Air fryer Medhu Vada Bites | Healthy Indian snack recipe for kids

These air fried Medu vada bites eliminate all the difficulty and unhealthy part of the original deep fried Medu vadai or urad dal vada or garelu which is the most famous South Indian break fast dish. This is one of the most healthy snack or break fast dish for anyone, with it's high protein content and vitamin B, especially for kids with it's cute little nugget/cookie shape. Make the batter ahead of time so you can make these medhu vada bites in 12 mins whenever needed.

Medu vada or Medhu Vada or Garelu have a really special place in our home as this is my husband's most favorite dish of all the time. But being a deep fried dish, we usually make it only for special occasions and festivals to avoid the oil and labor involved in making it.

Once we started making these air fryer Medu vada bites, we realized that this is a much more easy and healthy form of original medu vadai. Even my husband who is a big lover of traditionally made Medu Vada/Garelu, liked these very much. I know what are you going to ask, are they comparable in taste? I will tell you this, both are equally good in their own way.

I won't try to convince you that these vada bites are going to taste exactly the same as deep fried Medu vadai or garelu. Deep frying and air frying are two different forms of cooking. If you want to compare both and expect the same results from air frying, then you might be looking at it from a wrong angle. I would say, consider both forms of cooking Medu vada as two different dishes and give each of them their own place according to your health preference and time and you will love both.

I still make deep fried Medu vadai for special occasions as they have their own place and comes with many childhood memories. But I make these air fried medu vada bites very often now to get all the health benefits of this wonderful dish regularly.

These Medu vada bites are delicious and hard to believe that they are extremely healthy, with kid friendly size, texture and taste. With everyone at home these days and with two young kids, we are constantly in search of healthy yet tasty snack options. These are on the top of our healthy snacks list and satisfies all the check marks required for a healthy snack. My 7 year old loves these anytime !!

Why you will love these Medu Vada Bites

• Delicious and hard to believe they are not deep fried.
• Super healthy
• Can be made in 12 mins if you have batter ready
• Whole family approved

Why don't these Medu Vada bites have a hole in the middle?

The reason Medu vadas have a hole in the middle is to cook them evenly even in the middle when deep fried. Making the hole allows the hot oil to contact more surface area and results in less depth that the heat has to penetrate to cook the content throughout.

Since we are cooking these in air fryer, there is no problem of hot oil coming in contact with more surface area, also my main reasons for making these in air fryer is to save time and oil and to make these kid friendly and easy to make so I can make regularly.

It's much easier to just drop the batter with a spoon into the oil brushed air fryer basket than trying to make vada shape with a hole and trying to maintain that hole while you put it inside the air fryer basket. Believe me, it is not that easy. If you are trying to make these for more than 2 people, you will get frustrated pretty soon trying to maintain the hole in the vada in the air fryer.

I want these to be extremely easy to make so we can make these regularly to get the goodness of them in our lives. Traditional foods rock, because many of them have multiple health benefits in them !! Sometimes to make them more easily and frequently, if we find little hacks, we should not shy away from using them. It's better than not eating them regularly.

Can I make these in any kind of Air fryer

You can make these in any air fryer which has a flat non stick surface with removable drip trays or crisper trays.

I have a Gourmia GAF685 Digital Free Fry Air Fryer, It comes with a slotted crisper tray which is removable, inside the flat non stick basket. I remove the crisper tray and brush oil on the flat non stick surface inside the basket, and then drop dollops of batter in there with oil spray.

I tried making these on the crisper tray with greased parchment paper and also greased aluminium foil under the vadas. But the vadas were sticking to the parchment or foil and hence not giving desirable results. The reason I tried this is to test how will this work for other kinds of air fryers.

Is Medu Vada Healthy

Medu Vada is considered one of the healthiest foods for many reasons.

• Source of protein: Since the black gram is rich in iron, urad dal vada is also an excellent source of protein, providing 6 grams of protein per serving.
• High folic acid: Urad dal has a high content of folic acid, which is a must for pregnant women. Folic acid is also required for healthy living since it is responsible for various metabolic activities.
• Prevents anaemia: Urad dal is rich in iron and, therefore, helps the body produce and maintain red blood cells to prevent anaemia.
• Increases immunity: Since urad dal is high on magnesium, it helps build immunity and perform normal bodily functions.
• High fibre content: Urad dal has high fibre content, which makes the stomach feel fuller for a longer duration. It also improves bowel movement and ensures a healthy gut.

