Wash urad dal a few times and soak for at least 4 to 6 hours. Also chill half cup water in the fridge for blending the dal.

Pour 1 cup water to a pot and heat it. Next put in tamarind, jaggery and dates if using. Simmer all these for 4 to 5 mins until the tamarind turns soft and completely mushy.

Add red chili powder, salt, cumin powder, fennel powder, dry ginger powder and coriander powder or garam masala. Mix well and boil this for 2 minutes until the aroma of spices comes out. If the mixture becomes too thick, pour ¼ cup hot water.

Taste this and add more jaggery & salt if desired. Cool & blend it. Pass through a sieve to a wide bowl. Optional - If you want you can temper this. Heat a teaspoon of oil or ghee. Add hing and then pour the tamarind chutney. Simmer for 2 to 3 mins until bubbling hot & thick. Cool this completely.

Transfer this to a dry glass or ceramic jar. Store this in fridge and use up within 4 to 6 weeks.

Add all the ingredients mentioned for green chutney to a blender jar and make a fine paste using very little water or as needed.

You can also use little fried gram/ bhuna chana dal for binding. This avoids water separating from the solids in the chutney.

Rinse dal a few times and drain the water completely. Add it to a blender jar with cumin, salt, green chili, ginger and hing.

Then pour 2 tbsp chilled water and grind for 1 minute. Scrape the sides, repeat blending adding 1 tbsp water each time only as needed until the batter turns thick, fluffy and light. Avoid adding too much water as it makes the batter runny. We want a thick & fluffy batter here.

When the batter is done, you will see it turns lighter in color as well in texture. This is the indication it is done. Also while blending make sure the batter does not become hot as it may impart a bitter taste to the vadas. Also vadas can become dense.

Remove the batter to a bowl. Beat it well for 1 min in one direction with your hand or whisk to aerate the batter.

Test if the consistency & texture is right, pour 1 cup water to a small bowl and drop ¼ tsp batter to the water. The batter has to float meaning it has aerated well else blend it for a little longer and then aerate again by beating.

Add cashews to the batter if using & mix well.

Prepare a bowl with 2 to 3 cups water and ½ teaspoon salt. Keep this aside on the kitchen counter.

Pour oil to a kadai and heat it on a medium flame. The oil has to be hot enough but not smoking hot. To check the right temperature, drop a small portion of batter to the oil, it has to rise without the batter turning brown.

Grease your fingers or tablespoon or a fruit scooper. Take small portions of the batter and gently drop into the oil.

Let them fry on a medium heat for 3 minutes and then stir them. Continue to fry until golden and crisp. Remove to a steel colander or plate.

Immediately drop the hot fried vadas to the bowl of water. Rest them for 15 to 20 mins, rotating them with a spoon in between. Timing may vary depending on the size of the vadas.

While these rest fry the next batch of vadas. Repeat the same process of soaking them in water.

Add 2½ cups yogurt, a tbsp of powdered sugar and ½ teaspoon salt to a large wide bowl (big enough to hold all your vadas). Beat well with a whisk until smooth. It should not be too thick like greek yogurt and not very runny. Taste test and adjust salt.

Gently press down the vadas in between spatulas or your palms one after the other to remove most of the water. Drop these to the bowl of yogurt & ensure all of the vadas are dunked in the yogurt well.

Cover this and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. This is when the dahi vadas soak up a bit of yogurt and flavor.

They will be softer by 2 hours. If you like more yogurt, then whisk another half cup yogurt with sugar and salt. Pour that as well. Transfer the dahi vadas to serving tray or plates.

Top with a generous amounts of green chutney and sweet tamarind chutney.

Sprinkle cumin powder, chaat masala, black salt and red chili powder. Garnish with coriander leaves. Adjust the quantity of chutneys, chaat masala, cumin powder and red chili powder to suit your taste.

Serve dahi vada immediately after you sprinkle the spice powders.