Four dahi vada in a white dish under thick set curd, topped with tamarind and green chutney, sev, pomegranate and coriander, one cut open to show the spongy interior, beside bowls of raw urad dal and strained curd

Dahi Vada Recipe: Soft Vadas, Thick Dahi, and the Soak Everyone Rushes

By Saran Reddy, Founder — InstaCuppa | 24 September 2026 | 11 min read | Last updated: 24 September 2026

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Four dahi vada in a white dish under thick set curd, topped with tamarind and green chutney, sev, pomegranate and coriander, one cut open to show the spongy interior, beside bowls of raw urad dal and strained curd

What Is Dahi Vada, and Why Is It Really Two Recipes?

Short answer: Dahi vada is a fried urad dal dumpling soaked in thick curd. It is two separate recipes served on one plate. The vada is a lentil-batter job. The dahi is a milk-setting job. Most failed dahi vada is one of those two halves going wrong, not both.

Think of dahi vada as an assembly, not a dish. Two things are made, then married.

One half is the vada. Split black gram is soaked, ground, whipped and fried.

The other half is the dahi. Milk is set into curd, then thickened until it clings.

When dahi vada disappoints, the fault sits on one side. Hard vadas are a batter problem.

Runny, sour, sliding curd is a setting problem. Fixing the wrong half wastes an evening.

The pulse is the whole trick

Urad dal is not a random lentil. It behaves differently from every other dal in an Indian kitchen.

Ground with a little water, it turns into a batter that holds air. That trapped air is the sponge.

The Indian Food Composition Tables list it as food code B003, black gram dal. Its numbers are not ordinary.

📊 IFCT 2017, black gram dal (B003), per 100 g: protein 23.06 g, total dietary fibre 11.93 g, fat only 1.69 g, carbohydrate 51.00 g, energy 1356 kJ. Source: Indian Food Composition Tables 2017, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition.

Read the fat row. Raw urad dal is a lean, high-protein pulse.

Whatever fat ends up in a dahi vada arrives later, in the kadai. That matters, and we come back to it.

The other half of the plate is curd. Here is a thing worth knowing.

IFCT 2017 does not measure curd at all. Its dairy block holds three foods only.

Whole buffalo milk, whole cow milk and paneer. There is no row for dahi.

So curd has no official Indian composition figure. What it does have is a legal floor, and we use that instead.

How Long Should Urad Dal Soak for Dahi Vada?

Short answer: Urad dal for dahi vada is well soaked in about 90 minutes, not four hours. Researchers at the Central Food Technological Research Institute measured it. Water uptake climbs steeply in the first 5 to 15 minutes, rises gradually to 90 minutes, and barely moves after that.

Almost every dahi vada recipe says soak for four or five hours. None of them says why.

Somebody did measure it. The work is worth knowing about.

Asha, Susheelamma and Guha studied black gram batter. Their paper ran in the International Journal of Food Science and Technology in 2007.

They tracked two things as the dal soaked. How much water it took up, and how thick the ground batter became.

The curve has a knee

Water uptake did not climb steadily. It jumped in the first five to fifteen minutes.

Then it slowed. It rose gradually up to ninety minutes, and only marginally after that.

Batter thickness followed the same shape, and this is the number that matters.

📊 The measured soak curve (CFTRI, 2007): the batter's apparent viscosity roughly doubles after soaking up to 90 minutes, then gains less than 20 per cent beyond 120 minutes. Source: Asha, Susheelamma and Guha, International Journal of Food Science and Technology 42(6), 669-677.

Thick batter is not a cosmetic goal. Thickness is what traps air.

Air is what makes a vada spongy enough to drink curd. So the soak is really an air-trapping step.

Soak time What the measurements show What to do
5-15 minutes The steepest rise in water uptake Too early to grind. Wait.
Up to 90 minutes Gradual rise; batter viscosity about doubles The useful window. Grind now.
90-120 minutes Uptake is marginal now Fine. No harm, small gain.
Beyond 120 minutes Under 20 per cent further viscosity gain You are waiting for very little.

So a two-hour soak is generous. A four-hour soak is habit, not chemistry.

There is one honest caveat. The study soaked dal at room temperature.

A Delhi December is not a Chennai May. Cold water slows every soak, so give it longer in winter.

Drain it properly before grinding

Lift the dal out with your hand. Do not tip the bowl into the grinder.

The soaking water carries straight into the batter and thins it. Thin batter is the enemy here.

