Thayir Vadai (curd vadai)

Cooking time - 30 mins
Preparation time - 1 hour

You'll need

Urad dal - 1 cup
Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Green chillies - 6
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Curd - 2 cups
Milk - 1/2 cup
Coconut - 1/2 cup, grated
Coriander leaves 1/2 cup, finely chopped
Curry leaves - 1/4 cup, finely chopped
Ginger - 1" piece
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Carrot - 1 medium sized, grated
Boondi - 1/2 cup
Oil for deep frying, a little extra for tempering
Salt to taste

Here's how to

1. Soad urad and toor dal in water for about an hour. Drain well and grind to a paste along with 3 green chillies, asafoetida and salt. Add finely chopped curry leaves and half the coriander leaves to this mixture, mix well. Set aside
2. Grind remaining coriander leaves, coconut, ginger and the rest of green chiliies to a paste. Mix this into curd, season with salt
3. Heat oil in a deep pan. Pat mixture into thin vadais and drop into hot (but not smoking hot) oil. Deep fry until golden on both sides. Drain on kitchen towel and drop into curd mixture while vadais are still hot
4. Let vadai soak in curd for at least 20 minutes before serving. Garnish with grated carrot and boondi

p.s. I've noticed the vadais being dunked in hot water, squeezed out and then dropped into curd. Is that a better way of doing it? Can someone explain?