Urad Dal Bonda or Minapappu Punugulu, is an easy and quick snack recipe. These are made with Urad Dal and are deep fried snack served as festival prasadams.
I have been making these Urad Dal Bonda for Neivedyam as these are quick to make for instant prasadams.
Ever since Hubby Dear wanted some garellu (vada) for Bhairava Homam, I have been making these quick Urad Dal Bonda, which are same as vada except for a little difference in the batter and the shape we make it. Making small bondas is easy to offer as Neivedyam and that prompted me to continue making the same Neivedyam for Homam.
When we talk about Bondas, there are so many different recipes for the dish. In South Indian Cuisines, one can find bondas with any gram or flour etc. The round deep fried snack is called Bonda. We have Mysore Bonda, Urulai Kilangu Bonda, Egg Bonda, Veg Bonda etc. It can come plain or stuffed as well.
In Andhra Cuisine, these Urad Dal Bonda maybe called as Punukulu or Punugulu. Many use leftover Idli/dosa Batter added with more onions and vegetables to make these small deep fried snacks. I have even made Split Moong dal Punukulu.
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Ingredients for Urad Dal Bonda
Skinned Black gram or Whole Urad dal is the main ingredient in this Urad Dal Bonda recipe. While we do add little Rice flour in Meddu Vada to make it crispy, we do not add anything else to make this bonda.
Urad Dal - Use skinned whole urad dal to make this bonda.
For Spice - I have used green chilies and crushed pepper for spice. The fried bondas are quite spicy.
Baking Soda - For spongy and aerated batter, I have used a big pinch of baking soda in the batter.
See recipe card for quantities for making Urad Dal Bonda.
Instructions
Urad Dal Bonda is made with just urad dal unlike the meddu vada where we add little rice as well. The batter is very smoothly ground to make it crispy and we do not let the batter sit for a long time. Else it will drunk lot of oil.
Wash urad dal a couple of times. Finally soak it in enough water for at least an hour.
Drain the water and add chopped green chilies to the mixer jar along with drained dal.
Pulse the batter for Urad Dal Bonda a couple of times, remove the lid, add few spoons of water.
Blend it to a smooth fluffy batter. Above all, add water only if it requires for running the mixer.
The batter is slightly loose and not so thick as vada batter.
Add salt, crushed pepper and baking soda.
Beat the batter well for few minutes until it gets well aerated.
Heat oil in a kadai. When the oil is hot enough, take small portions of this batter for Urad Dal Bonda and drop in the oil.
Stir and fry until golden. Remove to a kitchen towel
Makes 15 small bondas.
Substitutions & Variations for Urad Dal Bonda
If green chilies are not available, you can use dried red chilies as well.
If you feel the crushed peppercorn are spicy, use as whole.
We can add onions, vegetables as well to the batter for a variation. Like Medu Vada, we can add onions to make these bondas as well.
Equipment
We need a mixer or a grinder to grind the batter. Use mixer for small quantity, else grinder works best.
A mixing bowl to beat all the ingredients together.
Kadai for deep frying. You can use a wok if you have as well. Or even a deep pan works out best.
A slotted ladle to remove and kitchen towels for draining.
Storing Urad Dal Bonda
The ground batter stays good for two days when refrigerated. We can even freeze the fried bondas and quickly microwave or pan fry them at later stage when consuming.
However, the taste and texture is not the same. Best option is to use it as Dahi Bonda if frozen.
Expert Tips
Soaking it for longer hours will surely help in making the batter for Minapappu Punugulu grind to a smooth texture. However, when you are going to make with smaller quantity, we can just soak it for an hour.
Use little extra water and pulse it a couple of times to get a smooth batter.
After adding the baking soda or cooking soda, beating it well aerates the batter well.
Other Deep Fried Snacks you will love!
Recipe
Urad Dal Bonda | How to make Minapappu Punugulu
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Urad Dal / Minapa Pappu / Skinned Black Gram
- Salt to taste
- 1/8 teaspoons Baking Soda
- 1/2 tablespoon Peppercorn crushed
- 3 Green Chilies chopped
- Cooking Oil for frying
Instructions
- Wash urad dal a couple of times. Soak it in enough water for at least an hour.
- Drain the water and add chopped green chilies to the mixer jar along with drained dal.
- Pulse it a couple of times, remove the lid, add few spoons of water.
- Blend it to a smooth fluffy batter. Add water only if it requires for running the mixer.
- The batter is slightly loose and not so thick as vada batter
- Add salt, crushed pepper and baking soda.
- Beat the batter well for few minutes until it gets well aerated.
- Heat oil in a kadai. When the oil is hot enough, take small portions of this batter and drop in the oil.
- Stir and fry until golden. Remove to a kitchen towel
- Makes 15 small bondas
Nutrition
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Sharmila Kingsly says
Urad dal bona makes a lovely protein-rich snack !! Such to give a try soon !!
srividhya says
Urad dal bonda is our favorite. I add some veggies too. Love this version of yours without any onion.
Usha Rao says
I do not use rice for vada.. I should try that next time but if I end up with thin vada batter, I have a fix now... Punugulu.. Urad dal bonda looks really good. I am going to make this next time I am deep frying.
Radha says
This is a classic and all time favorite in our home. Delicious recipe and the bonda looks yummy!
Harini says
These are our favorite kind . For parties I prefer to make these and they are loved by all. The platter is super tempting as well.
Rafeeda - The Big Sweet Tooth says
An easier of the vada it feels... I would be happy to dig into these...
Usha says
Bonda turned out so good Valli. Thanks for sharing the recipe. I used more green chilies and cut back on peppercorns.
Preeti garg says
Love the fluffy and inside soft side of bonda.. we prepared bhallas in same method... love this recipe.