Urad Sweet Bonda / Deep Fried Sweet Vadas with Urad Dhal / Indian Zeppoles

Do you have some family recipes which you have almost forgotten about. Well, I had forgotten about these beautiful Sweet Urad vadas until my sister reminded about them recently. She had made these for Pongal festival for offering to god. These sweet vadas (or vadeyvu/vadaevu as we call it in our home) is a must in our family for all festivals and marriages. They are similar to Medhu vadas, but slightly sweetened and have a mild spicy undertone due to the addition of pearl onions and cumin seeds.

Ingredients:

Makes about 20-25 small vadas
Whole Urad Dhal - 1 cup (I used a 120 ml cup)
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Shallots / Pearl onions / Sambar onions - 2 - peeled and halved
Cumin seeds / Jeera - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves - a few (Optional - Gives a lovely aroma)
Salt - a pinch
Oil - To deep fry

Method:
Wash urad dhal about 5 times with exchanges of water. Soak with about 3-4 cups of water. After 1 hour store the soaking urad dhal in the refrigerator for another hour. After 2 hrs, drain the urad dhal reserving the soaked water. Place it in a blender and grind until smooth. A couple of teaspoons of water may be added while grinding. Make sure the batter is smooth but thick. Now add sugar and pulse once. Add the shallots, cumin seeds, salt and curry leaves and pulse a couple of times. Transfer the contents to a wide bowl and whisk for about 3-5 mins. This makes the thick batter fluffy to enable the vadas/bondas to be soft in the inside yet crispy on the outside.
Heat oil for deep frying in medium heat. Take a tablespoon-full of batter and drop into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. When done remove using a slotted spoon and drain excess oil in a tissue paper. Serve hot.

To serve: Break the vadas into two and sprinkle some sugar, drizzle little ghee over it. Enjoy!
Note: Make sure the batter is thick before adding sugar, because adding sugar loosens the batter.
Sending these beauties to Walk Through Memory Lane event hosted by Rasi for this month and also to Kitchen Chronicles - Heirloom Recipes event by Kalyani hosted by Saras.