One of my readers asked me for this recipe few days ago. This dish is not known to people in North Kanara(like me). I ignored it for sometime, but then, I was very curious. So I asked aayi, she said it is a version of cabbage vada that is prepared in South Kanara. Some of my aayi’s relatives are from SK, so she is very familiar with all SK names and dishes. She said she had tasted this at one of her aunt’s homes in Udupi many years ago. She knew that it was a deep fried cabbage vada, but she didn’t know the recipe. So we referred to Jaya V. Shenoy’s book “Oota Upahara” (which is Kannada version of “amgele khana javan”, I think) for this dish.
Most of you might know about Jaya V. Shenoy, if you are in to Konkan food. She is very popular among Konkanis for her cookbooks. These cookbooks are like bibles for most of SK style Konkani dishes. I don’t have this book with me, so I can’t write more about it as of now, but I can surely say it is a great book to have, for any SK Konkani dishes. For those of you, who are very curious to know if this is the book from which I get all my recipes, the answer is No. I don’t. Thus, daangar becomes the very first recipe I picked up from this book.
Dangar is very similar to the cabbage vada that I grew up eating. Cabbage vada is slightly sweetish but this one does not include jaggery. Traditionally it is deep fried in hot oil, but I decided to shallow fry. Some of my readers mentioned, in Goa, this dish is shallow fried. So I think there is more than one way of making it. It tastes great when consumed when it is very hot.
Ingredients:
1 tbl spn toor dal or chana dal
1 tbl spn rice
1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut
4-5 red chilies
1/4 tea spn tamarind extract or 1-2 pieces of tamarind
1/2 cup of any one of the following
- Cabbage
- Cabbage and onion
- Drumstick leaves
- Pumpkin leaves
Salt
Oil
Method:
Soak dal and rice in water for about 30mins. Grind coconut with red chilies and tamarind without adding water. You can add few drops of water if required, but make sure not to make it watery. If you add more water, you can’t make the balls.
Now grind dal and rice to a coarse paste. Add this and salt to coconut paste. Then add the shredded cabbage(or any option given above).
Make small balls of the mixture, slightly flatten them and deep fry(or shallow fry as I did).
Serve hot.
Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 30mins
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30 Responses to Cabbage vada(Daangar)
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Hi Shilpa.. This indeed is the correct recipe for Dangar followed in Udupi.. I am from udupi..:) There is one addition. To make the dangar crisp you can add finely powdered dry-roasted urad-dal to the batter before frying.. This is my mother’s tip.. I have the recipe book by Jaya V Shenoy.. It indeed is a very good book..
Hi shilpa,
thanks for the recipe. I haven’t made dangar from a long long time. But is a absoulte favourite food in my home. my husband and my kids just likes it. My mother in law use to make this things very often back home in india. the only difference is that we use turdal instead of channa dal and no coconut, for it turns soft. I am definetly going to make dangar this week.
Never knew it was called as Daangar. I always made sana polo or mudde. If i wanted them smaller in size would
shallow fry as the way you did. Let me try the fried one tomm. Thanks for posting this version Shilpa.
Nice change from the usual vada we have. Thanks for sharing!
Shilpa, amma used to make this wt cabbage-onion, calls it ‘wawdaw’/vodo! Daangar’s new name.Also she made using ‘Taikilo’ it looks like methi,the leaves are rounder n it grows in rainy season,i donno the English name. Tks 4 sharing!
Oh! I make cabbage vadas..but never this way”! this one sounds v interesting with soaked rice and dal. Bookmarked to try
thanks shilpa
The name is very new to me. Ya, is similar to the cabbage vada..Thanks for sharing Shilpa..
Looks like a great snack to have in the evenings with coffee!:))
Thanks to you for mentioning the book ‘Oota upahara’. I’m a konkan and lived in blore for most of my life. After coming to US, I had to learn cooknig and your website has helped a lot.