Keep that drained water beside you in a cup. You will add it back a spoon at a time.

Why Are My Dahi Vadas Hard Instead of Spongy?

Short answer: Hard dahi vadas almost always come from thin batter or a coarse grind. Both cut the batter's ability to hold air. Grind fine, add water by the spoon, whip the batter until it lightens, and check it with the float test before any of it reaches hot oil.

A soft vada is mostly air. A hard vada is the same batter with the air missing.

Three things take the air out. Too much water, too coarse a grind, and not enough whipping.

Grind fine, and grind cool

Particle size is not a detail. It changes the batter measurably.

A 2025 study in the Journal of Food Science and Technology looked at instant vada batter.

📊 Coarse grinding costs you the batter: raising particle diameter from 45 to 420 micrometres cut vada-batter viscosity by 63.8 per cent, because coarser particles absorb less water. Source: Journal of Food Science and Technology (2025), "Influence of various parameters on flow behaviour of instantly-leavened cereal-legume batters".

A grainy batter is a thin batter. A thin batter cannot hold a bubble.

So grind in short bursts and scrape down between them. Heat from a long run also hurts the batter.

A traditional wet grinder does this best. A heavy mixer grinder works if you go in stages.

Water by the spoon, never by the cup

Add one tablespoon at a time. Let the machine run before you decide to add more.

Stop while the batter still looks stiff. It should hold a soft peak on a spoon.

If it pours, it has gone too far. Thin batter can be rescued, but only clumsily.

Whip it, then test it

Ground batter is not finished batter. Beat it with your hand or a whisk for three to four minutes.

It should visibly pale and swell. That is air going in.

Now do the float test. Drop a small blob into a bowl of water.

It should rise and sit on the surface. If it sinks, whip for another two minutes and test again.

This is the single most reliable check in the recipe. It takes ten seconds.

The second soak, the one nobody explains

Frying gives you a crisp fritter. Crisp is not what dahi vada wants.

Straight out of the oil, the vadas go into warm water. Twenty minutes, fully submerged.

They swell, soften and go pale. Then you press each one gently between your palms.

Water leaves, and so does some surface oil. Now the vada is a sponge with room for curd.

Skip this and you are eating a fried snack with curd on it. That is a different, lesser dish.

How Do You Get Thick Dahi That Does Not Run Off the Vada?

Short answer: Thick dahi for dahi vada comes from straining, not from a thicker milk. Set the curd, then drain the whey through a fine mesh or a muslin cloth for one to two hours. Whisk it smooth with a little milk, salt and roasted cumin just before serving.

Curd that slides off the vada is not bad curd. It is unstrained curd.

Set dahi is mostly water. Drain some of that off and the texture changes completely.

What the law says dahi has to be

India does regulate dahi. The rule sits in the dairy chapter of the food standards.

Sub-regulation 2.1.13 covers fermented milk products. Its wording on plain dahi is short and useful.

📊 FSSAI, sub-regulation 2.1.13: "Plain Dahi shall have the same minimum percentage of milk fat and milk solids-not-fat as that of the milk... from which it is prepared." Fermented milks must carry at least 2.9 per cent milk protein, a titratable acidity of at least 0.45 per cent as lactic acid, and live starter organisms of not less than 10 million per gram. Source: FSSAI, Food Products Standards, Chapter 2.1.

Read the first line again. Dahi cannot be richer than the milk it came from.

So thin milk sets thin curd. Full-cream milk is the easy first fix.

The second line matters too. That acidity floor is why shop dahi tastes tangy by default.

Straining is the real answer

Set the curd overnight and chill it. Then drain it.

One hour of straining gives you curd that holds a shape. Two hours gives you hung curd, which is thicker again.

For dahi vada, aim between the two. It should mound on a spoon and still spread.

A muslin cloth over a sieve does the job. It is also fiddly and drips through everything.

A purpose-made strainer is simply easier on a weeknight. Ours sits in the fridge and drains on its own.

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Do not throw the drained whey away. It is good in dal, in atta or in a glass with lemon.

Season the dahi, do not just pour it

Plain strained curd on a vada tastes flat. It needs three things.

Whisk in two tablespoons of milk to loosen it slightly. Then salt, and a pinch of sugar.

Sugar is not for sweetness. It rounds off the sourness the acidity floor guarantees.

Finish with roasted cumin powder. Roast the seeds yourself and crush them; the shop powder is tired.

