dahi bhalle

Dahi bhalle, as we call it in punjabi is not only a north indian dish but it is made in south india too.
But, it is made with a difference and is called dahi vade. There are a couple of tricks to make soft bhalle which am going to share with you today. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

1C urad daal
handful of cilantro (optional)
3C yoghurt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
oil for frying
salt to taste
Method:

1) Soak urad daal in water for about 6 hours or overnight.

2) Grind the daal in a grinder. Add little water at a time, into the grinder to make a paste. The paste should have consistency like a cake batter or even little thicker than a cake batter.

3) Add salt to this paste. You can also add chopped cilantro for additional flavor.

4) This is the tip, mix the batter or rather whip it for about 5 minutes continously. To test if the bhalle are ready to fry, just pour a little batter into a bowl of water. If it rises to the surface, it is ready to fry. If it sinks, it still needs some whipping. If you dont whip at all, bhalle will turn out to be super hard and you dont want that!!

5) In a pan, heat oil. When it is hot enough, start dropping balls of this batter into the oil. They will expand so leave enough space between two balls.

6) Flip them when they turn brown. fry from all the sides, take them out and drop them in a bowl of cold water.

7) Dropping them in water makes them soft and this step also gets rid of additional oil in them.
After 5 mins, take out the bhallas from water and press them to get the additional water out. They should look like the first picture.

8) After all the bhallas are fried, soaked in water and pressed, add yoghurt to them. Add seasonings like salt, chili powder and cumin powder.

9) Keep in refrigerator and serve cold with biryani or any rice variety or anything. they are simply delicious.

Serves:5-6