Air fryer masal vada

I shared a recipe for medhu vadai previously which required more prep ( i.e. making a batter etc.). Masal vadai can be made much more easily!When you have a hankering for this just soak the bengal gram (chana dal) and you can use it in a few hours. It is a high protein, crunchy, tasty snack.It is typically deep fried but I used this recipe for air-fryer instructions and my mom's recipe to make the batter for the vada.

Ingredients:

Channa Dal 1/2 cup ( soak in water for 2 hours)

Onion - 1/2 chopped finely

fennel- 1 tbsp

cilantro- chopped 1/4 cup

curry leaf- 4 or 5

dried red chili - 1 ground into a powder

salt to taste

oil- 1 tbsp

Instructions:

Pre-heat air fryer to 390F

1. Take the soaked dal and grind into a coarse paste in the blender. (Leave a hand full of whole dal out to mix in later to give a bit of crunch to the vada)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2.  Now add a little oil on a sauce pan on medium heat. Saute the onions until translucent and then saute fennel 
3. Now add in the onion and fennel mixture, salt, cilantro, curry leaf to the ground dal and mix well. Taste the mixture to adjust the salt. Now add in ground red chili powder to taste.
   
   
   
4. Shape the mixture into little balls and flatten them. You can apply some oil on your hands to prevent the vada from sticking to your hand.

   

5. Spritz with oil and place in the air fryer basket and cook for 4 min at 390 F. Flip it over and spritz with some oil and cook for another 4 minutes.  Healthy and tasty masal vadai is ready to serve.