Two curd failures deserve their own pages. Here is why curd turns sour, and here is curd that will not set.

How Do You Make Dahi Vada at Home, Step by Step?

Short answer: Dahi vada takes about 90 minutes of soaking, 30 minutes of active work, and 20 minutes of resting in water. Set the dahi the night before. Soak and grind the urad dal on the day, whip the batter, fry, soak the vadas in warm water, squeeze, then assemble cold.

Split the job across two days and it stops being a project. The dahi goes first.

The night before

Set one litre of full-cream milk into curd. Chill it once it is firm.

Start straining it in the morning. It needs one to two hours in the fridge.

For about 12 vadas, serving four

  • 1 cup split urad dal, skinless
  • 1 inch ginger, grated fine
  • 1 or 2 green chillies, chopped fine
  • 1 teaspoon salt, for the batter
  • Oil for deep frying
  • 750 ml curd, strained thick
  • 2 tablespoons milk, to loosen the dahi
  • 1 teaspoon sugar and salt to taste, for the dahi
  • Roasted cumin powder, red chilli powder, chaat masala
  • Tamarind-date chutney and green coriander chutney
  • Fresh coriander, pomegranate seeds and sev, to finish

Some cooks add a spoon of rice flour or a few soaked moong dal. Both are optional and both firm the vada slightly.

The method, with the clock

  1. Soak the dal (90 minutes). Rinse the urad dal until the water runs clear. Cover it with plenty of cool water and leave it.
  2. Drain it properly (2 minutes). Lift the dal out by hand. Keep the soaking water in a cup beside the grinder.
  3. Grind fine (5 minutes). Work in short bursts. Add the reserved water one tablespoon at a time and scrape down between bursts.
  4. Whip the batter (4 minutes). Beat by hand or with a whisk until it pales and swells. Fold in the ginger, green chilli and salt at the end.
  5. Float test (10 seconds). Drop a small blob into water. It must float. If it sinks, whip for two more minutes.
  6. Fry (12 minutes). Wet your palm, flatten a spoon of batter on it, and slide it in. Fry in small batches until pale gold, not brown.
  7. Soak the vadas (20 minutes). Move them straight from the oil into warm water. Keep them fully under.
  8. Squeeze (3 minutes). Press each vada gently between your palms. Firm enough to drain, gentle enough not to tear it.
  9. Season the dahi (3 minutes). Whisk the strained curd with milk, salt and sugar until it is smooth and spoonable.
  10. Chill and assemble (30 minutes). Lay the vadas in a dish, cover them with dahi, and refrigerate. Add chutneys and powders only at the table.

The last line is not fussiness. Chutney added early bleeds into the curd and turns it grey.

📊 Why the vadas fry pale: a dark vada has a hard crust, and a hard crust resists the water soak. Pale gold is the target, because the colour on the plate comes from chutney and chilli, not from the kadai.

The two chutneys

Green chutney is coriander, mint, green chilli, ginger, lemon and salt. It is a two-minute job in a small chopper.

Tamarind-date chutney is tamarind, dates or jaggery, cumin and a little black salt, simmered until it coats a spoon.

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Buy the chaat masala and black salt if you like. Neither is worth making at home.

If chaat is your thing, our pav bhaji recipe takes apart the other Indian street dish people get almost right at home.

What Should I Know About the Oil Before I Fry?

Short answer: Dahi vada is deep fried, and there is no honest way around that. India's food regulator bars frying oil once its total polar compounds pass 25 per cent. ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition advises against reusing frying oil at all, and caps cooking oil at 25 to 30 grams a day.

I am not going to tell you dahi vada is a health food. It is a fried snack with curd on it.

What I can do is give you the actual rules, and let you decide.

The legal line on used oil

India has a hard number for frying oil. It is about total polar compounds, a measure of how degraded the oil is.

📊 FSSAI, in force since 1 July 2018: "However, vegetable oil having developed Total Polar Compound more than 25% shall not be used." Inserted into Schedule 4, Part-V, paragraph VI, sub-paragraph 7 on Fried Foods. Source: Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) First Amendment Regulations, 2017.

That limit is written for food businesses, not for your kitchen. Nobody expects you to test oil at home.

The useful part is the idea behind it. Oil degrades with heat and use, and there is a point past which it should go.

Home signs are easy to read. Dark colour, a heavy smell, thick foam on the surface, and smoking sooner than it used to.

What ICMR-NIN says

The Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 are blunter about home frying.

