CARROT-KANJI-VADA

Wishing all of you a very happy and colorful Holi ♥♥

Kanji is an Indian probiotic drink made, generally made in India during HOLI. During Holi, we generally eat lot of fried food and sweets which disturbs our digestive system. Kanji is an awesome drink that  helps in digestion.This is a traditional Holi drink in my family and many other Indian families.

Kanji is basically spiced water which is left for fermenting for 3-4 days until it becomes sour. It can be taken plain or along with some vegetables like carrot or beet root which increases the nutritional value of this healthy drink.  Vadas are Mung daal (lentil) fritters soaked in this water and hence the combination is called Kanji Vada.

The method to prepare this drink is very easy and the preparation time is nominal. The only thing which takes time is the fermentation. For vadas, we need to soak the mung beans overnight and then grind them to make a thick batter. Deep fried fritters or vadas are made with this batter, and then they are soaked in Kanji for few hours before serving.

Lets proceed towards the recipe of Carrot Kanji-vadas

 INGREDIENTS TO MAKE KANJI

Water- 12 cups
Turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Red chilli Powder-1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds coarsely ground ( yellow or Black)- 1.5 tbsp
2 tsp Mustard oil ( optional)
long carrot slices- 1 cup

INGREDIENTS TO MAKE VADAS

Green Mung lentils- 1 cup
salt to taste
Heeng or Asafoetida a pinch
green chilies-1 or 2
water to make batter
oil for deep frying

METHOD FOR MAKING KANJI
1. Boil the water in a large pan and once the water is boiled, let it come to room temperature.
2. Mix all the spices to water and stir well.
3. Wash and par dry the carrots and then slice them. Put them in the water too and stir well.
4. In a clean glass jar transfer the Kanji water and cover it with a tight lid.
5. Leave this container in a warm place for 4-5 days for fermenting.
6. Once the water is fermented serve it with or without vadas and enjoy.

METHOD FOR MAKING VADAS
1. wash and soak the mung lentils overnight. Wash them again the next day and grind them with green chilies to make a coarse mixture.
2. Now mix salt and heeng and beat this mixture for 5 minutes with hands or a spoon. Yo will see that the mixture will become light in color and little fluffy.
3. Heat oil in a deep frying pan and then take a small portion of mung daal mixture in your hands and drop it hot oil.Make all vadas like this and fry these small vadas until golden.
4. Once all the vadas are fried, soak them in a bowl filled with warm salted water for 5 minutes.Squeeze them out and put them in a Kanji water.
5. Serve 3-4 vadas in a glass full of sour Kanji and enjoy this Indian probiotic drink.

FOOTNOTES
1. It is very important to let Kanji water ferment at a warm place for about 3-4 days. At some places where the temperatures are cold, it might take 5-6 days to ferment.
2. I use green mung beans but you can also use yellow mung daal or Yellow mung lentils.