'soft vada' in Tamil and Kannada) is a South Indian breakfast snack made from Vigna mungo (black lentil).

According to Vir Sanghvi, the origin of medu vada can be traced with "some certainty" to the Maddur town in present-day Karnataka.

[1] In Nepal, on the day of Maghe Sankranti, people make batuk, which is eaten with a variety of boiled tubers such as yam, taro, and sweet potato.

Magar people prepare batuk on Maghi, a New Year festival celebrated on the same day of Maghe Sankranti.

The Tharu people in the southern part of west Nepal also make black lentil fritters known as bariya, but it is flat or ball-shaped.