They say to avoid reusing frying oil, and not to mix used oil into fresh oil.

They also set an everyday oil allowance, which is the number worth remembering.

📊 ICMR-NIN, Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024: the My Plate for the Day for an adult allows 27 g of fats and oils, alongside 250 g cereals, 85 g pulses and legumes, 300 ml milk or curd and 35 g nuts and seeds. The text puts the working range at 25 g to 30 g of cooking oil per day. Source: Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition.

The same document says to prefer pressure or steam cooking over deep frying. It also says to eat more fermented foods.

Dahi vada sits on both sides of that sentence. Half of it is fried; half of it is fermented milk.

Three things that cut the oil

First, the water soak. It is the one step that genuinely removes surface oil, and you are doing it anyway.

Second, batter that passed the float test. Aerated batter sets fast and drinks less.

Third, oil that is hot enough. Cool oil means a long fry, and a long fry means a greasy vada.

A drop of batter should rise to the surface within a few seconds. If it sits at the bottom, wait.

Use a wide, heavy kadai and fry in small batches. Crowding drops the temperature, which is the usual home mistake.

What Is Actually in a Dahi Vada?

Short answer: A dahi vada is a high-protein pulse, a fermented dairy food and frying oil. Urad dal carries 23.06 g of protein and 11.93 g of dietary fibre per 100 g by the Indian Food Composition Tables. Curd has no entry in those tables at all, so its figures follow the milk it was set from.

Nobody eats dahi vada for nutrition. It is still worth knowing what is on the plate.

The base is urad dal, and that part is genuinely good food.

Per 100 g, dry Black gram dal (B003)
Energy 1356 kJ
Protein 23.06 g
Total fat 1.69 g
Total dietary fibre 11.93 g
Carbohydrate 51.00 g
Calcium 55.67 mg
Iron 4.67 mg
Magnesium 173 mg
Potassium 1157 mg
Zinc 3.00 mg

Those are dry-weight numbers for the raw dal. A vada is mostly water and some oil by the time you eat it.

Now the curd side, and here there is an honest gap.

There is no official Indian figure for dahi

I went looking for curd in the Indian Food Composition Tables. It is not there.

The whole dairy block runs to three foods. Whole buffalo milk, whole cow milk and paneer.

So the way to read curd is through its milk, and through the legal floor.

Per 100 g Milk, whole, buffalo (L001) Milk, whole, cow (L002)
Protein 3.68 g 3.26 g
Total fat 6.58 g 4.48 g
Energy 449 kJ 305 kJ

Plain dahi must match the milk it came from on fat and solids-not-fat. That is the rule quoted earlier.

So buffalo-milk dahi is the richer one. Cow-milk dahi sets lighter and strains faster.

Straining changes both. Draining whey concentrates what is left, which is why hung curd tastes so much denser.

I have deliberately not printed a calorie figure for one dahi vada. It would depend on your oil, your batter and your straining, and I have no measured source for it.

For the context those numbers sit in, our guide to eating dahi every day goes through the daily quantities.

What Is Dahi Vada Called Across India?

Short answer: Dahi vada is dahi bhalla in Delhi and Punjab, thayir vadai in Tamil Nadu, perugu garelu in Telugu-speaking states, mosaru vade in Karnataka and dahi bara in Odisha. The vada is broadly the same. What changes is whether the curd is sweetened and chutney-topped or tempered and savoury.

One dish, many names, and a real split down the middle of the country.

The northern version is a chaat. The southern version is a curd dish.

Name Where What changes
Dahi bhalla Delhi, Punjab Sweetened curd, tamarind and green chutney, chaat masala, sev and pomegranate on top.
Dahi vada Widely, north and west The general name. Usually the chaat style, sometimes lighter on the chutney.
Thayir vadai Tamil Nadu A medu-vada-style ring. The curd itself is tempered with mustard, curry leaves and hing. Not sweet.
Perugu garelu Andhra Pradesh, Telangana Same idea as thayir vadai. Spiced, tempered curd rather than sweet chutney.
Mosaru vade Karnataka Tempered curd again, often with coriander and a lighter hand on the chilli.
Dahi bara Odisha, especially Cuttack Thinner, pourable curd with roasted cumin and a tadka. Famously eaten with aloo dum.

If a recipe tempers the curd, do not also add sweet chutney. The two styles fight.

And the dal has a name in every language too

Recipes wander between languages. The Indian Food Composition Tables list every name for food code B003.

