Recipe | Peppercorn Lentil Fritters or Milagu Vadai

These peppercorn spiced lentil fritters or Milagu Vadai are a delicacy of South India. Normally prepared and offered to lord Hanuman, these thin crispy fritters are quite easy to prepare.

Ingredients;

 (makes 12-15 fritters)

• 1 cup whole black gram
• 1 tbsp. rice flour
• 1 tbsp black peppercorn
• 1 tsp. salt
• Oil for deep frying

Method; Wash and soak black gram (Urad daal) in water for half an hour.
Drain black gram and grind into thick coarse batter without adding water in it.

Take out the thick an sticky batter in a large bowl and add salt, crushed black peppercorn (kali mich), and rice flour in it.

Mix all the ingredients with a ladle or your hand to make a smooth batter.

Grease a small plastic sheet or banana leaf with oil.

Heat oil in a wok.

Take a marble size ball from the thick batter and roll it into a ball. Place the ball on greased banana leaf and flatten it to make a flat circular disc.

Pinch a small hole in between and deep fry in hot oil till it turns golden brown and crisp. Repeat the same process to make all the lentil fritters.

Notes;

1. Banana leaf or beetle leaf works well to shape these fritters.
2. Do not add water to grind soaked lentils.
3. The ground batter should be coarse and thick in consistency.
4. Keep the flame to medium heat to get evenly cooked fritter.
5. These lentil fritters stays good for many days.

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