Perugu Garelu - Dahi Vada

2 cups urad dal
Chili-ginger paste -optional
Oil to fry
3 cups curd
2 green chilies
Curry leaves
Coriander

Soak urad dal in water for 2 – 3 hours. Drain water and grind to a smooth batter. Add salt to the dal while grinding by adding it later the dough will become soggy and watery. Add as less water as possible while grinding. Solid dough gives a good shape to the garillu.

Make the curd base before frying the garelu.

Curd base:

Take 2 tsp of ghee and make thadaka (poppu) with ¼ tsp jeera, ¼ tsp mustard seeds, ¼ tsp vammu , few fenugreek seeds and hing, 1 red chili, chopped green chili, ginger and curry leaves in a small pan.
Add this thadaka to the beaten curd. Also add turmeric, salt and chopped coriander.

For garelu:

Heat oil in a kadai (I personally prefer a traditional concave shape kadai for maximum usage of space with less oil) and never let the oil be screaming hot! It burns the first batch.
Wet hands and take small lemon size dough and place it on a wax paper or Aluminum foil (it can be done in the palm of a wet hand also), flatten it into a nice circle and then make a small hole with a finger in the middle. Gently slide this into oil without disturbing its shape. Let fry for a few seconds and then keep turning back and forth so it will not burn.
Once they all turn golden yellow, it’s time to remove from the oil. Place a bowl of water and drop the fried garillu in the water. Let the water soak them and by doing this the excess oil is also removed. Let them stand in water for 2 – 3 minutes. Remove gently and place them in the curd base already prepared. Let the curd soak them for 2 – 3 hours. They will nicely bloat by absorbing the curd.