Murungai Keerai Vadai | How to make Murungai Keerai Vadai at Home | Moringa Leaves Vada Recipe

Hi Supermoms, 

Here is another tasty  Murungai Keerai Recipe for you. 'Keerai Vadai' means spinach vadai and in Tamil Nadu you get different varieties of spinach. This vadai is a popular tea time snack and is also a Street Food. Crispy Vadai with a steaming cup of tea or coffee is simply irresistible. I have made the vadai batter with both channa dal/Bengal gram and tuvar dal/pigeon peas and added generous amounts of Murungai Keerai/Drumstick leaves. 

Tasty Snack that can be enjoyed at any time of the day. I made them as a part of our lunch . 

Keerai Vadai Recipe :

Preparation time : 1 hour

Cooking time : 20 minutes
Serves : 4
1 cup = 250 ml cup 
Special vessel : Iron kadai for frying 

Ingredients :

1/2 cup bengal gram/channa dal 
1/2 cup pigeon peas/ tuvar dal/ arhar dal 
1 cup moringa leaves /drumstick leaves/murungai keerai
3-4 dry red chillies ( I used guntur chillies)
1 teaspoon fennel seeds/saunf
1/2" ginger ( grated)
2 garlic pods ( finely chopped)
1 large onion ( finely chopped)
1 sprig curry leaves ( roughly torn)
pinch of asafoetida

salt to taste 

oil ( to fry)

Method :

1. Wash and soak channa dal and toor dal for one hour.

2. Drain the excess water , remove a tablespoon of the soaked dal and grind the rest of the soaked dals into a coarse paste along with dry red chillies in a mixie/mixer grinder.

Note : Do not add water while grinding. You can sprinkle few drops of water.

3. Transfer the ground batter into a mixing bowl or wide vessel.

4. Add salt, asafoetida, murungai keerai, onion, fennel seeds, ginger, garlic, onions , curry leaves and the ungrounded dal ( that you have set aside) and mix well.

5. Heat oil in a kadai and when the oil heats up to the right temperature, remove small portion of the vadai batter, flatten them into thin roundel and gently drop them into the oil.

Chef tips:

 a. To check if the oil is of the right temperature, drop a small ball of batter into the oil, if it instantly sizzles and floats up, you are ready to fry the rest of the batter. 

b.Make sure to keep the gas on low /medium flame while frying and on low flame only when you are dropping the batter in oil. 

c. The temperatures of oil has to be maintained to get uniformly coloured and well cooked vadais. This is the most important point to be kept in mind when you are making any type of vadai. 

d. You can add any kind of spinach variety and make this vadai.

6. Once the vadais are cooked on both sides, remove and drain them in a kitchen tissue.
You delicious Murungai Keerai Vadai is ready.  Serve hot or you can even pack these for  Office or School lunch boxes . But make sure to double the recipe as they will all disappear within minutes 😋

Happy Cooking !

With love,

Masterchefmom