Bara Ghugni / Vada ghugni .... Odisha's much loved street food snack

Growing up, I have never had the chance to eat this beautiful streetfood of Odisha ... the much loved combination of the  Biri bara and Ghughni.  At least not from the streets .... sold on carts with people flocking around it . Passing by, one cannot ignore that aroma of these badas sizzling in the hot oil, the steaming hot ghuguni / ghugni with its typical smell and of course the other aromas of tamarind, lemon and rock salt.

At times it would be made at home but not too often. And anyway it never smelt like the street side ones, so we wouldn't ask for it.

But I did get to taste the real thing whenever we went to my maternal dadu's place in Cuttack. With so many elder cousins , mashis, mamis etc .... every one of them all geared up to nosh through their favourite street foods, it wasn't difficult to mix into the crowd and get a bite of this and a slurp of that, once in a while. 

Now I make such things regularly .... the man has taken to Odia food  like a fish to water. Says that he married into one culture and got another as a bonus 😄

Seeing so many bora ghugni on my feed for the last few days, I decided to indulge in some. And the fact that it has started to rain since morning only made today the perfect day for enjoying this.

I tried to make it like the professionals .... with that hole in the centre ... but gave up after a while and made the plain round ones.

They may look imperfect but tasted yum 😋 

And then, like my Thamma used to say "Pete gele shob somaan " / every food is the same once it is inside the tummy 😄😄

Many started asking for the recipe and when the number of dms became a little too many to type out the whole thing, I decided to make a post here pronto. 
And direct everyone here for the details ..... since it is difficult to write the finer details due to instagram's word limits. 

For the Vadas / Baras / Medu Vadas : 

Soak Urad dal / Biri dali / Biulir dal overnight 
Grind into a paste the next day and keep aside for at least an hour. 

Add salt and beat well with your hands till light and slightly fluffy . 
Add chopped onions, ginger, coconut pieces, green chillies, cumin seeds / jeera and curry leaves to the dal paste. 

Heat enough oil in a deep pan or kadahi. 
Wet hands in a little water, scoop out small balls of the dal paste and let in carefully into the oil. 
Fry them till they are golden brown on all sides. 

Keep on a kitchen towel to drain out excess oil. 

For the Ghugni : 

Soak white matar  overnight. 
Cook it with turmeric powder and salt in a pressure cooker. 

Heat oil in a kadahi ( I use ghee as I am on an oil free diet right now ) . 
Add jeera and broken dry red chillies. 
Add chopped onions and fry a little. 
Now add ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and green chilli paste. 
Cook well till masala changes colour and leaves oil on the sides. 
Add the boiled matar and mix well. 
Add enough water and bring to a boil. 
Adjust seasonings and simmer on low heat for at least 15 to 20 minutes. 
Finally, sprinkle roasted jeera powder and remove from heat. 
Let it stand covered for some time before serving. 

You can refer to this post of mine for a simpler, no onion garlic version of the ghugni too. 

To arrange everything : 

Place the vadas on the ghugni in an open bowl. 
Sprinkle roasted jeera powder, roasted chilli powder, chaat masala powder, lemon juice, chopped onions, green chillies, coriander leaves and chopped coconut pieces on them. 

 

 The Boras / Vadas can be eaten just as they are ..... fresh out of the kadahi and crisp and hot with puffed rice or plain with a cup of spicy ginger tea. 

The ghugni too can be enjoyed by itself with Luchi, Muri / Mudhi / puffed rice. 
Or can be paired with parathas too. 

Enjoy whichever way you want to. 

Here are a few other recipes of Ghugni / Ghuguni / Ghoogni from my blog. 


Stay safe all!! 

Pan fried Sabudana vada

" Koto deri hoye geyche! I need to make that sabu for b'fast! And it is already 9:30!", I exclaimed.

We were sitting ... no piling up on one another on the bed in the first guest room .... chatting and remicising, the cups of our morning tea and the biscuit jars still sitting on the tray.
I sat snuggled to Jethima. My cousin, her younger daughter, had already taken up my Ma's lap.
Another cousin stands near the bed, threatening and jostling with us for space.
Kakima sat in her usual pose with her legs straight in front of her, leaning on the head rest.
She was already onto her second paan.
Shejo kaku and Ranga kaku half sat, half laid at the other  end of the bed. Jethumoni was the only one who sat properly in a chair by the window.

Our talks were all about memories, of the long gone days at Dadu's house and our childhood stories. Small bits and pieces of memories came up spread a warm blanket all over us.
A lot of what we were talking of does not exist anymore. Neither Dadu, nor Thamma, the house and our recent loss of Bapi and then Didi.
All gone.
Leaving us with memories; just happy memories.

And then I realized how late it was and jumped up to go to the kitchen to make breakfast of the Sabudana Khichdi.
And hearing me exclaim, Ranga kaku jumped up too.

"Sabu?!!"
"Yes!"
"Kar jor holo abar? Boudi tomar? "

I laughed.
Sabu or tapioca pearls means two things to a Bengali ... illness or a fast.
If you have fever, you have sabu cooked in milk. If you have an upset tummy you have sabu cooked in water with a little salt and lemon juice.
Every Bengali's 'ugh' memories of childhood will definitely have this ghost of boiled sabu.
And if there was a puja in the house and the ladies are fasting, they would make a mash of soaked sabudana with fruits and milk or curd.

I assured kaku that nobody is ill and I was just going to cook sabudana for breakfast.
"Eyi na na, ami oi sabu tabu khabo na!" , Kaku was truly worried by now.

I had planned to make the Sabudana khichadi and prayed that he liked it.

While writing about this, I was wondering what recipe to publish as I have already posted the Sabudana khichadi.
And then  I came across a few photographs of the Sabudana vadas that I had made once.

These vadas are not deep fried, as the traditional ones are.
Instead I have brushed them with a little ghee and toasted them on a pan.
They are very crisp on the outside and very soft inside.
Perfect melt in the mouth texture.
And guilt free too.

Need :

Sabudana or Tapioca pearls - 1 cup, soaked overnight in enough water
Boiled potatoes - 1, medium
Roasted and crushed groundnuts - 5 to 6 tbsp
Fresh green chillies - chopped
Red chilli powder
Salt - to taste
Sugar - to taste
Ghee - to brush the vadas with

How to :

Mash everything, except the ghee, together.

Shape into small flat tikkis.
The traditional ones are shaped round because they are deep fried.
We need to shape these flat so that they cook well on a flat surface.

Heat a flat pan or a tawa .... ( they should be well seasoned ).
Brush it with a little ghee and place the vadas on it.
You can cover them for a while too.

When one side turns brown, turn them over and brush them with some more ghee.
Let them cook till the outside is crisp and brown.

Serve hot with tea.

These vadas are very high in calories and hence very filling too.
A couple of them will take you through a good part of the day or evening easily.

They go great with this beautiful Amti on the side. A complete meal when you are doing a vrat or fasting.

Enjoy!!

And oh, the family loved the Sabudana khichadi.
Which is why I am going to make these vadas for tea time next.

Take care all.
See you again soon.