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Milagu Vadai (Peppercorn fritters)
By
DK
on Mar 29, 2010
I have been hardly cooking last few weeks - the work pressure is getting on to me with deadlines one after the other. The food is mostly simple and nothing special enough to post. So I have been using up all my drafts and soon its going to hit dead end. :) Anyways until I hit the drought, here is one of the recipes I made for last Hanuman Jayanthi - an Indian festival celebrating the monkey god. The word "Milagu" in Tamil means "peppercorn" and "vadai" denotes fritters.
Its super simple to make and follows the same procedure as its more famous contemporary Medhu Vadai. The trick is to grind the batter thick and without water. Pat them into flat discs and fry them until crisp. We have enjoyed them not only on a festive day but also on normal days. These are especially amazing during rainy days. The peppercorns and the frying is the best thing one can do on a rainy day :) Without further adieu, lets go to the recipe
Basic Information
Prep Time: 1 to 2 hours
Cook Time: Under 15 min
Serves: 3 people
Yield: Makes around 10 vadais
Ingredients
- 1 cup urad dal (whole black gram lentil)
- 1 tsp peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp rice flour
- 1 tsp ghee (optional, replace with oil)
- 1/2 tsp salt (or as per taste)
Method
1
Soak the black lentil for at least 1 hour in water.
2
Drain the lentil well.
3
Add the lentil to the processor
4
and grind to a coarse paste. Add drops of water only if you are not able to grind it.
5
Add peppercorns, salt, cumin seeds to the processor and grind it for few more seconds.
6
Take the batter in a bowl. Add rice flour and ghee to the mixture and blend it well with your hand.
7
Take a small piece of the batter and shape it into a small ball. Little small then lime. Place it on a greased plastic sheet (zip lock bag etc)
8
Grease your fingers to prevent the batter from sticking to your hand. Pat it gently.
9
Flatten it into a thin disc.
10
You can make a small hole in the middle with your finger. It is optional.
11
Slowly invert this plastic sheet onto your hands so that the disc falls easily onto your hands. This is possible only if you have greased the plastic well. You can alternatively use a wet cloth to pat the disc too. Drop this gently into a hot oil for deep frying. It should neither be too hot nor lukewarm. Keep it med-high.
12
Let it cook until it gets reddish golden color.
13
Remove and place it on a paper towel to drain of excess oil.
You can store this in air tight containers. These are crispy and yummy with a bite from peppercorns. Yummy snack which will be loved by kids too!
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25 Responses to “Milagu Vadai (Peppercorn fritters)”
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can i make this with white urad dhal.Please give a quick reply becoz tommorow is saturday & i need to offer it to God for the first time.
It is White Urad. Is it not clear from the picture?
Dear DK!
I am a hard core non veggie who cannot give up on her meats and fish! Eggs, I don’t care for too much…but your website has made me fall in love with vegetarian cooking! Your enthusiasm and range of dishes is truly inspiring. I love my food and yes, I have made some of the dishes on your blog with minor changes that suit me and my kitchen supplies! However, I have never added my variations to your recipes…maybe I’ll do that soon!
Now, I just wanted to know, what could be a substitute for Rice Flour? Since most of the friams weigh heavy on the guilt factor (for it being deep fried), I wonder if there are other binding ingredients that can be used? How about besan? But then that has a taste of its own and it would affect the taste of urad dal in this case!
I have an alternate recipe for Sabudana Pakoda…will write soon!
Much love
ritu
In this particular recipe (which I assume you are talking about ) the qty of rice flour is minuscule (1 tsp) so skipping it entirely will not affect the outcome of the recipe to large extent. It might be a little less crunchy but no harm done. But for recipes where rice flour is the main highlight ingredient, using Besan instead will of course majorly affect the recipe. If you are talking about Sabudana Vada, you can use potatoes as the binding agent. The one I posted is a South Indian version of the Vada. The north Indian version which I will post later does not use rice flour at all. You can use that one
hi dk, i tried this hanumar vadai, but the batter went very sticky, i was not able to make a proper ball out of it, how do i rectify this. Any ways.. the vadai turned great with little bit of ifs and buts..!
I think the reason it went sticky was excess of water. That’s why the care for not adding (or v v v minimal amounts) while grinding the batter. You can try adding additional rice flour to make the batter thick, or simply place the batter in the fridge. It will thicken when it cools a bit
Hope this helps –DK
Beauty!!
Yum! Im going to try baking this too…it looks really delicious!Great site
Milagu vadai looks super and it came out perfect in shape,, very simple n easy to make for any time,,,thanks for sharing dear,,take care n keep on smiling
It’s looking real crispy and I think it’s not too oily:)
Wah! very easy and crunchy. My grandma making this vadai with black urad dal, that was look like thrupathi wada.I will try this.This vadai colour is good.
Appa used to buy these vadas for us whenever we visited a hanuman temple, if I am right this is offered as prasadh when we perform sevas in tirupathi. But I am on SBD so can’t think of making it for the next couple of months atlleast
Its has been ages i prepared this pepper vadai, looks very crispy DK..
My hubby loves pepper vada..Me too planning to try hanuman temple vada for a long time.will surely try this and let u know..Awesome clicks with neat explanation !!
Wow, looks yummilicious as always
I almost fainted…Dk Deep fried..DK DEEP FRIED? lol
I just can’t wait to try this out, sounds simple and would make a better snacking option for my kid than potato chips..isnt it?
Lovely looking fritters I must say !
Yum,I always associate these with Hanuman Temples.You are right these are perfect for rainy days.YUM
Have had them in temples and never made them myself. Looks spicy and tempting on a rainy day we have out here.
Umm..I’ll join the club too!!I wait for the poojari to remove the vada mala just so that I can have this..yummy goodness!!
WOW!! I love this vadai!!!. Tho I am not a person to regularly go to temples I always used to go to the Anjaneya temple every chance I got. Just for these yummy vadais
My sister loves this.. in fact we tease her by saying that she also needs a vadai maalai similar to anjaneyar
very crunchy n tasty looking…pepper gives a great flavour…very nice photo
I’ve always called these “hanuman vadai”
Usually me & my cousins couldnt WAIT for the vadamalai to come off Lord Hanuman’s neck as prasadam! 
LOL!!! Birds of a feather! I am so the same!!!!!!!!!!!! –DK
oh can this be baked too? or does it have to be deep fried?
You can try baking it the same way I have done in Masala Vadai – refer this post: http://chefinyou.com/2009/06/baked-masala-vadai/
Hope it comes out well –DK
looks simple, will try
looks simple and easy, will try