Beetroot Vadai

Ingredients

• Grated beetroot - 2-3 cups
• Channa dal & Toor dal -1 1/2cups combined
• Chopped Onion - 1 1/2 cup
• Chopped coriander & curry leaves - 1/4 cup
• Chilli powder - 3/4 tspn
• Sonuf(Sombu) - 1 tspn
• Hing - 1/4 tspn
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tspn
• Salt - 1 tspn

health tip

Beet greens are a very good source of calcium, iron, Vitamins A and C. Beetroots are an excellent source of folic acid. Betacyanin is the pigment that gives beetroot its color and has powerful antioxidant properties. Beet fiber has been shown to have cholesterol lowering capabilities. Beetroot contains the bio-active agent betaine which supports healthy liver function.

Beetroot Vadai

method

1. Wash & soak the dal for 2 hours.
2. Grate the beetroot & squeeze the juice out. You may also grind the beetroot coarsely instead of grating. Either way you will have to take out the juice completely. You can see the pictures below for both grinding & grating. Beetroot juice that is left out may be used to make healthy soup.
3. Chop the onion, curry leaves & coriander finely.
4. Grind the sombu(sanuf) coarsely. Drain the dal & grind it coarsely along with ground sanuf without adding water. The dal should not be ground finely. Grinding them for 2-3 seconds yields a good texture.
   

   If the ground mix is watery, you may reduce the water by adding a teaspoon or two of besan flour. If the mix is still too thin, you may make usili instead of vadai by sauteing the ground mix in a nonstick pan with some oil till the mix becomes dry and powdery.

   
   
5. Mix the ground mixture, chopped onion, curry leaves, coriander leaves & other powders together. Make equal sized balls & flatten them & fry the vadais in hot oil. This recipe yields 20 vadais.
   

   Vadai can be frozen for future use. Make the vadai as per the procedure & freeze them before frying them. Place the vadai 1/2 inch apart in a flat freezer safe box. Place a plastic wrap between each layer if two or more layers have to be added(see the picture below for reference). Freeze them flat. You may thaw the frozen vadai by placing them separately in a microwave safe plate & by microwaving them for 1-2 minutes followed by frying.