Ingredients:

500g – split urad dal with husk
Salt
Oil to deep fry
1 tsp – cumin/jeera
10 – black pepper, crushed roughly if desired

Method:

1.Soak dal for 3 hours, remove husk (not completely),
2.Drain water completely and prepare a firm coarse paste along with salt.
3.Add pepper and jeera and mix well.
4.Make thin vada on a plastic sheet/or a clean wet cloth, put a hole in the centre and deep fry the vada on medium heat till it turns golden brown.
5.Place them on a paper napkin to remove extra oil, if any (usually this vada does not absorb oil as the dough is a firm coarse paste).
6.This recipe is a traditional preparation, usually served in family functions along with a lot of desi ghee and vellulli karam/any chutney.

Tip: You can prepare vellulli karam as follows: Dry fry 1 tbsp dhania, 1 tsp jeera, 15 red chillies, grind these with salt and 8 cloves of garlic into a coarse powder.
Variation: Grind only 3/4 quantity of dal to a firm paste, add remaining dal to the above paste and to make crisp vadas.