Monsoon snacks

Corn vada (Mokkajonna Vadalu) is a popular snack item in Andhra pradesh, it is even served as a breakfast at few households.I have heard about these vadas from my MIL and she also shared me the recipe once to try.But I somehow kept forgetting to try it and when I got a couple of fresh corns during my shopping last time I wanted to try it and the vadas turned out delicious.One should use aged corns instead or tender and young corns as the tender corns turn to a paste when ground and hence it cannot add texture to the vada.

• Prep time: 10 mins
• Cooking time: 20 mins
• Total time: 30 mins
• Cuisine: Andhra
• Category: Snacks

Ingredients:

• 1 big Corn or 2 cups Corn Kernels
• 1/3 cup Chana dal
• 1 Onion,finely chopped
• 3-4 Green Chillies
• 3/4" Ginger,chopped
• 2-3 tbsp Coriander leaves.chopped
• 2 tbsp Mint leaves, chopped a sprig of Curry leaves,roughly torn
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Soak Chana dal for an hour and keep it ready.
• Cut the corn from the edges using a sharp knife as shown in the picture or you can even remove the corn kernels carefeully but it is time consuming.Reserve 1/4 cup cut corn or kernels.
• Grind soaked chana dal, green chillies,salt and ginger once until it is mixed.Do not grind for long.
• Now add cut corn(reserve 1/4 cup corn for later use) and grind to a very coarse paste.
• Keep it in the refrigerator for half an hour.
• Heat oil in a deep kadai over medium flame.
• Add finely chopped onions, coriander leaves, mint leaves, curry leaves, reserved corn kernels and mix well.
• Grease a milk cover(or zip lock cover) and keep it ready.Also keep a bowl of water handy to dip in your fingers in between.
• Dip your fingers in water and take a small lemon sized ball of the mixture and pat it on the greased cover and slowly remove the patty(vada) from the paper and drop into the oil carefully.Repeat the process and fry 3-4 vadas at a time.You can even put a hole in the vada like how we do for medu wada.
• Deep fry those vadas over medium flame until they turn golden brown and drain them on the kitchen napkin.
• Serve them hot with Nimmakaya Karam or Allam Avakay.

Notes:

• You can add besan flour and rice flour instead of chana dal in the recipe.In that case add the flours to the corn mixture along with onions, just before frying.
• Add onions just before frying as it will leave water and make the batter thin.If the batter becomes thin add a tbsp of rice flour to the batter and mix well.
• You can add 1 tsp cumin seeds or saunf while grinding the vadas for extra flavor.
• You can avoid adding onions during festivals,still it tastes good.
• Do not use very tender corn for making vadas , slightly matured corns are better for vadas.The tender corns turns to a paste and does not add texture to the vada, hence it is not prefered.
• If you do not find them you can use frozen corn/sweet corn for making them.Increase the quantity of green chillies if you are using sweet corn.