Friday 2 July 2010

Biri Bora / Biri Bada / Lentil Fritters



Ok ... after that hard hitting post am back to normal. Those of you who have stuck by Kichu Khon for some time now would know that am not into tough talking much ... but one can take only so much. Hence that post came to be.
Back to routine.

It rained all last night. I sat up a long while ... listening to the rain and to some of my favorite ghazals ... chatting up a good friend ... with the sniffles and a little fever it feels good to have a friend talk to. She makes the right noises of sympathy ... felt good. :-)

The day is very cloudy. Fog. Light rain. Cold breeze. Boring afternoon.
A whole bunch of work pending. The weekend looming. Don't feel like doing anything. Step out into the balcony.

Far on the hills it is raining. Can see a light drizzle there ... slowly making its way here.

Two kingfishers, caught up with chasing each other on high speed ... fly into a building ... realising at the last moment .... give out a long screech of surprise and alarm ... and dive away.

Down in the narrow lane a young boy cycling in rounds ... very slowly.
Round and round and round.
Quiet afternoon.
Light spray of rain.
Boy still engrossed in cycling ... round and round and round.
I watch.

Mr. Shalik flies in ... swoops down on my railing. Sees me standing.
Glowers.
Waits. He has to go up to his nest to check on the babies ... who have start chirping loudly as soon as they sense his presence.

I do not move.
Boy still going round and round and round.
Disgusted ... Mr. Shalik leaves.

Boy tires.
Leans against a wall ... with bicycle ... deep in thought.

Mrs. Shalik comes. A huge insect struggling in her mouth.
Screeches at me through closed beak. Nah ... these birds have no manners.

I step away. No point in depriving the kiddos from food.

Come over and start to think of writing a post. Hmm ... nothing interesting to write.
Let me move on to my recipe.



These deep fried pakodas / vadas are made from the Urad dal. Only, they are much smaller and irregular in shape than the usual Medu Vadas / Urad dal vadas.

This is the way they are made in Orissa. Come evening, the street sides would fill with hand pushed temporary stalls selling all kinds of hot deep fried delicacies ... among which will be the Biri Bora ( Urad dal vada / Biuli Daler Bora ).

This is one of the many street foods that we never miss on our trips home ... almost every evening standing on the streets in the evening breeze ... not having the patience to wait till it cools ... biting into a piping hot bora ... and then opening the mouth with "oooh" "haaah" ... to cool it. :-)
Bliss.

I love the small pieces of fried onions and green chilies that come with every bite.

Fuss free ... not too many ingredients ... quick to make ... great to snack on.
Especially on rainy evenings.



Need :

Urad dal - soaked overnight and ground into a paste
Thinly sliced onions
Chopped green chillies
Chopped coconut pieces ( optional ... if you have it or like it, then use )
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry ( preferably mustard oil )


How to :

Mix everything well ... except the oil.

Heat oil in a deep kadahi.

Gently let in small balls of the dal paste.

Deep fry till golden brown.



Serve hot.

These vadas are great to munch on as is ... but you can have them with any chutney or sauce of your choice. And a hot cup of tea.

And oh ... if you have any left overs ... which I very much doubt you will ... do try mashing them up roughly with some chopped onions, green chillies, salt and a little mustard oil ... and have it cold ... with very hot rice or curd rice.
Too good!


Have a great weekend all !



25 comments:

  1. Sharmila,
    Your pics are delectable !!! Perfect for evening snacks especially if it's raining :-) Mr. Shalik ta ki tomar barandaye basha baniyeche? Have a nice weekend

    Deepa
    Hamaree Rasoi

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  2. Looks good and perfect for a rainy or sniffly day snack.

    I tried your bottle gourd dal from the last post and though I did not have bottle gourd, made them with some korean squash whose innard look just like a bottle gourd anyway. It was good.

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  3. Bora gulo ki shundor dekhte hoyeche. Perfect. Chaa aar bora ektu jhaal-jhaal chatney diye. Goppo hole-o bhalo-ee.

