Aval Vadai | Poha Vada | Flattened Rice Fritters

Ingredients

• 1 cup aval/poha
• 1/2 cup + 1/2 tbsp water
• 2 tbsp yogurt
• 1 tsp rice flour (more 1 tsp more if needed)
• 3/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
• 1.5 tbsp carrot (grated)
• 2 tsps cilantro (chopped)
• 5 curry leaves
• 2 green chili (finely chopped, or to taste)
• 1 cup oil (or required for frying)

Instructions

1. 1

   Wash the flattened rice thoroughly and drain the water.

2. 2

   Now sprinkle 1/2 cup of water and let it sit for 12 to 15 minutes.

3. 3

   After 12 minutes, nicely mash the poha coarsely with hands. Then add the yogurt and mix it well.

4. 4

   Now add the other ingredients - rice flour, salt, carrot, cilantro, green chili. Combine them all and, if required, add 1/2 tbsp of water and form the vada dough. If the batter has more water content, add the additional rice flour and form a not-so-dry dough.

5. 5

   Take a small gooseberry size vadai mixture and flatten it into small patties. You can shape as per your preference. As you can see in one of the pictures, I made small round balls/nuggets also. Shape them as per your preference.

6. 6

   Heat the oil for frying in a kadai. Drop a small piece of vadai batter into the oil. If the oil is hot, the batter will rise immediately and sizzle.

7. 7

   And slowly drop the poha patties in the oil. Let it fry for 30 to 45 seconds and slowly flip them. Fry until the vada turns golden brown. By this time, the sizzling sound will reduce as well. Drain the fried vadai on a kitchen towel. Depending upon your pan size, you can fry 3 to 4 in one batch. Similarly, fry the remaining vada.

8. 8

   Serve them warm with chutney or ketchup.