Do you remember how the heroes were introduced in 80's and 90's Malayalam movies? I think the most common one was where the hero gets down from an old bus, in front of a chayakada (tea shop). The hero then proceeds to the chayakada, order a tea and some snacks all the while keeping the curious chayakadakkaran (tea shop wallah) on suspense about his trip intentions. Fast forward to today's movie… the hero alights from a helicopter or at least a S class Benz and goes straight to shoot a gunda (gangster). To be fair, I think the movie makers should not be blamed. They are trying to make realistic movies these days and in today's reality chayakadas are a rare sight and the roads are crowded with Audi, BMW etc;
May be I can suggest an alternative introduction scene. The hero can alight from his fancy car in front of a Bhel Puri stand. During my past visits to Kerala, I've noticed more number of “Yadav Bhel Puri Stand/Corner” than chayakadas. I'm referring to Cochin here. I'm not saying Parippu Vada and the sort has become extinct but looks like they have found a more comfortable space in well lit shelves of bakeries than the “niram mangiya kannadi koodu” (fainted glass box) of chayakada, just like our heroes coming in a fancy car instead of a bus! All I can say is whenever I see a Bhel Puri Stand, a phrase comes to my mind “Kochiyude marunna mukham” (changing face of Cochin), I think I read it in some Newspaper or magazine. Well, I'm not saying this is bad, it's change! Whether you like it or not, change is the only constant thing or so the experts say….
See what all things came to my mind when I sat down to write about this humble snack, no wonder the typical Kerala communist used to thrive on it ;) Anyways, parippu vada dominated my evening tea sessions during the last trip. Mummy (my MIL) makes very good parippu vadas. So here's her recipe specially for you :)
As promised in the earlier post, I do have step by step pictures taken in mummy's kitchen.
Hi Maria
Your site is my ‘go to’ website for recipes that taste authentic and are always dependable. Like this Parrippu Vada recipe which i am trying for the 3rd time.. always spot on.. !! Hence, I was a trifle miffed to read some of the comments posted on this recipe.. dear visitors, pls appreciate that MM gives you FREE access to TRIED and TESTED recipes.. ask me.. ive tried recipes from other sites with not so good results.. at least let her make some revenue in the form of Ads.. cause i sure dont want her to go charging for access to the site? please try and be nice when you post your comments.. so that it becomes a learning exp for new cooks visiting the site.. and yes.. We all know that print ink is POISONOUS.. i am sure Maria didnt run out of dishes for the photoshoot? its called ‘creating the mood’ in photography…
Seriously people.. does it take a lot to be kind??
Hi Joseph,
Thank you so much for your lovely message! Great knowing that MM is your “go to” place for recipes. Thanks for supporting us, appreciate it very much!
Cheers
Maria
Pre vada recipe describes the changes in Kerala ambience. I feel that change has extended to the recipes also. I grew up as a marunaadan malayalee in central India and still remember the parippu vada frying in Kurian Uncle’s cafe. No fennel or toor dal. Plain parippu accessorized with onions, chillies and ginger. Your pic took me down memory lane. Looks yumm.
Please don’t use reading newspaper to keep oily food, The ink in the paper is poison. News paper is for reading not to be used as a food container.
Hi Anu,
Thanks for your concern. I do agree with you completely. This was done just once for the photographs, trying to recreate the “chayakada” effect. I normally use kitchen tissue for the same.
I always liked Maria’s recipes, but now I stopped looking at the blog just because it has got way too many advertisemepnt andtr the the page won’t load properly. Please try to improve on this. You are a good cook Marsoia, let people learn cooking from you.
Hi Somi,
Thanks for your mail. I understand your feeling, but we do need advertisement to cover our costs. There is an ad free option here, please check it out. https://mariasmenu.wpcomstaging.com/club
Cheers
Maria
Tried the recipe today .. Everyone loved it. Definitely will make this recipe a lot more times in the future.
How to do parippuvada for a large number of people. Pls explain the last part of your recipe (cook dal and refrigerate…).planning to do it for Christmas carol. Your recipes are my motivation in cooking, thank you so much. Maria Mathew
Hi Maria,
You can double the qty and follow the same recipe for large number. As I’ve explaine din the recipe, you can cook the dal in advance (one or two days) and refrigerate it. Add all the other ingredients to the dal on the day of cooking, before frying. If you combine everything in advance, the mixture may become soggy. Hope it’s clear now.
Good to know that you find the site useful, thanks :)
Cheers
Maria
Hello Maria,
If I need to make a lot more than 10 vadas, should I evenly increase the ingredients? I am just worried about adding too much chillies or kayam. I am looking to make a quite a bit more for a small party (between 50 – 70). Thanks.
P.S. I also tried your Sambar (Traditional with coconut fry) and it came out very well. I will be trying lots more of your recipes over the summer.
Hi Dawn,
The above qty will give you 20-25 vadas, depending on the size you shape it. Honestly I’ve never made such big qty, so I’m not sure about the proportion. But I think it’s better not to go for even increase in qty of other ingredients, may be you can increase it by half or 3/4 th. Do a taste test by test frying 1 or 2 vadas and add more chillies or kayam or other ingredients, if required.
Hope it helps and I do hope it comes out well.
Happy to know that you liked the sambar recipe, thank you :)
All the best for making vada! Please let me know how it turned out.
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
Thanks for your recipe.
I was wondering if we can use Toor dal instead? If yes, is there any special precaution we should take? Please let me know.
Hi Sijo,
I haven’t tried it with toor dal, but I guess you can do that. just like chana dal, make sure you dont grind it too much.
Hope you get to try this soon.