    :-))

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  4. Looks so cute and yummy, never made something like this. Following you:-)

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  5. ami khub akta bora bhalobasi na kintu eta khub bhalo lage. ato kight hay. Delhite eirokom bora sange anek raddish ar cucumber salad die bikri hay. brishti'r dine asadharon. khub enjoy korcho weather bojha jache.

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  6. The Boras look perfect Sharmila. Dekhei mone hochhe plate theke tule kheye ni. I make fritters with masoor dal, never with urad dal. This is a good recipe to try.

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  7. Sharmila,

    This post brings back many fond memories of my home town Bhubaneswar ..... And more than that you pen down the sweet nothings of life which bring so much joy to us ...... once again luv ur blog !

    Regards,
    Satrupa

    http://satrupa-foodforthought.blogspot.com/

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  8. Dear Sharmila
    Nice to see you in great mood!!
    I just want to eat this...do you remember how to make those road side BaDas of orissa? It must have that rustic villagish , cheap stuff, with lot of atta as bhajal. ha h .Just missing those stuffs too
    bhalo theko

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  9. Yummy ....and tempting pics....

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  10. Pakodas look crispy and yummy!

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  11. Sharmila kalkei ami eta korechi!!!! ekhono fridge e ektu batter pore achey. I ground the green chili and ginger with the dal. no coconut :-) Loved it. Raining here. no shaliks but the cardinals and mocking bird.

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  12. Deepa ... haan. Basha baniye baccha hoye ekdom puro family palito hocche amar balcony te. :-)

    Indo ... glad you liked it. Works wiht the white part of water melon too. :-)

    Pree ... aha, pran juriye jabe. :-)

    Thanks Umm Mymoonah! :-)

    Sayantani .. brishti shob deep fried khawa maaf kore deye. :-)

    Madhu ... masoor daler bora aro crispy hoye ... darun lage. :-)

    Thanks Satrupa! :-)

    Ushnishda ... I do not have much experience with that kind of badas ... but this kind of badas used to be much smaller in size than these ... and very crispy.

    Thanks Priti! :-)

    Thanks Parita! :-)

    Soma ... ground green chilli definitely gives a very distinct flavour. Enjoy the rain while it lasts. :-)

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  13. Sounds delish . I make the musur daal boras with onions and chillies - they taste wonderful with paatla musur dal and gandharaj lebu - my favourte Saturday lunch !

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  14. Love these fried beauties. Daughter is having her summer holidays so I only blog once in ten days or so and not that much bloghopping also. Busy with her

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  15. Hope you're feeling better. I liked your recipe for the chana dal. It tasted really good with hot rice. Yummy.

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  16. Sharmila these vadas make me hungry...luv em absolutely.

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  17. Yummy!
    I made your cholar dal again, was just what I wanted

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  18. Nice post! and the boras look yummy!

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  19. Looks like a very quick recipe and yummy output..Will definitely give it a try!

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  20. Happy ... enjoy your time with her. :-)

    Naina, Chetana, Rashmi, Anon, Priya ... thanks. :-)

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  21. ma makes this so often. IN cuttack, where my mamabari is, there used to live an old lady who made biri baras and pithas. Eta kee korle..abaar nostalgia! :)

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  22. KG .. I learnt to mash up left over cold biri boras and have them with pakhala from my cousins in Cuttack. ;-)

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  23. hahahah. omg, you are a true blue oriya!

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  24. HI,

    Your write ups make me hungry (as usual);)
    These are very similar to biscuit ambade made in many south canara houseolds such as my aunt ( never mind I imagined the name always as biscuit juda(ambada in Marathi;)
    My mother makes some with soaked masoor dal n coriender leaves...

    Please write more of such stuff.. I can spend hours surfing your blog with never ending snack supply by my side if possible ;)

    Take care,
    Luv,
    Ash

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