Language Name Language Name
Assamese Matir dail Marathi Uddachi dal
Bengali Biulir dal Odia Birri dali
Gujarati Aadad ni daal Punjabi Maa ki daal
Hindi Urd dal Tamil Ulutham paruppu
Kannada Uddhina bele Telugu Minapapappu
Malayalam Uzhunnu parippu Urdu Mash ki dal

Ask for any of those at a shop and you will get the same pulse. Buy the skinless split kind for vada.

Whole black urad with the skin on is a different job. That one is for dal makhani, not for this.

Most shops stock both. If you order split skinless urad dal online, check the photo, not the label.

How Do You Fix Dahi Vada That Has Gone Wrong?

Short answer: Most dahi vada faults trace back to three moments. The water added during grinding, the whipping, and the warm-water soak after frying. Hard vadas and oily vadas are batter problems. Runny or sour dahi is a straining and setting problem.

Dahi vada fails in a small number of ways. Each has a cause you can point at.

What went wrong Why What to do now
Hard and dense inside Batter too thin, or not whipped enough Nothing saves the fried batch. Next time, whip longer and use the float test.
Heavy with oil Oil too cool, or the pan was crowded Give them a longer warm-water soak and squeeze firmly. Fry in smaller batches next time.
Vadas fell apart in the water Batter too loose, or the soak water was too hot Use warm water, never boiling. Soak for 20 minutes, not an hour.
No hole, flat discs Batter slid off the palm before it hit the oil Not a fault for dahi vada. The hole matters for medu vada, not here.
Dahi runs off the plate Curd was not strained Strain the curd for an hour, then whisk it back to spoonable with a little milk.
Dahi tastes sharply sour Over-set, or set warm and left out Whisk in a pinch of sugar and a spoon of fresh milk. Set the next batch for less time.
Grey, muddy-looking curd Chutney added too early Assemble the chutneys at the table, not in the fridge.
Vadas dry the next day Stored out of the curd Store them submerged in dahi, covered, and eat within two days.

The five habits that make dahi vada reliable

  1. Soak for about 90 minutes, and longer only in cold weather.
  2. Add water by the spoon while grinding, never by the cup.
  3. Whip until it floats, and test before you fry.
  4. Soak the fried vadas in warm water for 20 minutes, then squeeze.
  5. Strain the dahi, and season it separately from the vadas.

Do those five and the dish stops being unpredictable.

Dahi vada rewards patience in two places only. The batter, and the curd.

If you like this way of cooking, where one step explains the whole dish, our poha recipe makes the same argument about water.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How long should urad dal be soaked for dahi vada?

About 90 minutes is enough in warm weather. Researchers at the Central Food Technological Research Institute measured the curve: water uptake rises steeply in the first 5 to 15 minutes, gradually up to 90 minutes, and only marginally beyond that. The batter's viscosity roughly doubles by the 90-minute mark and gains less than 20 per cent past 120 minutes. In a cold winter kitchen, give it two to three hours instead.

Why are my dahi vadas hard instead of soft?

Almost always because the batter could not hold air. The three usual causes are too much water during grinding, too coarse a grind, and not enough whipping afterwards. Grind fine and in short bursts, add the soaking water one tablespoon at a time, then beat the batter for three to four minutes until it pales. Check it with the float test before frying: a small blob dropped into water should rise and sit on the surface.

Do I have to soak the fried vadas in water?

Yes, if you want a soft dahi vada. Straight out of the oil the vada is a crisp fritter, and a crisp crust will not absorb curd. Twenty minutes fully submerged in warm, not boiling, water makes it swell and soften. Squeezing each one gently afterwards drains the water and takes some surface oil with it.

How do I make the dahi thick enough for dahi vada?

Strain it. Set the curd overnight, chill it, then drain the whey through a fine mesh or a muslin cloth for one to two hours. FSSAI's sub-regulation 2.1.13 requires plain dahi to carry the same milk fat and milk solids-not-fat as the milk it was set from, so full-cream milk also helps. Whisk the strained curd back to a spoonable texture with a little milk, salt and a pinch of sugar.

Is dahi vada healthy?

It is a deep-fried food served with a fermented dairy food, and it is fair to treat it as an occasional dish. The Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 put an adult's cooking oil allowance at about 25 to 30 grams a day, advise preferring pressure or steam cooking over deep frying, and separately encourage more fermented foods. The warm-water soak does remove some surface oil, which is a genuine benefit rather than a marketing line.

