How to Make Dahi Bhalla Chaat with soft failproof Bhalla

Dahi Bhalla is an absolutely delicious Indian snack. It is a combination of sweetness and spiciness, softness and crunchiness, and creaminess in every single bite! It is very easy to make Dahi Bhalla at home.

Bhalla or vada are nothing but fried lentil balls that are dunked in Indian Yogurt, served with a generous garnish of sweet and spicy chutneys, and usually dressed with pomegranate seeds, nuts, raisins and, sev( fried chickpea noodles).

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

This breif Q and A section is for my Non-Indian readers:

What is Bhalla made of?

Bhalla is usually made of Split black lentils (Urad Dal) and sometimes with split green gram ( Moong Dal) or a combination of both. Lentils are soaked and then ground to form a batter. The batter is then aerated and fried as small balls. These soft and cottony balls are called Bhalla or vada or Bada.

Dahi Bhalla Vs Dahi Vada

Now, people often think of Vada and Bhalla as different things. But, they are more or less the same. Dahi Bhalla and Dahi Vada are vernacular names of the same dish. Though, there is a very mild difference in the way they are served. Dahi Bhalla ( mainly from Punjab and Haryana) is a North Indian version served with yogurt, sweet and green chutney. Dahi Vada is a kind of central Indian adaptation. They add Papdis ( crisp fried dough wafers), onions, and potatoes to it.

But the basic recipe for making Bhalla or vada is the same. And the confusion regarding the names of Vada does not end here. It is called Thayir Vadai in Tamil, Thairu Vada in Malayalam, Perugu Vada in Telugu, Dahi Bara, in Oria, Doi Bora in Bengali, and Mosaru Vade in Kannada.

Gosh! there is no way I would have known all these names! Thanks Wikipedia!

Another question that my non-Indian Friends often ask is how is Dahi different from Yogurt?

What is Dahi and How to make Dahi for Dahi Vada?

So, Dahi is rich creamy, luscious Indian Yogurt. It is very similar to Greek yogurt. In an Indian kitchen, Dahi (curd) is a very basic ingredient. We made Dahi at home by fermenting the milk.

1. Start by boiling whole milk and then subsequently letting it cool to a point where you can easily insert your finger without burning. I usually cool mine to about 110⁰ F.
2. Then go ahead and add the reserved or storebought culture. Give it a stir, close the lid, and let it rest on the kitchen counter for 7-9 hours. It will ferment into thick creamy cultured yogurt.
3. Now, refrigerate and use it for making Dahi Bhalla Chaat or numerous other recipes.
   
   

Dahi Bhalla is my all-time favorite snack. This particular recipe is a North Indian Dahi Bhalla recipe. In India, Dahi Bhallas are primarily sold by street-side food vendors. But, you can easily make Dahi Bhalla at home using very few ingredients.

So, let's jump into it.

Ingredients required to make Dahi Bhalla Chaat

The Key ingredients for making Dahi Bhalla are:

1. Lentils

Ideally, Dahi vada is made with Split black lentil. But they can also be made with Split Moong Dal or a combination of both.

I specifically like to use a combination of both. This recipe was taught to me by the mom of a very special friend. I have been making it as such for years now and the Bhalla comes out great all the time. 

In this recipe we are using Split urad dal to Split Moong dal ratio of 3:1,  I.e. 3 parts Urad Dal and 1 part Moong dal. 

Please note that, we need split dals (lentils) for making Dahi Vada. 

2. Dahi/ Curd

Thick and luscious Dahi is best for making creamy Dahi Bhalla. Also we need to ensure that the Dahi is cold or rather chilled.

Dahi should be fresh and not at all sour or tart. Dahi that is 3-4 days old, usually gets sour. Avoid using such Dahi.

3. Chutneys

A spicy green chutney and a sweet tamarind Chutney are required to serve Dahi Bhalla. You can use both or just one.

I just use sweet chutney as my kiddos have zero heat tolerance.

4. Spices

Roasted ground cumin, chili powder, chaat masala, black salt, etc. are a few spices that are usually added to Dahi Bhalla. But you can use whatever you have on hand. Fresh Ginger and green chili also work very well.

5. Oil for frying the Bhalla

We need any neutral flavored cooking oil for deep frying the Bhalla. I like to use canola oil. Soyabean oil or sunflower oil, works great for deep frying.

How to make Dahi Bhalla Chaat

1: Soak the lentils for making Dahi Bhalla Chaat

For making Dahi Bhallas we need to make some preparation ahead of time.

We need to soak the lentils ( Urad Dal and Moong dal) for at least 4 hours. I prefer to soak them overnight for the best results. It can be made solely with Urad dal but I like to use some Split Green Lentils (Moong Dal) also in my Dahi Bhalla recipe. I soak both types of lentils together for about 4 hours.

2: Making lentil batter

Now, we need to grind the lentils to make a smooth paste. At this point we can add any spice or flavoring if you want in addition to salt, chilli powder and cumin. Ginger and green chilli tastes great in Dahi Vada.

While grinding the soaked lentils we have to take care not to add too much water. This can make the batter runny or watery.

3: Aeration of batter: key step for spongy and soft vada

Traditionally the lentil paste/batter is beaten with hands to infuse air into it and make the batter airy and light. But in this Dahi Bhalla recipe I am going to stick with my stand mixer.

You can use a hand mixer to beat the lentil paste. Or simply use some elbow grease, which is the more organic way of doing it.

