Baked Parippu Vada/ Baked Lentil Fritters

I never knew that we can bake parippu vada/ lentil fritters till my husband who is calorie conscious told me to make parippu vada but bake it instead of frying which we do usually. I was thinking of someone would have ever tried baking these fritters when he sent me a link of baked parippu vada. I was amazed and thought of giving it a  try, but was not sure about the taste, texture or the crispness which is fully loaded when we fry these in oil.

One evening, I baked them till done i.e till light golden color on top and surprisingly they turned out perfectly delicious. My husband and my little one finished off in a go. A very delicious and a healthy version of fried fritters.

Parippu vada is also called as masala vada, which is prepared using split peas, can also be prepared using a different combination of lentils. In Kerala, we can see these in almost all the tea shops. It is a must have snack for Keralites. My dad, who loves all the fried snacks, loves eating these vadas along with small bananas and a cup of hot tea. I too love them like that. Try these and am sure that you all will like them.

Ingredients:

1. Chana dal- 1 cup
2. Red chilies- 5- 6 nos
3. Ginger (chopped)- 2 tbsp
4. Curry leaves- few
5. Salt- as required
6. Chopped Onions- 1 no
7. Oil- 1 tsp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Soak the chana dal for about 3 hours and drain it for some time. Pat dry the drained dal using a kitchen towel and grind the dal to a coarse puree along with curry leaves, ginger and red chilies.
3. Make sure that before grinding all the soaked dal, keep aside 3 tbsp of dal. This can be used when mixing everything.
4. Transfer the ground dal mixture into a bowl and fold in the chopped onions, salt and the whole dal which we kept aside without grinding.
5. Mix and shape them into flat discs and place on a greased baking tray or on a parchment paper.
6. Brush oil on top of the discs. Bake for about 20- 25 minutes. Flip them, halfway through. When they cool down, serve them along with desired chutneys or just like that along with evening tea.