Paruppu vada (lentil patties)

Ingredients
Channa dhal - 1 cup (soak for an hour and drain completely)
Jeera - 1 tsp
Ginger - half to 1 inch piece, chopped

Sombu (Aniseed) - 1/4 tsp
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp, chopped
Curry leaves - few, chopped
Onion - half medium, chopped

Asafoetida - a pinch

G. Chillies - 3 (small)

Red Chillies - 2 to 3

Salt to taste
Oil - about 1 cup for deep frying

Method:

1) Make sure the channa dhal is well drained. Grind this coarselywith dried red chillies jeera, sombu, ginger, asafoetida and salt. Just sprinkle a little bit of water if absolutely necessary during the grinding process.

2) To this ground mixture, add chopped green chilies, onions, curry leaves, coriander leaves. Do this just before frying them in oil or the mixture will turn watery.

3) Heat the oil. Take small portions of the dhal mixture and form into small patties. Drop in hot oil and fry on a medium heat until golden. Drain on a paper towel and serve.

Note: I measured the oil before and after frying the vadas and calculated that I used about 5 tbsp of oil to fry this quantity. So even though these are deep fried, they are not all that bad (works out to 3/4 tsp of oil per vadai) . Keep in mind though that if the batter is too watery and the temperature of the oil is not right, then it will absorb more oil.