After I read about ‘Oota upahara’ on your site, I got this book from India. Now I can try all the recipes
Thanks a lot for posting this recipe. My husband wanted to have this and I was searching for the recipe.
Hi Shilpa, I would definitely add some onions to this , makes it taste even better. its better deep fried than shallow fried. we seem to think that shallow frying is healthier than deep frying, but apparently that s not the case, there is more oil absorbed during shallow frying. also you can definitely omit the coconut, it tastes great even without it ,( this comes from a experienced hardcore mangalorean cook like me:) speaking of mangalore , these cabbage vadas near the venkateshwara temple and they are simply delicious!
Cabbage vada is looking so good…..My mom makes it quite often….Waiting to try it out…
Each day we make new discoveries eh?
Hmm.. interesting. Never tried this before. Sounds easy to make isnt it. let me try.
thanks Shilpa for sharing.
Hi Shilpa,
This looks good and i would like to try this. Is 1tbsp daal and rice enough? It seems very less and am wondering how will it bind. Thanks for wonderful recipe again. This is totally new to me.
Shilpa: Sonal, It is enough if you are using coconut. Because that also acts as binding.
This is an excellent one !!!Wish could have tasted one of them
Shilpa
My mom used to make it this way but used to call it “kobi wada
e” or “Kobi Phodyo”. She would also add onion and coriander leaves to it and deep fry them. The same recipe could be used to amke “kobi poley”.
One of my aunts from Malwan used to use the same recipe, but would first steam the batter and then cut into piece and then either deep-fry or shallow fry.
Yummy, anyway you make it !!!
I bought cabbage today, so no prizes for guessing what we are having this sweekend !!!
Thanks for the post..
This is one of by childhood fav’s. The only difference I would say is that my o-amma would make they more rounded (less flat). And, instead of serve hot, I would say stand next to the stove and fight your family for them. thanks for the memories.
Dear Shilpa
Thanks so much for leaving such a sweet comment for me..you always make me smile
I really wish I could taste these yummy cabbage vadas…will try them out soon!!
Swati
Looks delicious Shilpa! Had no idea that cabbage vada had a specific origin. Good to know
I’ve often made cabbage pakoras, but never vadais with freshly ground channa dal – that’s a great idea. Think I’m going to try baking these!
nice pictures, delicious food.
Bhari chaang asa
Tell me one thing is the alsande randayi u make same as alsanda bendi…? is the difference only in the phanna?
I’m doin my masters in CS at UT Austin…and I feel that ur website is an amazing intro to konkani food
Keep the good work going
ciao
Sai
Shilpa: I think alsande bendi has basic masol(coconut and red chilies only) and then garlic phanna.
Shilpa,
I made this and they were very very yummy. Since i had to add water while grinding coconut it became watery so added some besan. I will try again to impress guest. he..he
Hi Shilpa,
My mom makes this by shallow frying a mixture onion, cabbage, besan and spices. She also puts a little bit of ground rice to make it crispy.
I think that’s the Goan way of doing it. Do try it sometime, tastes awesome.
Thanks again for your wonderful blog. Not a day goes by these days when I don’t visit it at least once
thx,great recipe.deep fried it.great work with the blog!
Hi Shilpa,
Tried this and it came out very well! I used onions instead of cabbage. Tasted gr8 with daali-sheeth.. Thanks for the recipe..
Yup!! I am from udupi and this dangar is generally made of ‘THAIKILO’ leaves. I dunno what its called either in kannada or english. These leaves grow in rainy season only…that too along the side of the roads..
You can see all konkanis plucking these leaves 
on the similar lines as drumstick leaves upkari.
With cabbage it tastes great but with THAIKILO its YUMMY!!!
There s another dish called thaikile upkari made with this using normal sasam panna and bikkanda pieces..
Hi Shilpa,
What if we do not use Pumkin leaves and Drumstick leaves will it taste good
Tks
Manali
You can use spring onions if they are available.