I have decided to include a little appetizer dish. Although these little bites are deep-fried, I believe a few of them are still eligible for the South Beach Phase 1 and definitely for Phases 2 and 3. The reason is, I use a very nominal amount of flour to hold the balls together. I also use garbanzo powder/ besan flour. In India “Besan” is the term for the powder made out of chickpeas. It tastes delicious and is much healthier compared to all-purpose flour. Besan flour is highly rich in proteins and other nutrients. The Moog- the tiny green beans that make up the balls are actually lentils, a.k.a. beans, This make them rich in proteins not carbohydrates. You can find them in an Asian grocery store.

Moog Vadas (Bean balls/fritters)
Total 16 pieces

Ingredients:-

1 Cup Overnight soaked whole moog.
1 Inch skinned ginger piece
3 Large skinned garlic cloves
4 Hot green chilies

(Grate all the above four ingredients in a mixer and put in a bowl).

1 tsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. chick peas flour (besan flour/dry garbanzo powder)
1 tsp. All purpose flour
½ tsp. salt ( as per taste)
¼ tsp. Turmeric Powder
¼ tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Canola oil.
3 tbsp. water.

Add all the above ingredients to the grated mixture and mix well with a fork.

2 Cups of oil for deep frying.

Cooking Instructions:-

Take a suitable deep fryer and add the oil. You may add a little more to suit the fryer size so that it should deep-fry the vadas (balls/fritters) properly. Heat the oil on high heat for 3 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and make ball shaped vada, one at a time with hand and directly put it in the hot oil. Be careful and avoid touching hot oil every time you put the vada in the hot oil. You can put a batch of 8 vadas, one by one at a time and fry them together on the high heat for 3 to 4 minutes/until darkish brown. Make the rest of the 8 wadas same way and serve as shown in the picture with green chutney and tamarind chutney. You get the ready-made chutneys at Indian grocery stores. If you wish to make it at home, look for my recipe under Choice of Chutneys. (Will be available in a week or so)