With super crispy skin and delightfully soft insides, the good old urad dal vada or uzhunnu vada enjoys an indisputable reputation as the most favoured tea time snack. A plate of hot masala dosa or ghee roast isn't complete without a delicious uzhunnu vada on its side. The snack which obviously has its origins in South India is also called medu vada, which means 'soft'.

It is believed that the very first uzhunnu vada was made in Karnataka. In Kannada, this popular snack is called uddina vada. It becomes uradu vada or uluntu vada in Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, in Telugu, it is called garelu. Uzhunnu vada is prepared using a batter made with urad dal, curry leaves, green chillies, black pepper corns and shallots. However, shallots are not added in the uzhunnu vada, which are cooked to be offered at the temples.

Keralites enjoy the authentic taste of the uzhunnu vada while people in other states love to have them soaked in yogurt or spicy rasam. These are called thairu vada or rasa vada. South Indians soak the vada in spiced yogurt while the North Indians love it sweet. Unlike what we have here, the vada soaked in sweet yogurt, in the North Indian states, do not have the ‘traditional’ hole in the middle. Though not as renowned as the iconic uzhunnu vada, almost all the Indian states have some sort of snack that resemble vada.

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