Here’s a secret I would want to share with you. If you want to add health to your food, never discuss it with your family members. Instead, find ways to involve them (especially kids).
Yesterday, I was at my wits’ end, and in order to gather myself, I tried the quintessential Holi dahi bhallas. But, I added every possible ingredient that would add more immunity.
This year, too, we need to be careful. We need to avoid public places, but we can always celebrate with good food. I have some tips on how you can make the usual dahi bhallas super healthy. I have been making zero-oil millet dahi bhallas in my Holi millet and monsoon millet workshops, but today, I am sharing an authentic recipe. You may refer to the video attached to understand it better.
Also remember, you do not have to be too serious with the dos and don’ts. It is, after all, food; you should enjoy the festivals. People expect me to post only millet recipes, but to be honest, it is festival time and the balance lies in making your usual festive food more beautiful. Read more for the step-by-step recipe. Try making it for Holi tomorrow.
Enjoy and play safe.
Holi special dahi bhallas
Ingredients: (makes 30-35 dahi bhallas)
- ½ cup yellow moong dal, green gram (washed and soaked for 3-4 hours)
- 1 cup urad dal, black gram (washed and soaked for 3-4 hours)
- 2 tbsp raisins
- ¼ cup beetroot (steamed and grated)
- ¼ cup turmeric (steamed and grated)
- ¼ cup spinach (steamed and pureed)
- Rock salt to taste
- Cold-pressed sesame oil to deep fry
- 1.5 cup curd
- 1 tsp Dilli chaat masala
For coriander amla chutney:
- 1 cup coriander with roots (washed thoroughly)
- ½ cup chopped amla (Indian Gooseberries)
- 1 tbsp pomegranate seeds powder
- 1 tsp royal amchur (dry mango powder)
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- Rock salt (or black salt) to taste
For coconut sugar chutney:
- 1.5 cup of organic coconut sugar
- ½ cup of water
- 1 tbsp amchur (dry mango powder)
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- A pinch of heeng (asafoetida)
- ½ cup pre-roasted mixed seeds (sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds)
- ¼ cup cashews (any chopped nuts)
- ½ tsp chaat masala
- ½ tsp roasted cumin powder
Method:
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- Grind soaked lentils with optimum water and whisk the batter till it becomes light and fluffy.
- Add steamed and grated beetroot, turmeric and steamed spinach puree along with raisins and salt.
- Start frying dahi bhallas (refer to the video).
- In many cases, dahi bhallas turn really soft if they are re-fried and quickly dumped into salted water. You can opt to air-fry the second time and do what works best for you.
- Squeeze them as shown and start plating with enough curd and chutneys on top.
- Have them fresh.
Please note:
- Instead of deep-frying, you can always opt for steaming. They will taste fresh if dunked in curd right after steaming. You can even use panirayam pan to do the job.
- If you want to add millets to the above recipe, use the fermented batter. I have tried with 3 parts barnyard millet and one part urad dal, and they just taste fabulous.
- You can air-fry instead of deep-frying the second time. You can even skip frying and steam as shared. But if you ask me, I wouldn’t mind frying them for festivals once in a while. I love to improvise more on making them healthier every time.
(Shalini Rajani is the founder of Crazy Kadchi and holds innovative Millets Cooking Workshops for all age groups)
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