What is dahi vada called in other parts of India?

Dahi bhalla in Delhi and Punjab, thayir vadai in Tamil Nadu, perugu garelu in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, mosaru vade in Karnataka and dahi bara in Odisha. The vada itself is broadly the same fried urad dal dumpling. The real difference is the curd. Northern versions sweeten it and top it with tamarind and green chutney. Southern versions temper it with mustard seeds, curry leaves and hing, and keep it savoury.

Can I make dahi vada a day in advance?

Yes, and it is the easier way to do it. Set and strain the dahi the night before, and fry and soak the vadas in the morning. Keep the vadas submerged in the curd, covered, in the fridge. Add the chutneys, chaat masala and powders only when you serve, because chutney added early bleeds into the curd and turns it a dull grey.

Which urad dal should I buy for dahi vada?

Split urad dal without the skin, sometimes sold as white urad dal or urad dhuli. Whole black urad with its skin on is a different product and belongs in dal makhani, not in this batter. The Indian Food Composition Tables list the same pulse as urd dal in Hindi, ulutham paruppu in Tamil, minapapappu in Telugu, uddhina bele in Kannada, uzhunnu parippu in Malayalam and maa ki daal in Punjabi.

Sources & References

  1. Rheological properties of black gram (Phaseolus mungo) batter: characterisation of flour from native and modified rice and their effect on batter viscosity - the measured soaking curve used throughout this article: hydration capacity of black gram dhal rises steeply during the first 5-15 minutes of soaking, gradually up to 90 minutes and only marginally beyond, while the batter's apparent viscosity roughly doubles after soaking up to 90 minutes and gains under 20 per cent beyond 120 minutes; the batters are pseudo-plastic — M. R. Asha, N. S. Susheelamma and Manisha Guha, International Journal of Food Science and Technology 42(6), 669-677 (2007), via ePrints@CFTRI, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysuru
  2. Indian Food Composition Tables 2017 - food code B003 Black gram, dal (Phaseolus mungo): protein 23.06 g, total fat 1.69 g, total dietary fibre 11.93 g, available carbohydrate 51.00 g, moisture 9.16 g and energy 1356 kJ per 100 g, with calcium 55.67 mg, iron 4.67 mg, magnesium 173 mg, phosphorus 375 mg, potassium 1157 mg and zinc 3.00 mg, plus the regional name list; and the whole dairy block L001 Milk whole buffalo, L002 Milk whole cow and L003 Paneer, which contains no entry for curd or dahi — T. Longvah, R. Ananthan, K. Bhaskarachary and K. Venkaiah, ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad
  3. Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, Chapter 2.1 Dairy Products and Analogues, Version 2 dated 04.11.2024 - sub-regulation 2.1.13 Standard for Fermented Milk Products, which requires plain Dahi to have the same minimum percentage of milk fat and milk solids-not-fat as the milk from which it is prepared, sets a minimum milk protein of 2.9 per cent and a minimum titratable acidity of 0.45 per cent as lactic acid for fermented milks, and requires starter microorganisms of not less than 10 to the power 7 cfu per gram — Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
  4. Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) First Amendment Regulations, 2017, in force from 1 July 2018 - inserts into Schedule 4, Part-V, paragraph VI, sub-paragraph 7 relating to Fried Foods, clause (4) the words: However, vegetable oil having developed Total Polar Compound more than 25% shall not be used — Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Gazette of India notification dated 3 November 2017
  5. Dietary Guidelines for Indians 2024 - My Plate for the Day, which allows an adult 250 g of cereals and nutricereals, 85 g of pulses and legumes, 300 ml of milk or curd, 35 g of nuts and seeds and 27 g of fats and oils per day; the text restricting cooking oils to 25 g to 30 g per day; and the cooking guidance to prefer pressure or steam cooking instead of deep frying, to consume more sprouted or fermented foods, and to avoid repeated use of frying oils and mixing used oil with fresh oil — ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad
  6. Influence of various parameters on flow behaviour of instantly-leavened cereal-legume batters - the effect of particle size on vada batter, where increasing particle diameter from 45 to 420 micrometres decreases batter viscosity by 63.8 per cent owing to a decrease in water absorption capacity — Journal of Food Science and Technology (2025), doi 10.1007/s13197-025-06307-x, Springer
Saran Reddy

Founder, InstaCuppa. I test home and kitchen tools in my own home in Tirupati and write about what actually works for busy Indian families.

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