DAHI BARAY / VADA

Deep fried lentil dumplings topped with yogurt, imli chutney,chaat masala and spicy tarkaa.

I always love a good chaat recipe and especially during Ramadan we all like to indulge after a long day of fasting. The sweet, tangy and salty taste of this dish is just perfect. Although, you can add your own innovation to it by tweaking it as per your taste preference. If you are one of those who loves to eat and make Dahi Bade then this ‘Dahi Baray Recipe’ is for you!

In street food recipes, Dahi Baray is one of the most popular Indian Pakistani dish that people love to eat any time of the day. It’s a form of fried dumplings dipped in yogurt sauce and topped with masala and chutney.

There are different terms used for this dish as people of Punjab use the word ‘Dahi Bhalla’, people from Karachi call it ‘Dahi Bare’ often write ‘Dahi Bade’ and people from Indian region call it ‘Dahi Vada’. More or less the recipe is same. Normally people make it by mixing two lentils while some people make it using Besan which is ‘dahi phulki’.

Once the bara’s are fried, they are soaked in the water. This process makes it more softer. Those porous part of the bara will soak up the water. So after soaking, we need to squeeze it lightly to remove excess water. This should be done gently otherwise vada will get break.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup moong daal

1/2 cup maash dal

5-6 red chili balls

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp baking soda

METHOD

Soak both the lentils for atleast 3-4 hours.

Then grind to fine paste. Add all the spices except baking soda and blitz one more time to incorporate all together.

Take it out in a glass bowl and add the baking soda now and mix.

Heat oil in a wok and with a tablespoon pick the barda batter and fry into small balls till golden brown on medium heat.

Place on a kitchen paper towel and let it rest till room temperature. It will make around 25-30 bara’s.

Now you can at this moment decide to simple put them in a ziplock and freeze for another day or go all the way and make the dahi baray . Obviously you want need all 30 of them unless you’re hosting a party 🎊

Assembling the Dahi barda/ vada :

250 gms dahi

7/8 Barda

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

Imli chutney

Chaat masala

1 tsp zeera

2 tsp crushed chilli flake

2 tbsp oil

Coriander

Soak the badas in hot water.Then you need to squeeze the excess water. Very lightly press it between your plam. Do it gently otherwise vada will get break.Place the barda on your platter of choice.

Beat the dahi with milk and sugar in a separate bowl till a loose consistency. If you still think it’s thick you can add more milk. I personally like the dahi to be a little runny as it soaks up in the barda and then you just get blobs of unpleasant experience.

Now pour the dahi mixture on top of your barda’s.

In a small pan heat the oil and add the zeera and chilli flakes till an aroma tingles down your nose making you sneeze 🤧🤣

Ok seriously just till you smell the aroma!!

Pour it on top of the dahi and garnish with imli chutney, chaat masala and fresh coriander.

Enjoyyyy.