Tirupati vada are deep fried fritters made with whole urad dal, black pepper, cumin and salt. These are a popular naivedyam dish offered in Tirumala, the temple of Hindu God Venkateshwara.
Recipe Snapshot
- Prep time: 240 minutes
- Cook time: 30 minutes
- Total time: 270 minutes
- Yield: 12 · 12 vadas
- Category: Snack
- Cuisine: Andhra
Ingredients
- 1½ cups whole urad dal (/ black gram)
- 1 to 1½ teaspoons cumin seeds
- 1 to 1½ teaspoons black pepper corn
- ½ teaspoon salt ((adjust to taste))
- 2 to 3 tablespoons water
- ¼ cup Ghee (/ clarified butter for deep frying)
Method
- Wash black gram a few times and soak in lot of water for 4 to 5 hours. Drain it in a colander.
- Make a fine powder of cumin and pepper along with salt.
- Add dal and blend without water. Then sprinkle 2 to 3 tbsps water and blend to a coarse paste.
- The mixture will be thick and sticky.
- Grease a foil or banana leaf or clean moist cloth for making the vada. Dip your fingers in water.
- Divide the dough to 12 equal parts and shape them to balls.
- Place them on the cloth and spread them to thin vada with moist hands. Since the dough is sticky it sticks up to the hands. Make sure the vada are very thin else they will not cook well.
- Heat ghee in a kadai or fry pan. Transfer the vadas to your greased fingers and drop in hot ghee.
- Flip them and fry on both the sides on a medium flame until golden and crisp.
- If the urad dal vadas puff up then press them down with the spatula.
- Drain them on a kitchen tissue.
- Tirupati vada are ready.
Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note
Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.