Ambode - Chana Dal Vada Recipe

Aamvade - parappu vade - South Indian Snack

Ambode or chana dal vada is a south Indian recipe. It is known as ambode (kannada), aamvade, parappu vade(tamil, telgu) or chana dal vada (hindi). It is a split chickpea recipe.

Chana dal is also known as bengal gram dal. Ambode is also part of festival foods.

Chana dal vada is also a perfect rainy day or a winter day evening snack. When it is made on festivals, no onions or garlic is used but as a snack you can make many variations which you will find below.

Instead of chana dal, toovar dal(also known as arahar dal, toor dal, pigeon pea) can be used. But I think chana dal ambode tastes best.

How to make ambode - aamvade - parappu vade - chana dal vada

Ingredients for ambode - chana dal vada to make 10-12 ambode

Chana dal (split chickpeas) - 1 cup
Green / red chilies - 4-5, more or less according to taste
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Coriander leaves (cilantro) chopped - 1 tbsp
Rice flour - 1 tbsp
Water - to wash and soak dal
Salt - 1 tsp or according to taste
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp, more or less according to taste
Oil for deep frying.

Optional ingredients

Curry leaves chopped - 10
Fresh grated coconut - 2 tbsp

Preparation for ambode:

Wash and soak chana dal for about 2 hours in water.

washed chana dal

After soaking , chana dal will look like the image below.

After 2 hours, pour onto a colander to drain all the water.

Grind the soaked dal with green chilies and ginger to a coarse paste. Do not add any water while grinding dal.

No need to grind dal to a very fine paste. It is ok if a few dhal grains remain unground. Remove to a bowl. You can see the ground dal in the image below.

Method to make ambode - chana dal vade

Add curry leaves, coriander leaves, coconut, rice flour, salt, red chili powder. Mix well.

Form into lime sized balls. Keep aside.

Frying ambode - chana dal vade

Heat oil. Keep the flame medium.

When oil is hot, press each ball to flatten a little and drop carefully in the hot oil. You can add 4-5 or more ambode at a time depending on the size of your kadhai (fryer) and the amount of oil you are using.

Fry till the ambode are golden brown on both the sides. Turn the vade once in a while so that they will be fried evenly on both the sides.

Remove from oil after draining well.

Fry all the ambode in the same way.

Ambode are great to eat hot or cold. They will keep well for two days without refrigeration. Serve by itself or with chutney or tomato ketchup.

Tips : The addition of rice flour makes it crisper. If you prefer, you may grind the batter to a fine paste. I prefer to have a few dal grains whole.

For variation add any one ingredient given below.