You will love this Dahi Vada/Dahi Bhalla/Thayir Vadai recipe! This delicious Indian snack has yogurt, fried lentil fritters, and sweet and savory toppings. Dahi Bhalla is a crowd favorite because it's easy to make and loaded with flavors! Save this recipe of dahi vada for the holiday season!
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Everyone loves Dahi Vada
But what is Dahi Vada? Dahi means yogurt and vada mean fritters. This is one of those dishes that's made across India. Only the kind of vadas differ.
In this dish, the fried vadas or fritters (made from lentils) are dunked in a sweet and spicy yogurt mixture and served. Top it with many fun toppings to make it more appetizing.
The name and the recipe of dahi vada vary across India. It's called Dahi Vada in Maharashtra, the Dahi Bhalla in north India, Thayir Vadai in south India, and Doi Bora in the east of India.
There's something about soft vadas soaked in a spiced yogurt sauce! They're sour, sweet, savory, and spicy. That is why everyone loves this snack.
It is also a popular street food in India. We also like to serve it at weddings, parties, happy occasions, or events. It is also referenced in several Bollywood movies due to its popularity.
Why make this
My version of the Dahi Bhalla recipe is a mix of many different recipes. While no one really needs a reason to make Dahi Bhalla, here are some that might interest you.
- Simple recipe with basic pantry ingredients
- It's a crowd favorite and can easily be made for large groups
- Can easily make it ahead of time
- It's a drool-worthy and appetizing snack
- You can easily make it vegan
This recipe of dahi vada is fool-proof. I have tried it many times with the same result.
Ingredients needed 🧾
Lentils - I make it using three types of lentils - urad dal, yellow moong dal, and green gram split moong dal. All these lentils can be easily found at the Indian grocery store or Amazon.
Yogurt - Use full-fat or light yogurt that's not sour, in this recipe. If using Greek yogurt, thin it down a bit by adding water. Check notes below for vegan options.
Spices and herbs - cumin powder, coriander powder, chilly powder and cilantro (not shown in ingredients image ) are all you need.
Other basic ingredients - ginger paste, green chillies, and sugar or powdered sugar help in building the flavor palate of this dish.
Toppings - green chutney, sweet chutney made from tamarind and dates, and sev make this dahi vada extremely flavorful.
Baking soda is added to make these fritters fluffy. Besides all these ingredients, you will need oil for frying.
How to make it 🔪
First we need to make the vadas. Here is how you make the batter.
- Wash and soak urad dal, yellow moong dal and green gram split moong dal for 8 hours or even overnight.
- Drain and transfer to a blender jar. Also add broken green chillies.
- Then add ginger paste, salt, coriander powder and cumin powder.
- Grind to make a smooth and thick batter by gradually adding cold water. It should not be grainy in texture but smooth.
- Transfer the batter to a bowl.
- Add baking soda and hot oil. Whisk the batter till it's light and fluffy to aerate. The vada batter is now ready.
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- Add oil to a frying pan. Keep the flame on medium. To check if its hot enough, add a small pea-size batter to the oil. Chef Tip - If it immediately floats up to the top, that means the oil is very hot, lower the flame. If it sinks to the bottom, then it means oil is not hot enough. The right temperature would be when the ball takes a couple of seconds to float up. Using a small spoon or tablespoon, drop the balls in oil. Fry them on medium flame till they evenly turn golden brown. Keep tossing them in oil to cook evenly.
- Fry them in batches. Do not overcrowd. Transfer the balls to a bowl of warm (not hot or room temperature) water immediately. It should float. Chef Tip - Leave them in water till they become bigger, turn soft and fluff up or leave it for 15-20 minutes.
- Squeeze out the excess water from them using your palm. Press gently so that they don't loose their shape and break. Transfer to a plate for now.
- To prepare the Indian styled yogurt mix, in another bowl, add yogurt. Whisk it till smooth and creamy. Add salt and sugar to the bowl.
- Also add chilly powder, chopped cilantro (not shown in above image) and cumin powder to the bowl.
- Whisk it all together. You can chill this Indian yogurt mixture till it's time to serve or add the squeezed out vadas to this bowl, mix and chill it in the fridge. Mix the vadas with the yogurt mixture if you plan to serve them in small bowls. Keep them separate if you plan to serve them in shot glasses (like in the pictures).
- To serve in individual glasses or jars, smear the sides of the glasses with sweet chutney and green chutney. Add 1-2 tablespoons of yogurt mixture into the glass.
- Stuff the glass with 2-3 vadas in each glass.
- Fill it with the spiced yogurt. Be generous here. Top it with sweet chutney.
- Sprinkle sev, chilly powder and cumin powder on top. You can also garnish with chopped cilantro.
Serving suggestions 🍽
Cover with cling wrap and chill these glasses in the fridge till its time to serve. I would suggest you make this 6-7 hours ahead of serving time and keep it in the fridge.
When it's time to serve, take the bowl or the glasses out. It tastes best when served chilled. Serve these dahi bhallas after a meal, or as a light snack.
Make dahi bhalla a part of your menu when hosting guests, parties, potlucks, events, during the holidays like Holi, Diwali, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, or New Years!
