Dahibara Aloodum

The fried baras soak in water first and then in thin yoghurt for hours, and two separate curries go on top.

Vegetarian, but not vegan — contains dairy (yoghurt).

Ingredients

• 250 g black gram, urad dal, soaked overnight
• 1 teaspoon salt, for the batter
• oil for deep frying
• 600 g thick yoghurt
• 1.2 litres water, for the yoghurt water
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 15 curry leaves
• 500 g potatoes, in 2 cm cubes
• 200 g white peas, soaked overnight
• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 teaspoons ground red chilli
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 3 tablespoons mustard oil
• 2 teaspoons salt, for the curries
• 1 cucumber, diced, and 1 onion, chopped, to finish

Method

1. THE FRIED BARAS SOAK IN WATER FIRST AND THEN IN THIN YOGHURT FOR HOURS, AND TWO SEPARATE CURRIES GO ON TOP. Its article gives the sequence exactly and the double soak is the part nobody expects: washed urad lentils soaked overnight and ground to a batter, deep fried, and the fried baras put FIRST IN WATER and then TRANSFERRED TO LIGHT YOGHURT WATER for THREE TO FIVE HOURS. Then an aloodum, a spicy potato curry, AND a ghuguni, a pea curry, are added. Two curries, not one, and three separate things cooked before any of it is assembled.
2. THE PLAIN WATER SOAK IS WHAT GETS THE OIL OUT. Straight from the fryer into warm water for ten minutes, then squeezed gently. Put into yoghurt still greasy, the baras stay heavy and the yoghurt turns oily.
3. THE YOGHURT WATER IS THIN, WHICH ITS ARTICLE CALLS LIGHT. Six hundred grams of yoghurt whisked into a litre and a bit of water -- nearer buttermilk than yoghurt. Thick yoghurt will not penetrate and the bara stays dry in the middle.
4. IT IS TEMPERED WITH MUSTARD SEEDS AND CURRY LEAVES, WHICH ITS ARTICLE NAMES. Popped in hot oil and poured into the yoghurt water, then cooled before the baras go in.
5. THREE TO FIVE HOURS, COLD, AND IT CANNOT BE HURRIED. The bara has to go from spongy to completely saturated. Twenty minutes gives something with a dry heart.
6. THE BATTER IS GROUND THICK AND WHIPPED UNTIL IT FLOATS. As with every urad batter here: a dropped spot should sit on the surface of a glass of water.
7. THE TWO CURRIES ARE COOKED SEPARATELY AND STAY SEPARATE. Potatoes with onion, ginger-garlic, turmeric, chilli and cumin until thick; white peas the same way, in their own pan. Cooked together they become one brown curry and the dish loses its point.
8. IT IS ASSEMBLED IN THE BOWL, NOT COOKED TOGETHER. Baras with some of their yoghurt water, a spoon of potato curry, a spoon of pea curry, then the raw onion and cucumber.
9. IT IS SERVED COLD OR AT ROOM TEMPERATURE, AND ITS ARTICLE SAYS WHY THAT SUITS IT. It calls the dish light yet filling and good in the summer months. Warmed through, the yoghurt splits and the dish is gone.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes