Paal vadai, pal vadai or milk vadai is a unique and different Diwali sweet recipe. Although Amma insists it was often made at home, especially during Diwali, I don’t recall this sweet being part of the celebrations at all. Read on for how the recipe of paal vadai unfolded.
I was lamenting to Amma on the phone on Sunday saying how I had wanted to make some sweets for Diwali but nothing really happened. Then she goes “have you posted paal vadai yet?”Me: “Paal vadai? Have I eaten that before?”
Amma: “What are you saying? I used to make it all the time when you kids were smaller!”
Me: “I… don’t.. remember..”
Amma: “OK, it’s very easy. Here’s how you make it”
And so I made it!
Once made, it looks a bit like gulab jamun but don’t get misled by the looks. This sweet is remarkable in its sheer simplicity. Also check out quick and easy Diwali sweet recipes.
Paal Vadai Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup of skinned whole urad dal / ulutham paruppu
- A pinch of salt
- 2-3 cups of milk more or less
For jaggery syrup:
- 5 tbsp of grated jaggery or brown sugar
- 10-12 tbsp of water
- 1 pod of cardamom
Instructions
- Soak the urad dal in enough water to cover it by 3 inches for about 1 to 2 hours.
- Grind the soaked dal with enough added milk to make a thick, custard-like batter. It should have the consistency of the batter you would grind for medhu vada. Add salt and mix well.
- Heat oil to almost smoking point and add small quantities of batter into it. No need to shape them, just make them into small lime-sized balls.
- Fry until golden brown and drain on kitchen towels.
- For jaggery syrup, mix the jaggery and water and bring to boil. Peel and add the cardamom pod, including the skin.
- Remove the syrup from fire and dunk the fried urad balls in. Keep covered and let it soak well.
- That's it! Serve warm or at room temperature.
Step by Step Paal Vadai Recipe:
1. Soak the urad dal in enough water to cover it by 3 inches for about 1 to 2 hours.
2. Grind the soaked dal with enough added milk to make a thick, custard-like batter. It should have the consistency of the batter you would grind for medhu vadai. Add salt and mix well.
3. Heat oil to almost smoking point and add small quantities of batter into it. No need to shape them, just make them into small lime-sized balls.
4. Fry until golden brown and drain on kitchen towels.
5. For jaggery syrup, mix the jaggery and water and bring to boil. Peel and add the cardamom pod, including the skin.
6. Remove the syrup from fire and dunk the fried urad balls in. Keep covered and let it soak well.
That’s it! Serve warm or at room temperature. The flavour is predominantly that of urad dal so it’s quite unique and delicious.
You can also make these in white sugar syrup, just omit the cardamom pod in that case, it may overpower the flavour.
This is an interesting recipe!!The wadas look incredible!!
looks absolutely great dear..Happy Diwali to u n ur family 🙂
this one looks like south indian version of gulab jammoon Nags !!
Totally new recipe for me..and looks great
This is new to me… Looks so good!
the looks deceive.. close cousin of gulab jamun i guess…
Krithi's Kitchen
Event: Serve It – Festival Potluck
My Mom makes them too, I think same dal, calls it "rosho bora" aka "ras vada". Yours look plump, juicy and very Diwali-ish.
Happy Diwali Nags
Very interesting recipe Nags 🙂
Very difficult to cook for me. I miss an ingredient…
SUper delicious paal vadai,quite new for me.