VADAYO VADAI After writing about Iddali and appam, I was thinking how tostart with Vatai (VADAI). Suddenly it came to my memory as prasadam the greendhal plus black gram vadai received from Namakkal Anjaneyar temple two yearsback. When we went to worship in the temple my daughter desired Vatamalai toAnjaneya, but the priest informed after a fortnight it can be adorned, book andpay the cash with all details. We did accordingly.
After about 20 days we received as prasadam 5 vada in apack with another cloth cover from the temple via courier. Since my son wascoming in a week for vacation, we thought of preserving it. Yes it was in excellent condition at thattime. With a prayer to NamakkalAnjaneya I will start my writing today. I was Assistant Engineer at Namakkal from 1985 to 1989 andmy office and telephone exchange were with in a KM from the temple. My wife wasa frequent visitor to the temple. Vatai- Introduction I am not sure theexact English word if any, for Vata- a snack. Fritter can be an approximateword. Vadai (Vada) may be made from legumes, sago or potatoes.Commonly used legumes include pigeon pea, chickpea, black gram and green gram.Vegetables and other ingredients are added to improve taste and nutritivevalue. For legume-based vadas, the legumes (dal) are soaked withwater, and then ground to a batter. The batter is then seasoned with otheringredients, such as cumin seeds, onion, curry leaves (sometimes previouslysauteed), salt, chilliesor black pepper grains. Often ginger and baking soda are added tothe seasoning in shops to increase the fluffy texture and improve fermentationfor large batches. The mixture is then shaped and deep-fried, resulting invadas with a crispy skin and fluffy centre. The preparation of kalmi vadasinvolves cutting the resulting product into pieces and re-frying them. Main ingredient commonly used is either Black gram orThoordal in south India. Vatai is common in Southern states as well as Northernstates though it could be a South Indian item. The taste of Parippu vata (thoordal vata) differs in Kerala from that ofTamilnadu. Probably the use of coconut oil and small onions added withred/green chili and ginger pieces makes the difference of taste. The ulundu (blackgram) vatai tastediffers with the quality of oil, the level of grinding and quality of Blackgram and period of frying. I was thinking ulundu vata of Tamilnadu tastes more.Recently two North Indians have started a small restaurant close to my home.Their vata looks yellowish and black gram is not ground as in Tamilnadu. Theygive north Indian chutni with vata. In Tamilnaduthoordhal vata is also called Aama vata. In my opinion the black gram vata should be of about twoinches in diameter. Providing the centre hole make the frying equal in centralarea also. Central hole is not provided for thoordal vadai and made slightly oval inKerala. Because it is less ground probably making central hole has becomedifficult. 2 History According to K. T. Achaya, Vadai (Vada) was popular amongancient Tamils during 100 BCE – 300 CE. A type of vada is mentioned as"vataka" in Manasollasa, a 12th-century Sanskrit encyclopediacompiled by Someshvara III, who ruled from present-day Karnataka. In this recipe, green beans are soaked,de-skinned, and ground to a paste. The paste is shaped into balls anddeep-fried. Early literature from the present-day states of Bihar and UttarPradesh also mentions bara (vada) and mungaura (a vada made from mung). 3 Description aboutVata Medu vada, made with urad dal (black gram) flour. This vada isshaped like a doughnut with a hole in the middle (i.e. an approximate torus).It is the most common vada type throughout South India and the mostrecognisable throughout India. It is also known as ulundhu vadai, uddina vade,minapa vada (Telugu) and uzhunnu vada. Parippu vada, is an exclusive staple foodauthentic of north Kerala made with yellow split peas green chillies, whole redchillies onions and salt(nothing more nothing less)]. It tastes entirelydifferent to other similarly shaped vada's available in south India made ofsome type of lentils and spices. Masala vada, made with toor dal (wholelentils) and shaped roughly like a flying saucer. It is also referred to as aamai vadai in Tamil due to itsresemblance to a tortoise. Other names include paruppu vadai(Tamil), masala vade (Kannada). Maddur vade, a type of onion vada unique to thestate of Karnataka. It is very popular in the Maddur town of Karnataka and hasa very different taste from any other vada types. It is typically larger thanother vada types and is flat, crispy (to the point of breaking when flexed)without a hole in the middle. It originally started as a snack at the Maddurrailway station on the Bengaluru – Mysuru railway line. Maddur was the halfway mark on thisline and most trains would stop there with passengers buying this tasty snack. My note- It is served inChennai- Bangalore trains while the train is near Bengarupet. One cannot eatmore than one vadai. 