urud Dal in water for 5-6  hours.

Grind it without adding water.

Preheat oven to 300C or the maximum temp on your Oven

Pulse the shallots, ginger, curryleaves, pepper and green chillies just once and add to the urud dal batter.

Add required salt and mix well.

Add the oil, baking powder and soda Bi-Carbonate and mix it well, try beating it to get the dough aerated well.

Coat your baking tin with non stick spray

Wet your palms, scoop a ball from the batter, flatten it and make a hole in the centre.

Place it on the tray, 1 inch apart

Cook till done. (it took around 20 minutes in my oven but oven temperatures vary, so keep an eye

Serve warm.