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Lip-Smacking Dahi Bhalla Chaat Recipe

Dahi Bhallas are soft deep-fried lentil dumplings served with smooth beaten curd and sprinkled with light spices & chutney for aroma and tongue tingling flavours - perfect as appetizer or any-time snack. These can be served with or without papdi.


Prep Time: 5 hours or Overnight soak time
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients

For Bhallas
◦ Black Gram Lentil (without skin) 125 grams
◦ Pinch of asafoetida
◦ 1/2 tablespoon Ginger-Green Chilli paste (optional)
◦ Salt as per Taste

For frying
◦ Wok & Oil of your choice

For Garnish & assembling
◦ Sweet tamarind chutney
◦ Chilled Curd
◦ 2 tablespoon powdered sugar (optional)
◦ 1 tablespoon Red Chilli powder
◦ 2 tablespoon Cumin powder
◦ Chopped coriander leaves
◦ Pomegranate arils
◦ 1/2 tablespoon Black Salt

Method

Step 1
Soak Lentil for at least 5 hours or overnight.

Step 2
Mix lentil, asafoetida, Ginger-Green Chilli paste, salt and little water. Put these in a blender and grind to create a smooth batter. The paste should have thick consistency and should be free from any broken lentil pieces.

Step 3
Whisk batter briskly for a 4-5 minutes. This will make the paste light and fluffy.

Step 4
Heat oil in a wok and deep dry lemon-sized batter balls on medium flame. Once these turn golden-brown, take these out and put them in a bowl filled with lukewarm water

Step 5
Soak these balls for 6-7 minutes till oil drops start floating and balls turn soft

Step 6
Take the balls (bhallas) out of water and gently press to remove excess water. Keep these aside.

Step 7
Beat curd with powdered sugar , Cumin powder, Red Chilli powder, and Black Salt until smooth

Step 8
Pour the curd mixture on bhallas and garnish with coriander leaves, and Pomegranate arils

Spicy News: Say What? Is this True?

 Following are some amazing piece of information!

• Separate studies have found that garlic, cinnamon and cumin can destroy up to 80 per cent of meat-borne bacteria, while ginger can slow bacterial growth by 25 per cent
•  Curcumin, a bright-yellow compound found in the root of the Indian spice turmeric, prevented new fear memories being stored in the brain, and also removed pre-existing fear memories, researchers found.

Source: Daily Mail

Refreshing poppadums you can't stop grooving about

We serve these by the name "Masala Poppadums". Whatever name you choose to call it with, this is one refreshing appetizer which has got crispy poppadums with spicy salad.

Poppadums (or Pappad) are an Indian staple made from flour (wheat / rice / lentil). You can find these in Indian supermarket in both avatars - spicy or plain. The most common way to cook them at home is frying, or for the expert you, try cooking on open gas flame. If you opt for gas flame method and want to avoid burning away the entire poppadum, you can buy a special Indian pappad pan which has small holes to allow the gas flame to evenly cook the poppadums without burning.

For this recipe, it would be best to use a poppadum which has a bit of spice like black pepper. To prepare the salad, you may chop onions, tomato and cucumber in tiny cubes. For spices, easiest would be to grab a packet of "Chat Masala" from you local Indian shop. Depending on your taste, mix this spice with your salad.

Once you have cooked the poppadums, you can spread this delicious and colourful topping (similar to how you would do for a pizza). Serve these immediately else poppadums would lose their crispness.

You are now ready to enjoy the refreshing and crispy poppadums.