The only disadvantage of traditional deep fried Medu Vada is that it is deep fried. This recipe eliminates that disadvantage too and makes this the best healthy Indian snacks for kids.

Ingredients

• Skinned Whole Urad Dal : Whole urad dal also known as black gram with the skin off. If you are living outside India, it is usually available in any Indian grocery store.
• Rice flour : very little to help with the crispyness
• Salt and oil spray or for brushing on the vadas
• Optional Seasonings : Cumin Seeds, finely chopped onions, crushed pepper, sliced green chillies, finely chopped ginger, chopped curry leaves and cilantro. All of these are optional. You can choose to add some or all of these in little quantities. When I am making these for little kids, I usually add only salt and cumin seeds.

How to Make Medu Vada in Air fryer ( step by step pics )

The process of making Medu Vada in air fryer is same as traditional deep fried Medu Vada until batter preparation.

Medu Vada batter Preparation

• Wash Whole skinned urad dal ( black gram/black lentil ) for 2 to 3 times until water runs clear and soak for at least 6 hours . If you are in a time crunch you can soak for 3 to 4 hours but the texture won't be the same.
• Now discard the water and grind the soaked dal into a smooth thick batter with salt adding very little water. It is important to add salt while grinding as the batter might become slightly runny if you add salt later. You can use wet grinder or any blender you have to make the batter but make sure you use very little water while grinding it. You should only sprinkle little by little ( teaspoon at a time ) when required while grinding. If you are not using wet grinder, it is better to grind in small batches as it is easy that way to make a smooth batter. Also use cold water while making the batter to make sure the blender is not getting too hot. If the blender gets too hot, it might give a bitter taste to the batter. Batter should be thick not runny at all.
• Once the batter is ready, take it into a bowl, add rice flour, mix well and then start beating the batter with your clean hand in circular motion to incorporate air into the batter. Do this for around 3 to 4 mins until the batter becomes fluffy. ( You can skip beating the batter if you used wet grinder for grinding the batter ).
• To test if the batter is ready, drop a small ball of batter into a glass of water, If it floats on the water without sinking down, then your batter is ready.
• If you prefer then add any of the optional seasonings to the batter and mix.

Cooking Medu Vada in Air fryer

• Pre heat the air fryer for 3 mins. If your air fryer comes with any removable slotted drip tray, then remove it to cook directly on the flat non stick cooking surface on the bottom.
• Brush little oil all over the bottom of the basket.
• Now take a tablespoon size spoon and drop the batter in small rounds in the basket leaving space between each round. I can cook 9 vadas at a time in my 6 qt Gourmia air fryer.
• Spray oil on all the vada bites and set air fryer to cook at 370 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 mins. If you don't have an oil spray can, then just drop few drops of oil on each vada bite with a brush or spoon.
• At 7 min mark, open the air fryer basket, brush little oil on the all the vada bites and flip them.
• You Medu vada bites will be ready to eat at around 12 to 13 mins. Enjoy them with coconut chutney or sambar. My kids like to eat them with sambar or ketchup.

Tips and Tricks for making perfect Vada bites in Air fryer

• Soak at least 6 hours for good texture.
• Add very little water while grinding and use only cold water.
• Add salt before grinding.
• Do NOT skip beating the batter with hand to incorporate air into the batter. ( If you used wet grinder to grind the batter and immediately make vadas , then you can skip it )
• If your batter gets little bit more runny than required, add little more rice flour to adjust the consistency. Do not add more than 1.5 tablespoons per 1 cup of urad dal.
• Add optional seasonings only before cooking. If you are going to use only part of the batter and refrigerate the rest, then add them only in the batter you are cooking.

How to Serve these Medu Vada bites

Serve them hot as soon as they come out of the air fryer. If they get cold, just pop them in air fryer for 1 min to heat them up before eating. I suggest making them just before eating.

These go excellent with coconut chutney or sambar. Just drop these in bowl of sambar for 4 to 5 seconds and they will taste delicious. My kids sometimes eat them with ketchup too.

