Dahi Bhalla Recipe: Have a Blast of Flavors In Your Mouth

I know everybody has that one special dish they make on almost every special occasion. Or even a family get-together. Do you wanna know what I cook most of the time? It's our precious Dahi Bhalle or Bhalla Papdi, you can say. So, here I am with everything you need to know about the Dahi Bhalla recipe. 

For me, this is one quintessential recipe to cook on Holi. Wow! That hot weather is full of aromatic colors and mouth-watering snacks. At that colorful party, my mother used to cook dahi Bhalla EVERY YEAR. 

Let me share this recipe with you with every tip and trick you can keep in mind. Besides, we will make this exotic spice mix that will make it more like that street-style chaat. That' Dilli Wali Chaat'. 

Read on. 

What is Dahi Bhalla?

For those who don’t know, Bhalla papdi is one awesome North Indian snack, Chaat, you can say, that has all the healthy elements one looks for. Dahi is Yogurt and Bhalla is deep-fried lentil balls. So, collectively, these fried lentil fritters are served with sweet Yogurt. As there are two chutneys and different spices, you can say it's That bomb of spices in your mouth. 

It is a perfect snack for people on a strict diet. No extra fat, full of nutrients with no compromise on spices and taste. Besides, there is no one name to this dish. Across India, it is often known as Dahi Vada, Dahi Bara, Dahi Baray. 

If you think this is not something you (amateur cook) can make, you might be wrong here. This recipe is for everyone, irrespective of their cooking experience. 

Dahi Bhalla Ingredients⚡:

For Bhalla

• 250 gm Urad Daal (without skin)
• One tablespoon Jeera
• Salt to taste
• 1 pinch of asafoetida (Hing)
• Oil for frying

For the Spice mix:

• 1 tbsp jeera
• ⅓ tbsp ajwain
• 2 tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp chaat masala
• 1 tsp black salt
• 1 tsp salt
• A few leaves of pudina (dry)

For plating:

• Salt to taste
• Mint and coriander chutney
• Tamarind chutney
• Boiled potatoes and channa
• Dahi (Sweet)
• Papdi (optional)
• Sev

Procedure

Just like the ingredients, we have broken down the procedure into 2 parts. One goes for making bhallas, and the other one is for your spice mix. 

Method for Bhalla: 👩‍🍳

• To make Bhalla of Dahi Bhalla, you first need to clean Urad daal or what we call Split and skinned black grams. For that, take it in a pan and add enough water to scrub it using your hands. You will see the water turning white. Rinse that after a few scrubs and add more water to it. 
• Repeat the process 3-4 times until you see lentils in transparent water. 
• Now, keep it soaking for about 3-4 hours or maybe overnight. 
• It’s time to turn it into a paste. So, take the soaked lentils, rinse the water it has, and transfer it to the grinding jar. 

• Now, you can turn it into a thick paste, so use about a few spoons of water. Not more. You have to make the paste, not that runny batter. 
• Make it smooth but leave a few chunks in it.
• Transfer the paste into a big bowl. 
• Now is the time for all the arm workouts. You have to keep mixing the batter using your hands in one circular motion. You can move your hands like you are whisking it. 

• If you don’t like to do it with your hands, you can use a whisking tool as well. 
• We need to fill in the air that will do all the job for your bhallas. 
• So, keep whisking until you get that smooth, airy texture.
• It hardly takes about 15 minutes to get the texture, but here is a tip. You can test the right consistency using a glass of water. Take some batter in your hand, just a bit, and drop it in the water. If the batter floats on the surface of the water, it's ready to use. If not, keep whisking. 

• Once you get the right consistency, time to add jeera and salt to taste. Mix it well. Your Magic batter is ready. 
• Take a pan, add oil that is enough for deep frying. Now, you can use any oil but prefer not to use something with a lot of smell. If you can’t handle it. Here we are using refined soy oil. 
• With the help of a tablespoon or even your hands, take some portion, just about half the tennis ball size, and let it dive into the hot oil.

• Keep adding more but make sure it does not stick to each other. 
• If you have whisked it nicely, you will notice it doubles in size while frying. This is your sign that your bhallas are going to be just like what you get in the market. 

• Turn it into golden brown and take it out. The best advice would be to fry it in a medium flame that will make it nice and crisp.
• After that, in a big container, add water that is enough to allow your ballas to float into.

• In this water, add hing and about 1 tsp of salt. Mix it well and dissolve it finely.
• Now, dip all your ballas in the water and allow it to soak for about 1-2 hours.  
• Whenever you start service, take a ball in your hand, squeeze out all the water you just soaked into, and it's ready to go for plating. 

Method for the Chaat spice mix 👩‍🍳

• Let’s begin with our awesome masala. For that, in a pan, take jeera, ajwain, and black peppercorn. 

• Please keep it on low flame and allow the seeds to pop. Once they turn a little darker in color, add other spices. 
• There goes red chili powder, chaat masala, black salt, and sea salt. 

• Toast it for a minute and take it out in a blender. 
• Now, in the same pan, take some mint leaves and dry them out on low flame.
• Once it dries out, transfer in the same blending jar, 

• Grind it coarsely, and you are done. 

How to plate?🧖

Now comes the fun step to plate your dahi bhallas. It’s extremely fun to do this part. But what are the steps?

• Grab a ball from the water solution and gently rinse the water using your hands. 
• In your serving tray, keep the ball, and you can use about 3-4 balls in one serving. 
• Now on top of it, you add dahi, which is another main ingredient of this whole recipe. 
• Then goes green chutney and red chutney on top of it. 
• Garnish with boiled potatoes
• Sprinkle a pinch of salt and the magic spice mix we just made. 
• On top of this, crush some papdi, sprinkle some sev, and Voila!!!
• Dahi Bhalla is ready to eat. 

Time for Tips💡

To make the best out of this recipe, you need to follow the recipe to the core. But anyway, here are some tips and tricks that will help you make that perfect Dahi Bhalla recipe. 

• Always rinse your lentils in runny water to remove all the dirt. 
• DO NOT add excess water into your batter. Use only just the right amount, which is right for the grinding. 
• Make sure you make all balls of equal sizes. If not possible with your hands, you can use spoons or ice-cream scoop like I did. 
• I would not recommend using baking soda or baking powder to make your bhallas a little fluffy. Why? Because let’s face it, it is not much of a work to whisk it. Moreover, it may make your balls a tiny bit sour. 
• Keep the oil on medium flame because if you keep it high, balls will burn; if low, it will observe oil. 
• While using dahi in your dahi Bhalla, make sure you add a little sugar to it. It gives a real taste to your dahi bhallas. Sweet dahi in your chaat gives an outstanding taste, just like the street vendors. 
• Don’t forget to whisk the batter with your hands because that’s the main step of the entire recipe. 
• If you want, you can make your batter really smooth because some people don’t like lentils while eating. 
• Most vendors dip bhallas into Yogurt directly. You can do it too. In that case, you can even avoid the step where you dip it in a water solution. 
• You can add Moong dal (split yellow lentils) to it. You can make it half-and-half (1:1) or what I would recommend is having 1/4 of Moong dal and 3/4 of Urad daal.  
• You can add more flavors to these fritters, such as ginger, garlic, green chili, curry leaves, dry fruits, and even black peppercorn. 

Conclusion

Dahi Bhalla recipe is perfect to go for if you are expecting a number of guests at your home. No wonder why this is one of the main snacks at every wedding and big function in north India. Besides, it is an absolute delight to have this on special occasions and festivals. So, what are you waiting for? Try this out and see what magic you can create in the form of Dahi Bhalla.