Cheers
Maria
Hi maria i love your site and its my top favorite next to facebook.. I know you have to pay for the upkeep of the Site.. But seriously those Ads which keeps redirecting to Play Store is getting on my nerves and makes me visit some other Food Blog instead. Please put the Ads some where on footer or header. Just a humble request from a fellow malayalee and Food lover.. :-)
P. S parippu vada looks awesome going to make it for the first time in the next week.
Hi Liza,
Thank you so much! Really good to know MM is one of your fav sites :)
About the ads, we are sorry for the inconvenience. It was caused by a malware from Google Network.
We’ve notified the ad network about the same and it should be fixed by now.
Hope you continue to visit MM regularly and enjoy trying out the recipes. All the best for your parippuvadas :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria…how are u doing? Ive grown up eating these yummy vadas that my dad used to make for us on sundays! Was extremely nostalgic today while making it…after having tried my hand at some complicated receipes I thought this one would be a breeze to replicate…but I was so wrong! I adhered to your recipe to the T but somehow my vadas just were not turning brown!!! The oil was hot and the mix was fine too…I just dont know where I went wrong…would you be able to help me pls?
Btw yours looks exactly how my dad would make them:))..but being truly loyal…I’d say his tastes the best to d ones ive had till date :D your recipes are droolworthy and I keep trying some every now and then…thank you would be a small word for the wonderful job your doing to help so many amateur cooks including me:)) lots of love- Shiney
Hi Shiney,
I’m doing good dear, thanks. Sorry to hear that vadas didnt turn out perfect for you :((
hhmm.. I’m also not sure why it didnt brown if the oil was hot enough, let me check with my mil and get back to you..
The food cooked by your loved ones tastes the best always by default :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria, Can you please increase the DOF (depth of field) while taking the photos so that the entire dish is in focus? I can see only a little bit of the parippuvada :) your photos are great otherwise.
Regards,
Sofiya
Hi Sofiya,
I’ll try my best :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Sofiya,
I’ll try my best :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria, Can you please increase the DOF (depth of field) while taking the photos so that the entire dish is in focus? I can see only a little bit of the parippuvada :) your photos are great otherwise.
Regards,
Sofiya
Hi Maria, Can you please increase the DOF (depth of field) while taking the photos so that the entire dish is in focus? I can see only a little bit of the parippuvada :) your photos are great otherwise.
Regards,
Sofiya
I think soaking for an hour or half is enough…otherwise dal might absorbs a lot of water and difficult to drain water out of it and shape vada ..
source:my own experience
Thanks a bunch Nitha :) Nice to know that you liked them.
Cheers
Maria
hai…maria…. i tried dis,and it vas very nice….if u add little bit coriandel leaf,maks it more tasty
Thank you Deepa and thanks for the tip too :)
Hello maria, you are a superstar in cooking :-) thanks a lot for all these amazin recipes
aww, that’s so sweet of you to say that, thanks a bunch dear :)
Very good recipe, you have given clear instructions. Tempting………
Thanks Vijaya dear! Please do try it sometime..
Cheers
Maria
thanks for simple and tasty recipes , I’ve tried many recipes of yours and everything was success, chicken stew and korma were amazing at the first time itself , staying in bangalore i was badly missing those tastes of home kitchen .. now i made it here … and let me tell you one thing , your recipes are really practical .. thanks for that .
Hi Tom,
Thank you! Great to know that you try recipes from here regularly. I’m glad that it reminds you of your home kitchen :) Thanks for taking time to share your feedback here.
Cheers
Maria
Nice to see this… incidently i made parippu vada the other day at home, and today i see it in your blog… nice! I did not add jeerakam, so shall try that out next time :)
Hi Ida,
Thank you! yeah try with jeerakam, next time, it gives a diff flavour.
Cheers
Maria
Parippu vada with chaya-it cannot get better than this!
Hey Divs,
yeah it’s a super combo! Btw, I was about to msg u today, because I didnt see you in FB much these days, so thought of checking up with you and today morning first thing I saw was your comment :)
Hope all’s well with you…
Cheers
Maria
OMG,i can smell the parippu vada at 11.20pm after seeing the snaps in your blog .
Hi Anupama,
hehe, I liked your comment very much :) Thank you!
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria ,
Thanks a ton for this recipe..my paripu vadas were always a flop.But your tips came to a rescue this time..n I could make yummy vadas Enjoyed reading the intro too.Keep
writing and keep posting..
:)
Hi Nidha,
Thank you very much! I’m really happy to know that this recipe was of help to you :)
Cheers
Maria
Dear Maria,
I searched the whole place looking for your parippu vadai recipe…finally found it…whew!! Trying this weekend…
Hi Sharmila,
I just posted it last week dear.. Hope you got to try it and liked it too :)
Cheers
Maria
Hi Tina,
Thanks dear! I do hope you get to try this soon :)
Cheers
Maria
Hello Maria,
This pics, parippuvada covered in news paper and tea in KANNADI glass(thats how we call those kinda glass) gives a nostalgic vibe to all SADA mallus out there : )Great Effort Maria .Keep up the good work
Cheers
Thanks Rose! How are you? It’s been sometime, right?
Btw, we too also used to call it kannadi glass :)
Cheers
Maria
Mariaaaa…I just love the way you write…and for sure ur recipes too…
and even the pics are classy!! Hats off to u!!
Thanks a lot Hiba dear! Hope you are doing good.
Take care..
Maria
Loved the picture! Those kuppi glasses with the frothy tea…now that reminds me of the Kerala chaayakadas. I grew up on parippu vadas too – they made a great snack on rainy evenings!
Thanks Mini! How are you?
Yeah its really nice to sit and watch rain while having hot parippu vadas n chai!
Cheers
Maria