Idli with Vadacurry - A mighty breakfast

Its been quite a busy weekend for us.We went out on a short trip with some of our friends to a lake near wisconsin and had a great time.The view of the lake was deadly.
Iam attaching a picture of that, for you all to enjoy.

On such weekends we prefer to have a nice and heavy breakfast/brunch and then hit the road.So I made some Idli's and vada curry to go with it.Since we have seen so many versions of making Idli's I do not want to elaborate on that one.(my ratio is 4:1).Vada curry is a most known side dish for Idli in chennai.I am not sure how many people have heard or tasted it.As far as I know if there is any dish that is indigenous to chennai city that would be vada curry.Its spicy and at the same time very subtle and has a delicate flavour.This is one of my favorite receipe from my Mom.Whenever I come home from college for the holidays, Iam very sure that mornings breakfast would be Idli and vadacurry.Those are the days that I yearn for nowadays.
Traditionally vada curry is made out of dhal vada's.But my mom makes it differently.She either steams the dhal mixture or make adais out of the mixture.Give it a try and let me know how it turned out.

Ingredients:
1 cup channa dhal (soaked for two hours)
1tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp jeera1

1 inch cinnamon strip
3 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp minced garlic
1tsp minced ginger
1 medium sized onion sliced thinly
2 medium sized tomatoes chopped finely
1 cup chopped coriander leaves
1tsp chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp tumeric powder
salt as needed
Method:
For Vada/Adai:


 Soak the channa dhal for two hours and grind it coarsly along with fennel seeds(like we do for masal vadai).Heat a dosa pan and make thick adai's(about 2 inch thickness) by adding little oil on the sides.Keep the heat in medium and allow it to cook well, until browned on both sides(as shown in picture above).Cool it and scramble it into tiny pieces.You can do this the night before, store it in refrigerator and use it the next morning.

For Curry:
Add 2 tsp of oil in a sauce pan.Add cinnomon, cloves and bay leaf to it.When the cloves pop add the sliced onions and fy till translucent and the add the chopped garlic and ginger.Fry well till the raw smell goes.Add the chopped tomatoes to it and fry till mashed well and the oil leaves the surface.Now add all the powders and stir well till the masala mixes well with the tomatoes.Now add 5 cups of water.It should be very watery at this stage.close with a lid and allow it to boil. After 10 mins, add the scrambled adai/vadai pieces to this liquid and mix well.The chana dhal mixture will soak up all the liquid.Add the chopped coriander leaves and stir well.

 Serve with piping hot Idli's!!

Variations. - Use equal measures of channa dhal and thoor dhal combination  or just thoor dhal  to make the Adais. These also turns out very well with slightly different taste.
You can also use ginger garlic paste instead of  chopped ginger and garlic.
Adjust the amount of water to the gravy according to the consistency needed i.e., reduce the amount of water for a thicker consistency.
Do not skip the coriander leaves, it is a must for this dish.