Thata Vadai/ Disc Vadai

I know most of you must  be wondering what sort of vadai that is. I wondered too. On my last visit to India, our friend, Prabhu came home with a bag of 30 plus of these vadai's, which were hot off the stove. The whole room smelt of a tea shop and in minutes all the vadai's were gone. I am sure everyone in our house must have had multiple vadai's. Remember that these are no normal sized vadai's . They were bigger than your palm and as big as a CD disc. Prabhu was nice enough to get me this recipe and here I am sharing it with everyone. It has been drizzling this morning, which reminded of Coimbatore in June/ July and to enjoy the weather, I decided to make the thatai vadai, that is sold in my home town and have my hot cup of elachi chai.  Valzhalga Prabhu!!

Gadgets:

Frying Pan

Cutting Board

Knife

Aluminum Foil

Draining Spatula

Paper Towel

Colander

Measuring Cups and Spoons

Bowl

Ingredients:

Makes 5 Vadai's 

All Purpose Flour/ Maida - 2 cups

Rice Flour - 2 heaped tsp

Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1 tsp plus

Green Chilies - 2 or more thinly sliced

Onion - 1 finely sliced 

Ginger - 1 tbsp grated

Garlic - 1 tbsp grated

Cilantro - 1/4 cup roughly chopped

Oil - 2 tbsp

Water - 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp

Oil for frying ( roughly 2 cups)

Preparation:

1. Place the frying pan on the stove on medium heat with oil for frying. 

2.Add all the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add oil and mix well. 

3. Add all the onions, ginger, garlic, chillies and mix well with the flour.

4. Add water and form a soft dough.

5. Split the dough into 5 portions and make a ball with it. 

6. Flatten the ball of dough to lightly so that it helps in frying easily

7. On the kitchen counter, place 2 square sheets of aluminum foil. 

8. Increase the level of heat over medium high. When the oil is ready to fry, add one vadai portion into the oil and fry on both sides 40 seconds each.

9. Remove the vadai from oil and place it on one aluminum foil sheet.

10. Place the other sheet over it and flatten it with your palm and shape it to the size of a CD disc but keep it thick (1/2 inch).

11. Put the disc shaped half fried vadai back into the oil and fry on both sides until golden brown and enjoy it with a cup of hot tea.