While beating with hands we have to keep track of the motion of our hands. We need to beat in one direction only. Say, if you start beating in a clockwise direction and after 2 minutes you stop to rest and start beating counter-clockwise, you will lose the air that you incorporated in the first place. So beat in one direction only. Keep beating for around 7-8 minutes or until you feel that the batter has become airy.

For the best Bhallas, the batter needs to be well aerated. Lighter the batter, fluffier and softer will be the Bhallas.

What is a Perfect Lentil Batter for Dahi Vada?

We don’t want our paste to be too thick or too thin (the runny paste is a big no). If your paste is too thick just add water to fix the texture. But add very little at a time ( 1 teaspoon of water at a time) and beat the paste to check if it has reached the right stage. It should have a kind of stiff peaks to it.

How would a perfect batter look?

• Smooth and grain-free.
• Shiny and glossy due to the air incorporation or Aeration.
• Light and fluffy.
• Float on water ( Drop Test)
• Not runny at all.
• Stiff fluffy peak

 Drop Test the batter or paste by adding a drop to cold water. If it floats on water, then the paste is ready. Also, look for the sheen in the batter. The air induced into the paste makes it shiny, just like we see in meringue or whipped cream.

How can you fix a watery Vada Batter?

Alright, if you somehow end up with a watery batter, try to fix it by adding some Poha, or rice flour, or semolina, or a combination of any of these three to fix the runny batter.

Another thing that you can do is, add some moong dal flour or Urad dal flour if you have any of them on Hand.

If the batter is watery, there are chances that the vada will turn out as flat on frying and sometimes they crack while frying. So, if you are facing any of these issues, transfer the batter back to the blender and blend some thick Poha and rice flour or whatever you have on hand from the above-mentioned things.

Once the consistency of the batter is fixed, then try to aerate the batter by beating it vigorously.

4: Frying the Bhalla or Vada

You can use any cooking oil for frying. I like to use canola oil. For any Dahi Bhalla recipe to give the best results, one should ensure to fry the Bhallas at the right temperature.

 The temperature of the oil is also important. The oil should not be very cold, otherwise, the Bhallas will absorb too much oil and puff less. We also want to avoid very hot oil because, in this case, our Bhalla will cook very fast from the outside and remain uncooked or raw at its core. So, we want our oil to be medium hot and maintain the flame at medium-low while frying the Bhalla.

I like to take out the fried Bhallas on to a paper towel and let them cool. Few people choose to directly put the Bhalla from the frying pan into the cold water. 

Why you should not put the fried Bhalla directly in the cold water?

• I used to do this initially, but through my experience, I have noticed that if you immediately put the hot Bhalla into cold water, the Bhalla becomes quite brittle and will easily break in our hands when we squeeze water from them.
  

• Also, sometimes Bhalla might seem cooked from outside, owing to hot oil, but still slightly undone from inside. Even after taking out from the oil, the Bhalla are still hot and cooking from inside. When we drop them directly into cold water, it snatches that cooking time from the Bhalla.

Damn, am I talking too much about it! I don’t want you guys to do the mistakes that I did. Just trying to be resourceful!

5: Dress, Garnish, and enjoy!

Regarding the choice of dressing, I am being very conventional in this recipe. You can do whatever you want or like. Just go ahead and toss in your choice of nuts.

I am using sweet tamarind chutney and very little green chutney. You can enjoy it with only tamarind chutney. Dahi Bhalla goes pretty well with only sweet chutney also. On lazy days I do the same.

Are Dahi Bhalla healthy?

People often ask, are Dahi Bhalla healthy? Healthy is a very subjective term. If you ask that are Dahi Bhalla Nutritious and Healthy? The answer is yes. They have high amount of proteins, and dietary fibers from the lentils and further protein from the Dahi and fats from the oil!

But if by healthy you mean low calorie that would help with weight loss, Dahi Bhalla is fried goodness, and have a pretty good calorie count. Each Dahi Bhalla in this recipe has 88 calories. Rest, you can do the math!

A quick note for instant preparation of Dahi Bhalla or Dahi vada:

• If you want to make them instantly, and do not have hours to soak lentils, you can still make them, but there are some modifications from the basic recipe that I am sharing today.
• So, in case you have just enough time to soak the lentils for 1 -2 hours.  In such situations, I use warm water to soak the lentil. While beating such lentil paste if you feel that it is not becoming much airy and shiny, just add a pinch of baking powder to the paste and mix well.
• This is not the organic way of doing it, and it might cause your Bhalla to soak more oil while frying, but when you rinse the Bhalla in water, all the oil is going to be washed away in any case.

You can pin this recipe to your Pinterest for future reference!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/678988081319442492/

Storage of Dahi Bhalla/ Dahi Vada

• Store the water-soaked Bhallas well in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
• If considering prolonged storage, do not soak the Bhallas. Let the fried Bhallas cool completely before packing in a freezer-safe ziplock bag. They freeze well for weeks. I have successfully frozen them for 2 weeks.
• To use frozen Bhallas, remove them from the freezer and place them in a bowl of hot water. This will thaw and hydrate them.

Few popular Indian recipes from the blog.

• Vegetable fried rice
• Sweet corn masala
• Dal Makhani: No soak pressure cook recipe
• Imarti: Super crispy and juicy recipe
• Masala Urad dal

I hope you enjoy this Dahi Bhalla recipe. Do make this Dahi Bhalla Chaat and let me know your favorite way to dress these. Also, I would love to hear your experiences in the comment section.

Do not forget to tag me on Instagram.

Happy Snacking!