Radhaballavi with Cholar Dal – Guest Post by Jayeeta Chatterjee of Cooking Delight

This absolutely delicious guest post comes from Jayeeta Chatterjee of Cooking Delight. While Jayeeta writes about a variety of foods, I am particularly partial to her Bengali food recipes.

I have an inexplicable connection to Bengalis.

Well, honestly, not all of it is inexplicable. My aunt, whom I called Dodda, was married to a Bengali and wholeheartedly adapted herself to the Bengali way of life; so much so that she often lapsed into Bengali with me. 🙂 Jayeeta’s food reminds me of Dodda’s.

One of my closest friends, MD, is a Bengali and a foodie to the boot. A dedicated fish-lover, MD digs out all kinds of vegetarian and eggitarian recipes for me.

Anyway, getting back to the genesis of Jayeeta’s guest post, I saw her post about on of my favourite Bengali foods, Karaisutir Kochuri or Peas Puri and I got chatting with her about how I often buy it at Sweet Bengal. During the course of our chat, she mentioned Radhaballavi and I tripped in my haste to request her to make it as a guest post.

I know I was being a bit presumptive as Radhaballavi is time consuming but Jayeeta being Jayeeta agreed immediately and here I am with an oh-so-delicious post.

Do visit Jayeeta’s blog Cooking Delight at http://jayeetacha.wordpress.com  for more yummilicious goodies!

Thank you, Jayeeta, for this detailed recipe and wonderful pics.

Ingredients for 7 – 8 Radhaballavi :

Ingredients For Stuffing

1. Skinless urad dal – ½ cup
2. Green chilli – 1 or 2
3. Ginger paste – ½ tbspoon
4. Black cumin seed – ½ teaspoon
5. Fennel seed – ½ teaspoon
6. Asafoetida or hing (powder) – ½ teaspoon
7. Pinch of turmeric powder
8. Salt to taste
9. Cooking oil – 2 tbspoon

Ingredients for Dough

1. Plain flour – 1 cup
2. Sugar – ½ teaspoon
3. Asafoetida or hing (powder) – ½ teaspoon
4. Pinch of salt
5. Oil – 1 tbspoon
6. Lukewarm water

Ingredients for Cholar dal or Chana dal

1. Chana Dal or Cholar dal – 2/3 cup
2. Chopped tomato (medium) – ½
3. Ginger paste – ½ tbspoon
4. Small pieces of coconut – 2 – 3 tbspoon
5. Lengthwise sliced green chilli – 2
6. Cumin seed – ½ teaspoon
7. Whole garam masala (Cinnamon stick – ½ inch, Clove – 2, Cardamom – 2)
8. Bay leaf – 1
9. Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon
10. Salt & sugar to taste
11. Cooking oil – 1 tbspoon

Method for Making the Filling/Stuffing for the Puris

 

1. Wash and soak the urad dal for few hours in water. Then drain the water and grind the dal by adding salt and green chillies. Add little water if needed, the paste should not be watery.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add black cumin seeds, let it splutter and then add the urad dal paste and turmeric powder. Fry the dal until it’s raw flavour goes away.
3. Now transfer the fried dal in a bowl and mix with ginger paste, asafoetida and fennel seeds using hand. Now your filling is done, let it cool down at room temperature .

Method for Making the Dough

1. Shift flour, salt, sugar, asafoetida and oil in a big bowl and mix them very well.
2. Add lukewarm water, little at a time, to combine all the ingredients.
3. Knead the dough very well to give it a semi-soft texture.
4. Leave the dough for at least 30 minutes in an air tight container.

Method for Making of Radhaballavi/Puri

1. Divide the dough into 7 or 8 equal parts and round them between your palms.
   Radhaballavi is bigger in size than puri, so make the balls a bit bigger than puri balls.
2. Flatten each ball evenly by your fingers to make a hole in the ball.
3. Put1tbspofthespicyurad dal stuffing, close it from all sides and again roll them between your palms.
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   Radhaballavi in the Making

4. Now roll the stuffed balls, by a rolling pin, on an oily work surface to make a circular shape, slightly bigger than that of puris.
5. Now heat sufficient amount of oil in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the puris in it. I don’t like my puris to be brown in colour, so I don’t fry them for too long. You can fry the puris according to your preference.Pin

Method for Making of Cholar Dal/Chana Dal

1. Wash the chana dal and pressure cook it, adding water, upto 3 to 4 whistles. Do not throw away the water soon after boiling the dal.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium flame.
3. Add whole garam masala, cumin seeds and bay leaf, saute them for a while and then add the coconut pieces.
4. Fry the coconut till light brown in colour and then add ginger paste, chopped tomato, green chillies, turmeric powder and salt.
5. Cook till tomato gets softened and raw flavour of ginger goes away.
6. Now add the boiled chana dal with water, season with sugar and salt (if needed), also add extra water if needed.
7. Now let it boil for few minutes so that the dal gets the flavour of other ingredients.
8. Put the gas off as the dal thickens to your desired consistency. It should not have a very thin gravy.
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   Cholar Dal

Note :

1. While frying the urad dal paste, don’t fry it for too long, otherwise it will get hard.
2. The oil should be moderately hot when you are going to fry the puris. If your oil temperature is low, your puri will not rise well. On the other hand, if the oil temperature is too high, your puris may get burnt.
3. While boiling the chana dal make sure it does not get mushy. It should be cooked still holds it’s structure well.
4. If you are using solid asafoetida/hing instead of powder, then use a pinch of it as it is more stronger than the powdered one.