Chawli Vada/ Black- Eyed Pea Fritters

I keep a decent stock of dried peas/pulses in my pantry and use them regularly in my cooking. However, Chawli or Black- Eyed Peas is one of the pulses that I had not cooked with until last year. Although these peas are used in many traditional Indian dishes, the red peas were more popular at my mom's place and were widely used in several dishes. These red peas are called 'Alsande' and are similar in shape and size to the black eyed peas. I believe they are only available during a particular season in certain regions in India. My mom usually buys these in bulk during her trips to Goa.

Anyways, coming back to the black eyed peas, I came across a recipe for the black eyed peas vada on Indira's blog almost a year back and immediately bought these peas to try these vadas at home. However, my plan to make these vadas never materialized and I ended up using them to make this Chawli Methi Dhokla, definitely a healthier option to the deep fried vadas. Since then, I have made these dhoklas a few times but never got to making the vadas. When I read about Nupur's BB4 event and was looking through my pantry, I found some black eyed peas in a canister. I immediately soaked them overnight in water and finally made these delicious vadas for dinner last week. I used the regular procedure I follow to make any other dal vada batter and shaped them like medu vadas. These vadas tasted really good and from what I understand are usually served with non- vegetarian chicken or mutton curries. However, I served them with some coconut chutney and sambhar and they go very well with these too!

Ingredients -
1 cup black- eyed peas/ Chawli
2 cinnamon sticks (or 5-6 small pieces)
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
2-3 green chillies finely chopped
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
6-8 curry leaves roughly chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
Pinch of sugar
Salt to taste

Method -
1. Soak the black eyed peas in sufficient water overnight or 6-8 hrs.
2. Drain the peas and grind them along with the cinnamon sticks and cumin seeds into a coarse paste in your food processor or blender. The batter should be such that if you form a round with it, it must hold its shape. Do not add water while grinding as there's enough moisture in the soaked peas.
3. Remove the batter in a bowl. Add chopped curry leaves, green chillies, fennel seeds, onions, cilantro, sugar and salt and mix well.
4. Heat oil in a pan or kadai. The vadas can be formed on the palm of your hand or on a Ziploc bag whichever is convenient for you. With clean dry hand, take a small ball of the batter and put it on your palm. Then lightly flatten it and make a hole in the center like doughnuts or medu vada.
5. Gently drop the vadas into the hot oil and deep fry the vadas on both sides till golden brown. Several vadas can be fried at a time.
6. Serve hot with sambar or chutney of your choice.

I'm sending this to -
Nupur's 'BB4: Whats Lurking in the kitchen' event
Susan's 'My Legume Love Affair (MLLA)' event hosted by Diana for the month of June

Though we had these vadas for dinner, they would make an excellent breakfast. So, I'm also sending these to Helen and Sarah's 'Breakfast Club # 1 - Asian' event.