How many calories does one Medu Vada have?

One Medu Vada (30 grans) gives 73 calories. Out of which carbohydrates comprise 50 calories, proteins account for 20 calories and remaining calories come from fat which is 3 calories.  One Medu Vada provides about 4 percent of the total daily calorie requirement of a standard adult diet of 2,000 calories.

73 calories for 1 instant Medu Vada, South Indian Snack, Cholesterol 0 mg, Carbohydrates 12.5g, Protein 5g, Fat 0.3g.

See instant medu vada recipe | leftover rice medu vada | instant rava medu vada |

Most South Indians consider breakfast incomplete without Idli and Medu Vada. Here’s is an easy and quick way to prepare traditional medu vada using leftover rice and semolina. Rice flour and semolina gives the perfect crispiness to the leftover rice medu vadas.

This recipe can be whipped up quickly in 15 minutes without any fermentation. The other benefit of this instant rava medu vada is the ease of shaping the vadas, you may find it difficult to shape an urad based dough, but with rava it is stiff and hence can be easily shaped. Serving them hot with sambhar and coconut chutney however is doubly delightful.

Is instant Medu Vada healthy? 

No, this is not healthy. Let's see why.

Let's understand the Ingredients.

What's good.

1. Urad Dal : 1 cup of cooked urad dal gives 69.30% of folic acid of your daily requirement of folate.  The folic acid in urad dal helps your body to produce and maintain new cells, especially red blood cells. Being rich in Phosphorus it works with Calcium to build our bones, high in fibre and good for heart, good for lowering cholesterol and good for diabetes. See here for 10 super benefits of urad dal. 

2. Coconut : The fresh coconut has saturated fats but most of it is MCT (Medium Chain Triglycerides) which promote weight loss. The high fibre content 13.6 gm (45.3% of RDA) along with high lauric acid content of coconut improves cholesterol levels in the body. Improving the action of insulin secretion and lowering the raised blood sugar levels is yet another benefit of coconut for Diabetics. See here for 10 amazing benefits of coconut.  

What's the problem?

Deep fried foods : This recipe is deep fried. Any food that is deep fried is not suitable for healthy living. Your fat levels increase as deep frying increases oil absorption. Also when you use the same oil again for deep frying then smoking point decreases which leads to the development of blue smoke which is not good for health. Processed food, Deep Fried Foods also increases inflammation in the body and shuts down the fat burning process. Most diseases from heart, to cardio vascular, diabetes, parkinsons, alzheimer, cancer and obesity result when the cells get inflamed and don't then function correctly. Inflammation in the arteries can cause heart attacks. So your diet should contain foods that fight inflammation in the body. That's how your body gets healthier by eating the right stuff. So you have given the cells in your body the right food to stay healthy and that is so important in staying disease free for the rest of your life.  

Can diabetics, heart patients and over weight individuals have Medu Vada?

No, this recipe is not good for diabetics, heart and weight loss. This vada is deep fried. Any food that is deep fried is not suitable for healthy living. Your fat levels increase as deep frying increases oil absorption. Also when you use the same oil again for deep frying then smoking point decreases which leads to the development of blue smoke which is not good for health. So stay away from any deep fried food to live a healthy and happy life.

What are the healthier South Indian snack recipes?

Opt for nachni dosa, quinoa dosa, oats dosa,  4 Flour Dosa recipe, spinach dosa  or buckwheat dosa which has ZERO rice used. 

Nachni Dosa

Serve it with a healthy sambar recipe or coconut chutney. Read which idlis and dosas are healthy?

Sambhar

Can healthy individuals have Medu Vada?

No. 

8 Pointers to get healthy on a Indian diet

1. Eat healthy and say yes to good home cooked food. Prefer whole grains like oatmeal, quinoa, buckwheat, barley and healthy flours like bajra flour, jowar flour, quinoa flour, wheat flour etc. rather than refined ones like maida. Have healthy Indian fats like ghee, coconut, coconut oil in your diet.

2. Opt out of junk food, packaged food, deep fried foods. Prefer steamed snacks and other non-fried snacks. Check out some Healthy Indian Snacks. Remember to eat small frequent meals through the day as that will keep you always full and prevent your blood sugar from dropping. By starving your body through some diet, will not help you one bit. In fact, dieting will make you binge on 2 to 3 meals which is not good. 

3. Have 4 to 5 servings of vegetables and 2 to 3 servings of fruit is a must. Follow the logic of a vegetable in each main meal of the day and a fruit in-between meals. Check out a few Healthy Indian Soups and Healthy Indian Salads  recipes using this food group.           

4. Cut down on sugar and salt in your diet and pick honey ( very small amounts) or dates to sweeten your food. Slowly cut the sugar habit as this is not going to happen over night. Sugar  is also called white poison. It is a simple carbohydrate with zero nutritional value. On intake, sugar will cause inflammation of the body which will last for many hours. It will spike your blood sugar level and shut down the fat burning process. This also causes high blood sugar levels in your body. The development of prediabetes comes from uncontrolled eating sugar and refined food products for many years and the classic symptom is if you have excess belly fat. This leads to diabetes and further onwards to heart attack, high blood pressure, strokes, impotence and kidney damage. 

Salt and blood pressure. Apart from stress and obesity, one of the main reasons for high blood pressure is excessive sodium and salt intake. Most people find it difficult to limit the amount of salt in their cooking, thinking it will affect the taste of their favourite dishes. 

This is not true. Bajra and jowar are rich in potassium and critical for those with High Blood Pressure as it lessens the impact of sodium. Eating more Potassium Rich Foods will remove more sodium from your body through urine. So include the basic bajra roti and jowar roti in your daily diet to have with Lower Blood Pressure Subzis Recipes. 

5. Befriend a few healthy seeds and nuts like chia seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts and almonds. 

6.  Sprouts are called ‘living food’. They are high is most nutrients and easy to digest as well. Let them feature in your meals at least thrice a week. Also Read : All Benefits about Sprouts. 

7.  Exercise 45 minutes every day. No excuse. You can walk fast, run, do weights, play your favourite sport or go to the gym.

8.  Sleep early and get up early. Get your body into rhythm and it will function best. Sleep helps your body to recover.

How to burn 73 calories that come from Medu Vada?

Walking (6 kmph) = 22 mins

Running (11 kmph) = 7 mins

Cycling (30 kmph) = 10 mins       

Swimming (2 kmph) = 13 mins

Note: These values are approximate and calorie burning differs in each individual.