Quick and instant, no-soak, no-grind flattened rice fritters popularly known as aval vadai or poha vada! An easy and delicious deep-fried goodie perfect for any festive thali and perfect tea time snack!
Indian festive special lunch menu always has vada/fritters and a kheer. And I try to make different types of vada instead of either paruppu vadai / chana dal fritters or mixed lentil fritters/thavala vadai. And this poha vada is one among them.
Actually, for one Vinayaka Chaturthi, I forgot to soak the lentils for vada. And that’s when I tried this poha vada for the first time, and it came out so good, and I even shared on IG. I mentioned I will post the recipe soon, but it took me 2 years to post this. But in these two years, I tried this recipe many times, and here I am sharing it.
Even for this Vinayaka Chaturthi, I made this vada. As I fried it after frying the papad, the papad’s residue made the vada less appealing. I wasn’t satisfied with the pictures. So I made it again exclusively for this thali, and I hope I have captured it decently. Recently I stopped sharing these “Behind the cooking” stories but thought of sharing it today. But now, let’s get back to the recipe.
I have used 2 tbsps of yogurt. The yogurt adds a nice flavor to this vada. I am testing the recipe without yogurt but without compromising on the flavor. I will soon share the vegan version. But for now, let’s stick to this poha vada with yogurt. The rice flour helps to absorb all the moisture in the vada batter and also it makes it crispy.
As I made it as part of the festive thali, I did not add any onion. But feel free to add onions or veggies of your choice. It’s perfect for tea parties or even for potlucks. You don’t need to soak poha like lentils. A 15 minute soak time is sufficient, and also, there isn’t any grinding involved. You can clearly see that you don’t need to plan much for this aval vadai and make it for any unplanned occasion.
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How to make poha vada | aval vadai-
- Wash the flattened rice thoroughly and drain the water.
- Now sprinkle ½ cup of water and let it sit for 12 to 15 minutes.
- After 12 minutes, mash the poha coarsely with hands. Then add the yogurt and mix it well.
- Now add the other ingredients – rice flour, salt, carrot, cilantro, green chili. Combine them all and, if required, add ½ tbsp of water and form the vada dough. If the batter has more water content, add the additional rice flour and form a not-so-dry dough.
- Take a small gooseberry size vadai mixture and flatten it into small patties. You can shape as per your preference. As you can see in one of the pictures, I made small round balls/nuggets also. Shape them as per your preference.
- Heat the oil for frying in a kadai. Drop a small piece of vadai batter into the oil. If the oil is hot, the batter will rise immediately and sizzle.
- And slowly drop the poha patties in the oil. Let it fry for 30 to 45 seconds and slowly flip them. Fry until the vada turns crispy and brown. You can take the vada when it turns golden brown like above. But we personally liked the crispy and brown vadas. So for the second batch, I fried the vada till it turned reddish-brown. Drain the fried vadai on a kitchen towel. Depending upon your pan size, you can fry 3 to 4 in one batch. Similarly, fry the remaining vada.
- Serve them warm with chutney or ketchup.
Recipe Notes-
- Adjust the green chilies and salt according to your taste preference.
- You can use white poha as well.
- Do not soak the poha. Wash and sprinkle water. Let it sit for 12 minutes and at the maximum 15 minutes but not more than that.
- Except for chivda, I always prefer thick poha variety for all the other recipes. So I haven’t tested this recipe with thin poha variety. If using thin poha, be cautious while adding the water.
- If the vada batter has more moisture, it will absorb more oil so add rice flour.
- I did not add any onion as I made it for a festival. But you can add 1 tbsp of finely chopped onion and also other veggies like cabbage, cauliflower.
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📖 Recipe
Aval Vadai | Poha Vada | Flattened Rice Fritters
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Saucepan or kadai
Ingredients
Instructions
- Wash the flattened rice thoroughly and drain the water.
- Now sprinkle ½ cup of water and let it sit for 12 to 15 minutes.
- After 12 minutes, nicely mash the poha coarsely with hands. Then add the yogurt and mix it well.
- Now add the other ingredients – rice flour, salt, carrot, cilantro, green chili. Combine them all and, if required, add ½ tbsp of water and form the vada dough. If the batter has more water content, add the additional rice flour and form a not-so-dry dough.
- Take a small gooseberry size vadai mixture and flatten it into small patties. You can shape as per your preference. As you can see in one of the pictures, I made small round balls/nuggets also. Shape them as per your preference.
- Heat the oil for frying in a kadai. Drop a small piece of vadai batter into the oil. If the oil is hot, the batter will rise immediately and sizzle.
- And slowly drop the poha patties in the oil. Let it fry for 30 to 45 seconds and slowly flip them. Fry until the vada turns golden brown. By this time, the sizzling sound will reduce as well. Drain the fried vadai on a kitchen towel. Depending upon your pan size, you can fry 3 to 4 in one batch. Similarly, fry the remaining vada.
- Serve them warm with chutney or ketchup.
Notes
- Adjust the green chilies and salt according to your taste preference. You can use white poha as well.
- Do not soak the poha. Wash and sprinkle water. Let it sit for 12 minutes and at the maximum 15 minutes but not more than that.
- Except for chivda, I always prefer thick poha variety for all the other recipes. So I haven’t tested this recipe with thin poha variety. If using thin poha, be cautious while adding the water.
- If the vada batter has more moisture, it will absorb more oil so add rice flour.
- I did not add any onion as I made it for a festival. But you can add 1 tbsp of finely chopped onion and also other veggies like cabbage, cauliflower.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
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Vada looks so crispy and crunchy. Always love these simple and instant dishes which can be made quickly when we have some guests or for evening snacks.
Thanks so much.
Yummy and delicious tea time snack, looks easy to make too. would try this for some weekend for sure.
I am sure you will love it. Thanks
Poha vadas are so good and makes an easy to make. Making it in different shapes and arranging it looks fantastic..
Thanks a lot Valli.
I would love these vadas with a cup of tea anyday. I make it a little differently adding besan too. But they definitely come out crispy and tasty.
Oh awesome. I will try that way as well.