4 Serving Vadas are often eaten as snacks or as an accompaniment toanother dish. In restaurants, they can be ordered as an à la carte item, butare not the main course. They are preferably eaten freshly fried, whilestill hot and crunchy. They are served with a variety of dips including sambar, watery or dry chutneys anddahi (yogurt, often called "curd" in Indian English). Medu vadas are typically served along with a main coursesuch as dosa, idli, orpongal. Sambar and coconut chutneys are the standard accompanimentsfor medu vadas. 5 Varieties The various types of vadas include: Ambode, made from "split chickpeaswithout the seed coat" i.e. kadale bele in Kannada. Mosaru Vade, made by cooking a vada normally,and then serving the vada in a mix of dahi (yogurt) and spices. Ulli vada (Malayalam): made with onion inplenty. It is roughly round-shaped, and may or may not have a hole in themiddle. Rava vada, made ofsemolina. Bonda, made withpotatoes, garlic and spices coated with lentil paste and fried. In some regions, a bonda isconsidered a distinct snack food, and is not held to be a type of vada. Sabudana vada is another variety of vada popularin Maharashtra, made from pearl sago. Thavala vada, a vada made with different typesof lentils. It is more common in Tamilnadu Keerai vada (spinach vada) is made with spinach-type leafvegetables along with lentils. It is more common in Tamilnadu Batata vada (potato vada). Often served in theform of vada pav, with a bun (known as a pav) and chutney; a common street foodin Maharashtra, especially in Mumbai. Vada curry or vadasambhar is a gravydish that is made with prepared vadas blended with a vegetables in a curry or agravy format Bhajani cha vada: a vada made from a flour made from bajri, jawar,wheat, rice, channa dal, cumin, coriander seeds etc. A speciality ofMaharashtra, very nutritious too Doubles: a snack is made with two barasfilled with curry channa (curried chickpeas) and various chutneys. 6 My additions The vatai when soaked and given in Sambar it expands andabsorb the sambar. Depending on the quality of sambar here too sambar vataichange in quality and taste. Mostly Ulundu vatai is socked in sambar. The sambar powder differencegives the taste difference. The size of vatai can change and price depends on therestaurants. A small vatai is given along with iddali vatai set or pongal vataiset. But when brought separately the size of vatai changes in the railwaycoaches prepared in the pantry car. Really I liked the Ulunduvatai prepared inthe pantry car of Bangalore Chennai express. Update- Now nopantry car hot vatai preparations The vatai when socked in curd it is curd vatai. Mostlyulunduvatai is socked. The vatai when socked in rasam it is rasavatai. Here too ulundu vatai is socked. Udupi restaurants sock parippu vatai too in rasam and curd.Parippuvatai soaked in hot rasam and served is very tasty. Basically Ulunduvatai has a centre hole and circular inshape. Parippu vatai is oval in shape and no centre hole. There are variations in ulunduvadai and Parippu vatai inTamilnadu. Keera vatai,Vengaya vatai can be both in Parippu and Ulundu vaarities. Matthurvatai has a combination of ulundu, parippu and many other pulses. Parippu vatai mostly donot take companion.But the case with ulunduvadai is different- He mostly takes companion withIddali, Pongal and in restaurants along with dosai also. Whereas Kerala iyers prefer coconut chutney, in Tamilnadu,most like Pottukatalai chatni- merge or small percentage of coconut. 7. Srardha andUlunduvadai Ulundu vatai is served in srardha, as pieces,socked in curd as well as in Bitter gourd Kitchati. Some bhokthas takealong with rice, kitchati and ulundu vatai. Only pepperand curry leaves added on the srardha vatai. It is served to the left of the leaf (Thoosanside). Ulundu is a cooling item and hence served in srardha. 8 Serving addition Kerala tea shops have the combination- Parippu vata andtea. Shelf life of vata is for a few hours. The taste totally vanishes whenheated in microwave ovens. Since Ulundu vatai is a dear item most caterers serve oneor two maximum with iddali in the Tiffin period. THEY MAYSERVE MORE AND MORE UPPUMA, PONGAL, but lesser iddali and least vatai.Or else such lavishness should be there. A positive response will be- Vatai aayindirukku – Preparation is going on.The fact is readily kept for different panthies in most cases. At one time preparing vata in homes was for occasions. Nowit is common. It was a news to me when a person brought Sreevari Laddu andbrown colour vatai from Tirupati. Tirupati vatai was a new information to me. I recollect waiting and sitting for Thairvatai in an udupirestaurant in Roundana Mount road. Now the restaurant itself is not there. 9 Hanuman vataimalai. An incident related to use of jilebi as garland and Kanchi periyava comesto my recollection. Once a north Indian raised the doubt about Jilebi malai inNorth and Vatamalai in south to Anjaneyar to Maha periyayava. Periya asked him-what is the main content of both? He answeredBlack gram Periyava again asked- What is the property of Black gram. Heanswered cooling and soothing. Periyava smiled and said- Either vatamalai or jilebi malai-Both cools Hanuman. North Indian withouttelling understood- THEREIS NO DIFFERENCE Writer- R. Gopala Krishnan dated 12-4-2021 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/767208143.805126.1618228376636%40mail.yahoo.com.
