The holy month of Ramadan is here. The month of barkatain (blessings) and rehmatain. Hazrat Jibraeel (PBUH) brought the very first revelation to the Final Messenger of Allah subhana Wa Taala – Prophet Mohammad PBUH in this month. Allah says in Chapter 2, Verse 183 of the Quran:
“Ramadan is the (month) in which the Quran was sent down, as a guide to mankind and a clear guidance and judgment (so that mankind will distinguish from right and wrong).”May Allah subhan na wataala wash away all of our sins, grant us taqwa, increase our imaan, help us with mighty help, give us good in this world and hereafter and save our family, friends, neighbours, and other fellow Muslims from the torment of the fire, ameen! Ramadan Mubarak everyone. Hope you make most out of it. Ameen! And now to the recipe.
Dahi bhallay are comprized of two main ingredients, dahi as in yogurt and bhallay, duh! :p But now-a-days if you happen to live in Lahore or Karachi (I don’t know if it is also in Islamabad or not) you MUST have visisted a place called “Chatkhara”. They have some amazing dishes in their menu section and one of it is their “Dahi bhallay”. Funny thing is their dahi bhallay aren’t really dahi bhallay but dahi phulkian, because they are missing the main ingredient – Bhallay. Instead they use round phulkian. But, no doubt their dahi bhallay which are basically dahi phulkian taste great. Have I confused you?
Different ways of making dahi bhallay
Anyways, today I am going to share the traditional recipe of dahi bhallay with you. Bhallay are either made of chick pea flour (baisan) or Daal. I prefer making them with daal because to me that’s more healthy. But I will try to post the other recipe as well.
Daal Dahi bhallay or Vada (In Hindi)
In daal walay Dahi bhallay, they are either made of daal maash or a combination of two pulses -. daal maash and daal moong So, give both a shot and decide which one do you like the most. I like both of them. But today I will post just one.
Best thing about home-made food is that you can tweek the ingredients as you please. As far as dahi bhallay recipe is concerned, you can add in onions, boiled potatoes, thinly sliced carrots, cabbage or any other vegetable you like. Now don’t go and add bringles (baingan) or Tinday in them but you catch my drift, right? So go ahead and play with flavors. Awww 🙂
How to make the perfect daal Maash dahi bhallay
Here are a couple of points that you need to remember when making the daal maasha dahi bhallay batter:
- Never, ever, EVER add water all at once. Add one tablespoon at a time. Blend. In the beginning it will not blend but gradually add water and slowly but surely it WILL transform into a wonderful creamy paste. Do Not lose your patience and pour all the water in it, the bhallay will get ruined, I’m telling you. Because I once did it and then regretted when I had to throw the whole batch into dust-bin, not good. Not good at all.
- Never, ever, EVER add more than a pinch of baking soda. In one cup of daal, add just a pinch, a PINCH, and that’s good enough. Please, please, please do not add more than a pinch otherwise your bhallay will not hold shape at all. And all you’ll get is a pool of batter once you drop your bhallay batter into oil.
With baking soda the bhallay are much lighter, softer and juicy. The bhallay can be prepared in advance and keep them in refrigerator for a few hours, assemble right before serving.
- For the Bhallay
- Maash daal-------------- 1 cup
- Green Chillies--------- 4 - 5 or according to your taste
- Ginger--------------------- 1 inch piece
- Salt------------------------- 1 tsp
- water----------------------- 12 tbsp add one by one
- Oil--------------------------- for deep frying
- For Yogurt
- Yogurt--------------------- 2 cups, preferably Prema or Nestle
- Castor Sugar----------- 2 tbsp
- Salt------------------------- 1 tsp
- For the chatni (imli ki chatni)
- Turmeric pulp---------- ½ cup
- Salt-------------------------- ½ tsp
- Red Chili powder----- optional (I didn't add any)
- Sugar----------------------- 3 -4 tbsp of according to taste
- Corn flour----------------- to thicken the chatni
- Toppings (optional)
- Cabbage--------------- thinly sliced
- Carrots---------------- thinly sliced
- Potatoes--------------- boiled and cubed
- Onions-----------------1 medium thinly sliced
- Chart Masala----------- for sprinkling on top
- Soak the daal for at least 6 hours.
- Now blend the daal along with salt, green chillies and water.
- Blend it to a fine paste.
- The paste should be thick and creamy. If the paste or the batter is too thick or too runny, the bhallay will not hold their shape.
- Same thing happens if you do not enter the EXACT amount of baking soda to the daal. Baking soda is strong hence too much baking soda will not let the bhallay hold their shape. All you'll get is a pool of batter or if you're lucky, some de-formed phulkian.
- Now separately, heat oil in a deep frying pan (karahi).
- Add a tablespoon full of the batter into the hot oil. Gently ddrop the batter into the hot oil, one tablespoon at a time. And the tablespoon should be at 90 angles to the pan when dropping the batter.
- They will immediately come to the surface of the oil, fry till light golden brown.
- Throw 'em in a bowl of lukewarm water.
- Let them sit in lukewarm water for 2-3 minutes then press the water out of each bhalla, gently. And place them into your serving dish.
- Now mix all the ingredients of the yogurt sauce into the yogurt and pour over the bhallays.
- To make the chatni, first soak the tamarind (imli) into 1 cup of lukewarm water for half an hour, to get the pulp out and discard the seeds.
- Now pour the pulp along with the water into a saucepan, throw in sugar and salt, add red chillies if you like (I didn't add any) and give everything a good stir.
- Once the sugar dissolves, thicken the sauce with cornflour solution.
- Drizzle the chatni over the bhallay and let it chill in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes.
- Add some toppings or not totally depends on your mood and liking.
Serve leftover dahi bhallay on dinner because they tend to get soggy the next day – Still devour-able though.
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Jazak Alla khair,
Ramadan Mubarak once again.
Tried
V good!
Jazakallah
Really? wow, awesome. Thank you sooo much for trying them and then coming back and telling me about it.
You’re the best.
May Allah be pleased with you, ameeen 🙂
i tried this recipe today…the ballas turned out good..they were so soft and yummy…
Thank you sooooo much momina 😀
You rock girl!
Hi Haleema,
Thanks for the recipe! 🙂 I tried them for iftari today. They turned out very nice 🙂
Haleema can i make the bhallas today and refrigerate them or freeze them for a day or two and then serve? As i have a party on friday and i want to make them ahead.
In my experience yes you can freeze them, I mean the dry wadas. If u intend on freezing them don’t add onions to the mixture . Make dry wadas by frying them then freezing them . When needed take them out and add them to a bowl of really hot water for a few mins. Then take out n squeeze the water out – assemble as required with the yoghurt sauce etc. enjoy!
koi bnda phulkiyan bnany ke recipie b bta dy, sub jgah to bhly bnany ke recepie de hote h