Take chana dal in a bowl and wash it under water a few times.
Soak it in good amount of water for 2-3 hours. Drain completely.

Now keep 2 -3 tablespoons of soaked dal separately.

Take rest of the dal and add ginger, garlic, red chili, jeera and saunf to a grinder jar and blend coarsly.

Pulse it a few times until it turns to a coarse mixture. The dough must have some uncrushed chana dal.

Transfer the mix to a bowl And add finely chopped coriander leaves, curry leaves, onion, turmeric and salt to it. Keep oil in a wok for heating.

Take a handful of this mixture and blend to a smooth paste.
Mix that with the rest of the dough.

Heat oil in a deep pan on a medium flame.
While the oil heats, divide the dough to 10 parts.

Make small balls and flatten them on your palm. You can also make these on a greased plastic sheet or dry cloth.

Check if the oil is hot enough by gently dropping a small portion of the dough to the hot oil.

Slide masala vada one by one gently to the hot oil. You can add about 3 to 4 vadas in each batch don’t over crowd.

Wait until they firm up for 2 to 3 mins before turning them over to fry the other side.

On a medium flame deep fry the masala vadas until golden & crisp on both the sides.

Transfer the masala vadai to an absorbent paper.

Serve spicy masala vada hot with coconut chutney.