Another combination that my husband loves is eating Medu vada with hot ghee mixed in sugar 😋. I know I know !! cooking them in air fryer to reduce fat and then eating them with sugar doesn't help. But that's like the default food combination in our house. So reducing oil where I can, helps I guess :-).

Recipe

Air Fryer Medu Vada Bites | Urad Dal Vada | Healthy Indian Snack recipe for Kids

Yamini

These air fried Medu vada bites eliminate all the difficulty and unhealthy part of the traditional deep fried Medu vada or garelu which is the most famous South Indian break fast dish. This is one of the most healthy snack or break fast dish for anyone, with it's high protein content and vitamin B, especially for kids with it's cute little nugget/cookie shape.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Snack / Finger Food

Cuisine Indian

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  

• 2 cups Skinned Whole Urad Dal skin less black gram or black lentils
• 1 tablespoon rice flour
• Salt to taste
• Oil to brush or oil spray

Optional Seasonings ( Choose to add none, some or all of these )

• 1 to 1.5 tsp cumin seeds
• ⅓ cup finely chopped onions
• ½ to ¾ tsp coarsely crushed pepper or whole pepper corns
• 2 to 3 green chillies chopped finely
• 1 sprig curry leaves chopped
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Instructions

 

Medu Vada batter Preparation

• Wash Whole skinned urad dal ( black gram/black lentil ) for 2 to 3 times until water runs clear and soak for at least 5 to 6 hours . If you are in a time crunch you can soak for 3 to 4 hours but the texture won't be the same.
• Now discard the water and grind the soaked dal into a smooth thick fluffy batter with salt adding very little cold water. You can use wet grinder or any blender you have, to make the batter but make sure you use very little water while grinding it. Sprinkle little by little ( teaspoon at a time ) as required while grinding. If you are not using wet grinder, it is better to grind in small batches as it is easy that way to make a smooth batter. 
• Once the batter is ready, take it into a bowl, add rice flour, mix well and then start beating the batter with your clean hand in circular motion to incorporate air into the batter. Do this for around 3 to 4 mins until the batter becomes light and fluffy.
• To test if the batter is ready, drop a small ball of batter into a glass of water, If it floats on the water without sinking down, then your batter is ready.
• If you prefer, add any of the optional seasonings to the batter and mix.

Cooking Medu Vada in Air fryer

• Pre heat the air fryer for 3 mins. If your air fryer comes with any removable slotted drip tray, then remove it to cook directly on the flat non stick cooking surface on the bottom. 
• Brush little oil all over the bottom of the basket.
• Now take a tablespoon size spoon and drop the batter in small rounds in the basket leaving space between each round. I can cook 9 vadas at a time in my 6 qt Gourmia air fryer.
• Spray oil on all the vada bites and set air fryer to cook at 370 degrees Fahrenheit for 12 mins. If you don't have an oil spray can, then just drop few drops of oil on each vada bite with a brush or spoon.
• At 7 min mark, open the air fryer basket, brush little oil on the all the vada bites and flip them.
• You Medu vada bites will be ready to eat at around 12 to 13 mins. Enjoy them with coconut chutney or sambar. My kids like to eat them with sambar or ketchup.

Notes

• You can make these Medu vada bites in any air fryer which has a flat non stick surface with removable drip trays or crisper trays.
•  It is important to add salt while grinding as the batter might become slightly runny if you add salt later.
• Use cold water while making the batter to make sure the blender is not getting too hot. If the blender gets too hot, it might give a bitter taste to the batter. Batter should be thick not runny at all. If it gets little runny add little more rice flour ( not more than 1.5 tablespoons per cup of dal ) to adjust the consistency.
• If you used Wet grinder for grinding batter and immediately make vadas after grinding, then you can skip the step of beating the batter.
• Add optional seasonings only before cooking.

Keyword Air fryer Indian Recipes, Air fryer Medhu Vada, Air fryer Medu Vada, Healthy Indian Breakfast recipes, Kid friendly Healthy snacks

Let me know how did these turn out if you make these delicious Medu vada bites. Are you looking for other kid friendly snack recipes. check this Pita Bread Pizza (Stove top, Air Fry & Bake in 3 different flavors) | 10 Minute Healthy Pita Pizza recipe