If you like serving treats in a jar, check out these recipes - Chai Cheesecake, Mango Cranachan, and Apple Pistachio Mousse.
Top recipe tips 💭
There are many variations to the thayir vadai batter recipe. You can make them with just urad dal, moong dal, or a mix of urad and yellow moong dal instead of three different lentils.
Some soak the fried vadas in buttermilk instead of water. You can try that too. Dip the spoon in water and then use it to drop the batter in hot oil when frying. The batter will not slide off easily.
Recipe FAQs 📖
It helps to keep the batter in the fridge for 15-20 minutes. If the batter becomes too thick, gradually add teaspoons of water till you get the desired consistency.
The vada batter needs to be thick yet flowing consistency. While grinding the lentils, add water gradually. If it becomes too runny, fix it by adding chickpea flour/semolina or rice flour.
In order to check if the thayir vadai batter consistency is right, add a pea sized ball to a bowl of water. If it floats, it means the batter has aerated well and is good to use.
If it sinks to the bottom, it means you need to whisk it a bit more. I learned this useful trick from a friend.
You can add boondi, mint leaves, coconut, raisins, ginger juliennes, masala peanuts, chaat masala, or pomegranate arils, or chopped cilantro as toppings. Customize the toppings based on availability.
Store the vadas and the yogurt mixture separate or together in a bowl. The vadas taste better when they soak in the yogurt longer.
Fried vadas stay in the fridge for 4-5 days. Soaked vadas stay good in the fridge for 2-3 days. Prepared dahi vadas stays good in the fridge for 3-4 days. The batter stays good in the fridge for 2-3 days.
You can freeze the fried vadas. It stays good for upto 3 months. Arrange the fried vadas flat on a baking tray, cover them with plastic wrap and freeze.
Once they are frozen, transfer to a ziptop container. To defrost, transfer to the fridge a night before. Take them out, and let them reach room temperature.
Then soak them in lukewarm water for 30-40 minutes. Squeeze out the water, assemble and serve. You can also freeze the thayir vadai batter.
You can easily make this recipe of dahi vada dairy-free! The vadas or fritters are naturally vegan. Use unsweetened dairy-free yogurt made from almond milk, coconut milk or even oat milk.
The traditional thayir vadai recipe calls for frying the vadas. However, there are some ways around it. You can shallow fry them in an appe pan using less oil.
The other alternate method is to bake them. Bake them at 450 degrees F for 10-12 minutes. Having tried all these versions, I still prefer the fried dahi vadas.
Indian yogurt recipes
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Recipe 📖
Dahi Vada Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
To make the vadas
- ½ cup urad dal
- ⅓ cup moong dal
- ⅓ cup green moong dal
- 3 green chillies
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon coriander powder
- ½ cup water
- salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon hot oil
- oil for frying
To prep the dahi
- 3 cups yogurt
- salt
- 2 tablespoon powdered sugar
- 4 teaspoon cumin powder
- 4 teaspoon chilly powder
- ¼ cup cilantro
For garnish
- ¼ cup green chutney
- ¼ cup sweet tamarind chutney
- ¼ cup sev
Instructions
To make the vadas
- Wash and then soak urad dal, yellow moong dal and green gram split moong dal for 8 hours or even overnight.
- Drain and transfer to a blender jar. Also add broken green chillies. Then add ginger paste, salt, coriander powder and cumin powder.
- Grind to make a smooth and thick batter by gradually adding cold water. It should not be grainy in texture but smooth.
- Transfer the batter to a bowl. Add baking soda and hot oil. Whisk the batter till it's light and fluffy to aerate. The vada batter is now ready.
- Add oil to a frying pan. Keep the flame on medium. To check if its hot enough, add a small pea-size batter to the oil. If it immediately floats up to the top, that means the oil is very hot, lower the flame. If it sinks to the bottom, then it means oil is not hot enough. The right temperature would be when the ball takes a couple of seconds to float up.
- Using a small spoon or tablespoon, drop the balls in oil. Fry them on medium flame till they evenly turn golden brown. Keep tossing them in oil to cook evenly. Fry them in batches. Do not overcrowd.
- Transfer the balls in warm (not hot or room temperature) water immediately. It should float. Leave them in water till they become bigger, turn soft and fluff up or leave it for 15-20 minutes.
- Squeeze out the excess water from them using your palm. Press gently so that they don't loose their shape and break. Transfer to a plate for now.
To prep the dahi
- In another bowl, add yogurt. Whisk it till smooth and creamy. Add salt and sugar to the bowl.
- Also add chilly powder, chopped cilantro, and cumin powder to the bowl. Whisk it all together. You can chill this Indian yogurt mixture till it's time to serve or add the squeezed out vadas to this bowl, mix and chill it in the fridge.
To assemble
- To serve in individual glasses or jars, smear the sides of the glasses with sweet chutney and green chutney.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons of yogurt mixture into the glass.
- Stuff the glass with 2-3 vadas in each glass.
- Fill it with the spiced yogurt. Be generous here. Top it with sweet chutney.
- Sprinkle sev, chilly powder and cumin powder on top.
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