Dahi bada

This recipe may sound a little complicated to some of you, but if you like yogurt and spices you would love this. Dal is the base for this recipe, which is a good source of protein.


Dahi vada (my mom's favorite) is an Indian side dish, prepared by soaking vadas in thick yogurt(dahi). The hot deep fried vadas are first put in water and then transferred to thick beaten yogurt. For best results, the vadas have to soak for at least a couple of hours before serving. It is served topped with cilantro and mint leaves chutney, chili powder, and roasted cumin seeds powder.
A sweeter yogurt is preferred in some places in India, especially in Maharastra and Gujrat, although the garnishing remains the same.


Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Moong
• 1/4 Cup Urad dal
• 1 Green Chili
• ½ inch piece of ginger
• ½ teaspoon of baking soda
• One small onion chopped
• Oil to fry


• 4 Cups plain yogurt
• 3 teaspoon oil
• ½ teaspoon of mustard seeds
• ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds
• Pinch of asafetida
• 1 dry red chili pod
• 4-5 curry leave if available
• Tamarind Chutney (recipe on blog)
• Coriander/Mint chutney (recipe on blog)
• 1 small red onion
• ¼ cup Coriander leaves (chopped)
• Salt to taste
• Cayenne pepper powder
• Roasted cumin seeds crushed and coarsely powdered
• Fine sev (fine noodles available at local Indian grocers) Optional


How to make Bada (balls):

• Wash and soak the two dals overnight in water.

• Drain out all water.

• Add Ginger, salt and green chili.

• Grind above in food processor to make a thick batter, beat till fluffy.

• Add chopped onion and run the food processor one more time to mix and finely chop onion in above mix.

• Add baking soda.

• Mix the dal batter well to aerate it for soft balls.

• Heat oil in a large frying pan or deep fryer.

• Add spoonful of dal batter in oil and fry until turned golden brown, turning them in between.

• Remove balls from oil and place them on paper towel.

• Drop the hot badas in a lukewarm water in a bowl and leave for about 3-5 minutes.

• Take each bada/ball out of water and squeez them with palms of your hands till all water and oil comes out and set aside.



Prepare yogurt:

• Take plain yogurt in a bowl and beat it with hand blender until smooth.

• Heat 3 teaspoons of oil.

• Add ½ teaspoon of mustard seeds and cumin seeds in heated oil, when they crackle
add asafedita, chili pod and curry leaves if available.

• Remove oil from stove and add this to yogurt, mix well.

• In a serving dish arrange the squeezed vadas and pour a layer of yogurt on it 30 min before serving.


Serving instructions:


• Place squeezed vadas in deep bottomed serving plate.

• Pour additional yogurt mixture over vadas.

• Pour desired amount of tamarind chutney and mint chutney on top.

• Sprinkle with salt, cayenenn pepper poweder, and roasted cumin powder.

• Garnish with chopped onion/coriander leaves.

• You may sprinkle fine sev for garnish, if desired to give a little crunch to the recipe.

This recipe makes about 10-12 vadas

You may change/reverse the proportion of dal to 1 cups of Urad dal and ¼ cup of of Moong dal for variety.

If you make the plain yogurt mix ahead of time, be sure to refrigerate it, as the yogurt becomes sour very quickly if left at room temp and this process is accelerated if you add salt to yogurt and let it sit outside.

Recipe by my dearest mom Mrs. Kasturben
Photographs by Surekha
Description of Dahi bada source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahi_vada