Dahi Wadas with a small twist!

I continue my quest of finding recipes or making up some with protein as the main focus or even means of making BLAH! tasting stuff YUMMY!

I prowl around blogs (and end up drooling at all the super recipes completely forgetting the quest!) pick up bits and pieces of recipes, sigh when I find a particular recipe SO tempting yet FAR from my 'must -try' list as of now.. remind myself... just a bit more.... a bit more time, then you go right back to the sinful and satisfying carbs ( in moderation whispers the Husband in my ear) POP goes my delectable dream of biting into these and digging my fork into a slice of heaven or even making a hearty meal of Good Ol' Rice!

M sniggers behind me as I type this and says.. "interesting ... how you go from desserts to main course on your wish list and not a mention of protein in there!"

I arch an eyebrow and coolly say.." as it happens, I have a recipe in mind...loaded with protein... and I was just going to make and blog about it.. and when u eat it, I'd like to serve it to you with a generous helping of your words.. compliments of the chef"...Now having said that, I HAD to work on a recipe! This recipe ( which Nupur of One Hot Stove has also tried and liked!) has been on my list for a very long time and the more I thought of it, the craving just kept growing!

I also had a packet of Ruchi Soy Chunks lying (unopened) in the pantry.. now these, I find particularly boring ( not as nauseating as Tofu though) and plain ugly and so the unopened box lay there awaiting nirvana. Well, today's your lucky day I mumbled.
So I carefully measured out:
1 Cup Urid Daal
1/2 tsp methi / Fenugreek seeds
Soak these in Water for at least 4 hrs.

Prepare the yougurt (dahi) sauce. To a bowl of plain yogurt (use any yogurt you have, regular, no fat) add water to thin it out a bit, salt to taste, crushed ginger and green chili paste and sugar (depends on how sweet you like it) and finely chop cilantro for garnishing. Keep this refrigerated. Shook out approximately 20-25 Soy chunks and cooked them as per directions on the box ( with a pinch of salt) drained and squeezed out excess water and let them sit.

Grind Together the soaked Urid Daal + Fenugreek seeds along with the moist Soy chunks to a smooth batter and adding salt. Heat the appey pan and add a few drops of oil. Gently spoon the batter and let it cook to a golden brown , flip and cook thoroughly on the other side. Once done, remove on to a tissue ( not that there is any extra oil on it, but it's a habit with me now)

Soak these wada in the yougurt sauce. It is entirely optional if you want to dunk the wada in water to soften them and then (after squeezing out the water) adding them to the yougurt. I did not go thru all that. Soaking them in the yogurt sauce was, in my humble opinion, enough. Given a bit more time, the wadas soaked up the flavor from the yogurt and became very soft. garnish with a dash of black pepper powder, a sprinkling of red chilli powder (optional) and the chopped cilantro. Enjoy! * Notes:

• The yogurt sauce was not very thick keeping in mind that the wadas were not pre-soaked, I kept it on a 'flowing but thick' side
  
• To one batch of the wadas I also added a pinch of baking soda, to make them crisp. In the end (after adding them to the yogurt) there was no noticeable difference. but if you just want to eat a couple wadas as they are, tastes better.
  
• This is just one of my whims, but I stir the batter in one direction only and gently.

Verdict: Not the perfect dahi wada, but overall VERY satisfying and so much healthier ! I am sure I cannot get over my dislike for Soy chunks, but this is a great way to disguise them and enjoy them too! Specially since I am rather partial to dahi wadas and also given to snacking, a habit, I'm afraid I will never get over.

I also realise, no matter what, I must be careful of what I eat, M is right (sigh, he almost always is, where my eating habits are concerned) I am a slave to carbs and shy away from protein. And though I cook good food, I MUST consciously consume more protein and go slow on carbs. And so my quest will continue!