Name: Dahi Gujiya along with Tips for Soft Dahi Vadas
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 cup Urad dal white/Urad whole gota/Black matpe beans (washed and soaked overnight); 32 oz/900 gms/950 ml plain yogurt; Salt and sugar to put in whipped yogurt (as per taste, I used about 1 tsp each); Oil for frying; Large bowl filled with water (room temperature and about 1-2 tsp salt added to water); A clean cotton handkerchief or cloth; A bowl of water for dipping fingers; 1 tbsp cashews (small pieces); 1 tbsp Raisins; 1 tbsp cilantro/coriander/hara dhania (chopped fine); 1/2 tsp whole Black peppercorns (roughly pounded); 1 inch piece ginger (peeled and chopped fine)

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Soft, melt in the mouth dahi vadas stuffed with cashews,raisins,ginger, peppercorns and cilantro and shaped like gujiyas. This is my moms specialty and is a must in our home during Diwali and Holi along with Dal ki Puri, Rasedar Aloo and Kheer.

I made it recently at my house for Ashtmi puja. It was my ladies kitty and everyone wanted to eat the parshad so I decided to host the kitty on Ashtami day. I made the usual Sooji ka Halwa, Kala Chana, Puris along with Rasedar Aloo, No onion Garlic Palak Paneer and Dahi Gujiyas. It was so much fun doing the puja together and then eating garam garam puris with parshad.

Here are some fun moments from the kitty/Ashtami celebrations at home(taken while we wait for the oil to heat for frying puris)

Moving on to the Tips for making super soft Vadas/Gujiyas-

Grind the dal to a FINE paste with very little water
Whisk the dal to incorporate air
Do the Float Test, if a spoonful of batter floats in a bowl of water, it has incorporated enough air and vadas will be soft
Do not add any salt to the dal, it will become runny and soak up too much oil
Salt is added to the water in which it is soaked
Soak vadas in water(room temperature water, not hot water) till they puff up from soaking up the water,they will also become lighter in color(about 30-45 minutes)
The temperature of the oil should be medium to medium high, if its not hot enough, they will soak up too much oil if the oil is too hot,vadas will brown too quickly from outside and stay uncooked from inside.

I did make these gujiyas the day before as everything else had to be made that morning. I loved the tip from my friend Sabita. She suggested that I heat the vadas/gujiyas in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes on a baking tray and then to soak them in very hot water with salt. I did just that. After heating my oven to 400F/200C, I turned off my oven and put the vadas/gujiyas on a baking tray on the topmost rack for 15 minutes. The vadas/gujiyas warmed up and then after going into the Hot salted water, they tasted like they had been made fresh right then. Enjoy the vadas/gujiyas as chaat,as an appetizer or as an accompaniment to the main course.

Vadas/gujiyas on a baking tray, if made one day ahead

Top the Dahi vadas/gujiyas with Green Chatni, Sweet Chatni, sev and cilantro to make a delicious chaat

Here is the written recipe followed by the step by step pictorial one-

Dahi Gujiya along with Tips for Soft Dahi Vadas

Aanchal Gupta

Soft, melt in the mouth dahi vadas stuffed with cashews,raisins,ginger, peppercorns and cilantro and shaped like gujiyas.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 25

Total Time 45

Servings -40 gujiyas/dahi vadas

Ingredients

1 cup Urad dal white/Urad whole gota/Black matpe beans washed and soaked overnight
32 oz/900 gms/950 ml plain yogurt
Salt and sugar to put in whipped yogurt as per taste, I used about 1 tsp each
Oil for frying
Large bowl filled with water room temperature and about 1-2 tsp salt added to water
A clean cotton handkerchief or cloth
A bowl of water for dipping fingers

For Stuffing

1 tbsp cashews small pieces
1 tbsp Raisins
1 tbsp cilantro/coriander/hara dhania chopped fine
1/2 tsp whole Black peppercorns roughly pounded
1 inch piece ginger peeled and chopped fine

Instructions

Rinse the soaked dal and grind to a very fine paste using very little water, put a dollop of batter into a bowl of water, if it floats, its ready
Chop the ingredients for the filling/stuffing
Heat the oil on medium to medium high
Wet the clean cloth/handkerchief, using wet fingers place a small dollop of batter in the corner of the cloth
Flatten it a bit with wet fingers and put filling of choice,watch video/pictures
Turn over the wet cloth over the batter, and using some pressure on the edges to make sure they have sealed, it will resemble a gujiya now,watch video/pictures
Remove wet cloth from over the gujiya, use wet fingers to lift and put in hot oil to fry
Put hot gujiyas directly into the bowl of salted water
Leave them till they become completely soft, they will change color and become lighter
Squeeze the gujiyas lightly between your palms to squeeze out the excess water
Dip in whipped yogurt and pour additional yogurt on top
Garnish with chatnis, ground cumin,red chili powder, cilntro and boondi

Notes

The dal batter needs to be ground with very little water and should be light and fluffy and ground to a FINE Paste. Do the float test by putting a spoonful of batter in a bowl. It should float, if its not floating, use your hands or beater to whisk and incorporate air. DO NOT ADD ANY SALT TO THE DAL. it will become runny and difficult to handle. Use filling of choice,you can use a mix of all the filling ingredients or just one or two things.If making vadas to use the next day, store fried,cooled vadas in ziploc bag or container. Preheat oven to 400F/200C,Turn off the oven. Place the vadas on a baking tray and place on topmost rack in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Put in HOT WATER to which salt has been added and let it soften.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Here is the step by step pictorial recipe-

Rinse dal till water runs clear and soak it overnight