Biscuit Ambade (The Accidental Vada Vendetta)

It all started with a storage crisis.

One unsuspecting Tuesday evening, armed with an almost-empty packet of urad dal and an ambitious heart, I decided to do what any logical human would do: Refill the jar. But oh no, the jar had trust issues—it looked empty but turned out to be secretly full, just like your inbox after a long weekend.

Now left with "just enough urad dal to cause guilt but not enough to store", I had two choices:

1. Procrastinate and shove it in a random jar labeled “quinoa.”

2. Cook it and pretend it was always the plan.

Enter: Biscuit Ambade—the undercover cousins of the medu vada. Plumper, crispier, and shaped like they’ve been stress-eating during a monsoon.

I threw in some curry leaves, green chilies, chopped onions, and love (aka whatever spice my hand grabbed blindly), shaped them into chunky discs of vengeance, and deep-fried them like I was releasing all my mid-week frustration. The house instantly smelled like a South Indian wedding that had just been catered by your favorite aunty.

As I sat down with my golden plate of vadas and a cup of piping hot chai, my partner walked in and asked innocently, “Ooh! Special occasion?”

I sipped my tea dramatically and said,
“Yes. A storage emergency.”

He nodded like it made perfect sense. Because in this house, it totally does.