Isso Vade is a traditional Sri Lankan recipe for a classic street food snack of split lentils patties with a prawn inserted in the top that are fried to cook and served with tamarind sauce and a salad. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Sri Lankan version of: Isso Vade.
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Isso Vade is classic street food from the Colombo region in Sri Lanka which are effectively split gram lentil patties with a prawn inserted in the top.
Ingredients:
400g split chana (gram) lentils, soaked for 5 hours or overnight
5 garlic cloves
1 tsp dried red chilli flakes (optional)
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder (more or less to taste)
½ tsp salt
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
3 bird’s eye chillies
10 fresh or frozen curry leaves
300g fresh raw prawns
To Serve:
Tamarind sauce
cabbage, thinly shredded
1 carrot, grated
spring onions
tomato
Method:
Soak the lentils in water for at least six hours (or preferably overnight). After soaking the dried lentils will be so soft that you can easily mash them between your fingers. Strain the lentils and place them in a food processor with the remaining ingredients up to and including the curry leaves. Do not add any water. Just blend the lentils and the other ingredients to a smooth paste.
Scrape the lentils mixture into a bowl then wet your hands with water and take a small handful of the paste, forming it into a ball. Then flatten slightly and place a prawn in the centre, pressing down firmly so that it doesn’t escape and go swimming when you come to frying the vade in oil. Repeat with the remaining paste and prawns.
Begin heating about a 5cm depth of oil in a wok or heavy-based pan. It needs to reach about 200°C/400°F. If you don’t have an oil thermometer, place a wooden chopstick or spatula in the oil. If sizzling bubbles from around the wood instantaneously, your oil is ready for frying.
Fry the vade in small batches so that you don’t over-crowd the pan and lower the temperature of the oil too much. Fry them, carefully splashing oil over the vade with a spoon until it they're lightly browned and the prawn is cooked through. Repeat with the remaining vade.
To serves, top with tamarind sauce or any sauce you like (chilli sauce is also good). I
Serve with a salad made from shredded cabbage, grated carrot, sliced spring onions and diced tomato.
