Kalmi Vada is a lentil crisp , which is made crisp by refrying or double frying . This crisp is a speciality of Rajasthan and is normally used in chats.
Kalmi vada is made from a mix of chana and moong daal . The daals are soaked for a couple of hours and then blended in a mixer grinder . The batter is slightly coarse . The hand pounded spices like cumin and fennel lend a special flavor to these . To get really good kalmi vadas , you need to beat the batter with your hands so that it get aerated and fluffs up . The vadas are fried like any other vadas , but make sure not to fry them on full flame , the flame has to be adjusted for them to cook . Once done remove the vadas , let cool . Now slice these vadas into thin slices and refry , this time we have to make sure that they are nice and crisp and make a good noise when broken. !
Living in the walled city of Old Delhi , chats were my daily routine till the age of 19 . The golgappe wala always had a small portion of these fried lentil crisps along with papdi , bhallas . The papdi chat that he would make would have just one or two of these vada slices , so i always asked for a separate Kalmi Vada Chat plate . The vendor would add thin slices of kachalus over these and add creamy whipped dahi and saunth , lavishly sprinkle the spices . The kachalu and sonth combination still lingers !
For today I made the Kalmi Vada chat , but since these kachalus are not available here , I made the chat with just Kalmi Vada , dahi and saunth . The vadas retain their crunch even after dahi and chutney are added .
I have made these Kalmi Vadas long back , but those were with Chana Dal. Today’s Kalmi Vadas are with chana and moong dal and are my Day 23 post under the theme Sweets and Snacks .
Kalmi Vada
Ingredients
100 gms moong daal
50 gms channa daal
2 green chillies
A small piece ginger
To be pounded
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp black pepper corns
Pinch asafoetida
Pinch cooking soda
Salt to taste
Method
Wash and soak both the daals for 4 – 5 hours.
Grind them coarsely.
Add coarsely pounded spices.
Add ginger chilly paste.
Add salt.
Heat oil for deep frying.
Now till the time the oil is heating, beat the batter very well.
Finally add asafoetida and cooking soda and mix again.
Take a big lump of batter and drop it into the oil.
Similarly make more big pakoras and drop them into the oil.
Simmer the flame and let cooking the vadas.
Remove with a slotted spoon, once they have cooked.
Let cool.
Now using a sharp knife slice the pakoras.
Refry these slices till golden and crisp.
Serve them as it is or as a dahi papadi chat.
Week 1 Sweets
Day1 Gajjar Halwa Spring Rolls
Day 2 Gajjar Halwa Cups with Badaam Pista Kesar Ice cream
Day 3 Motichoor Cheese Cake
Day 4 Kesari Mango Shrikhand with Roasted Almonds
Day 5 Kesari Phirni with Mango & Nuts
Day 6 Rabdi
Week 2 Gujrat – City Specific Specialities
Day 7 Dry Fruit Kachori – Jamnagar Special
Day 8 Papad nu Chavanu – Khambat Special
Day 9 Tum Tum – Nadiad Special
Day 10 Tikha Ganthia – Bhavnagar Special
Day 11 Leelo Chevdo – Vadodara Special
Day 12 Limbu Mari ne Sev
Week 3 Gujrat Festival Special
Day 13 Bajri na Vada
Day 14 Methi Poori
Day 15 Fulwadi
Day 16 Farsi Poori
Day 17 Sada Khakhra – in a griller toster
Day 18 Besan Sev
Week 4 State Specials
Day 19 Pappu Chekkalu -Andhra Pradesh Special
Day 20 Handvo – Gujarat Special
Day 21 Ratlami Sev – Madhya Pradesh Special
Day 22 Kotambir Vadi – Maharashtra Special
Kalmi Vada
Ingredients
- 100 gms moong daal
- 50 gms channa daal
- 2 green chillies
- piece A smallginger
To be pounded
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp black pepper corns
- Pinch asafoetida
- Pinch cooking soda
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash and soak both the daals for 4 - 5 hours.
- Grind them coarsely.
- Add coarsely pounded spices.
- Add ginger chilly paste.
- Add salt.
- Heat oil for deep frying.
- Now till the time the oil is heating, beat the batter very well.
- Finally add asafoetida and cooking soda and mix again.
- Take a big lump of batter and drop it into the oil.
- Similarly make more big pakoras and drop them into the oil.
- Simmer the flame and let cooking the vadas.
- Remove with a slotted spoon, once they have cooked.
- Let cool.
- Now using a sharp knife slice the pakoras.
- Refry these slices till golden and crisp.
- Serve them as it is or as a dahi papadi chat.
Are kalmi vadas supposed to look like this? I made them like masala vadas. 🙂 Anyhow these are really delicious and of course that chaat must have tasted lovely.
The Kalmi wadas sold in the market are almost like these , flat ad very very crisp , slightly porus .
That’s some chaat Vaishali, looks very sinful and inviting! I would surely love the chat version!
OMG! The chaat looks super tempting and sinful. I wish I had tried this version as well 🙂
Lovely presentation and very nice chaat dish. Serving kalmi vada with yogurt looks delicious.
Would love to try chaat and yours looks so sinful. I used chana dal and would love to try with moong dal too. Looks absolutely srumptious