Masala wada is a popular Indian deep-fried snack. Growing up in India, this was one of my favorite street foods, which I had to give up years ago. I had my favorite street food cart, which would turn up every evening at 5 pm. They did brisk business selling hot deep fried wada, bajjis, pakora and so on. They would keep running out, because of the demand. We had to wait for a few minutes before we got our food handed to us. Good thing is the food is always hot and fresh. And of course, delicious!
Make Ahead And Freeze
In my quest to enjoy my favorite snacks in a healthier way, I tried baking first and then switched to air frying. My biggest impediment with air fryer is that it does not handle wet batter well. It just happened by accident that my wife suggested I try freezing. I was wondering how I would store the big batch of banana nuggets I just made, so that suggestion struck me as brilliant. Indeed, it was! I never looked back after that experiment this summer.
Freezing burger patties and fritters
Air Fry
Undoubtedly, this is my favorite way to cook fritters or patties! Freezing makes the whole process so easy! The frozen, uncooked fritters are dry and hard, but they cook fast. All I need to do is spray some avocado oil on the cooking tray of the fryer, lay out the frozen fritters or patties and cook for 12 minutes at 375 F. I keep checking every few minutes to make sure they’re not burning.
Masala Wada
Chana dal (a variation of chickpeas) is the main ingredient here. In fact, when you blend the soaked batter, it feels and tastes like hummus. Ginger and Indian chili peppers bring in the heat, although this can be cut down, if you don’t like it too hot. Curry leaves and cumin seeds add a distinct flavor and onion brings in some sweetness. In the original recipe, some soaked chana dal is set aside and then added to the mix. This is supposed to make the wada crunchy. I realize that this makes the patty or fritters very hard when they are baked or air fried, so I decided to blend all the lentils.
Lentil burger with soaked chana dal set aside and then added to the mix
Low in saturated fat and very low in cholesterol and sodium, chickpeas contain high amounts of folate (71% DV) and manganese (84%), which may make the amounts of the other nutrients look a little ineffective. But they’re not! You get 29% each of the protein and copper you need, 28% phosphorus, 26% iron, and 20% magnesium.
Check out some of our delicious fritters and air fryer recipes here:
- Crispy, Delicious, Banana Nuggets
- Cabbage Wada: Savory Cabbage Lentil Bites
- Crispy Air-Fried Masala Okra
Here are a few of our chickpeas-based recipes:
- Blended Chana & Cluster Beans Curry
- Kala Chana-Spinach Curry
- Chana Masala-Spiced Chickpeas Curry
- Zesty Carrot-Garbanzo Usli
- Make Your Own Creamy Smooth Hummus
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Air Fryer Masala Wada - Lentil Burger Patties & Fritters
Ingredients
- 1.5 Cups Chana Dal - Split Bengal gram lentils
- 1 Cup Onion - Or shallots (fine cut)
- 3 Peppers Green Chili Pepper - Large
- 2 Tablespoons Ginger - Fresh, grated
- 1 Tablespoon Cumin Seeds
- 1 Teaspoon Sea Salt - Or to taste
- 2 Tablespoons Avocado oil
Instructions
- Blend ginger and chili peppers in a blender jar. Add chana dal, salt and blend to an almost fine paste. Transfer to a container, mix onion, cumin seeds and curry leaves.
- Spread parchment paper on a baking tray and lay out batter into patties and fritters (you can just make patties if you are not keen on fritters). Set tray in a freezer and leave it for at least 3 hours. Ensure patties and fritters are well frozen.
- Peel them off the parchment paper and save them in baggies (please reuse!) in the freezer.
- When you are ready to eat, spray avocado oil on a cooking tray and lay out burger patty (or fritters). Cook for 375 F for about 12 minutes (it may get done quicker sometimes, so pull the tray out to check occasionally).
- Enjoy hot fritters with fresh coconut tomato chutney.
Burger Ideas:
- Serve burger patty hot with fresh cooked corn, burger bun (with tomato chutney), sliced cucumber and tomato.
- Serve lentil burger hot on toasted bun with moringa leaf chutney, sliced cucumber and tomato.
