Aloor dum Doi Bora/Dahi Vada
While I always whine about the fact that I miss Bengali food a lot, there is also another side of the coin. I am lucky in a way that for pursuing higher education, I have stayed in different parts of India. While staying in the northern part of India (Delhi) for a couple of years, I fell in love with rajma chawal and gajar ka halwa, staying in Maharashtra(Pune) drove me crazy about vada pav and amrakhand. Staying away from home, I also made friends from different parts of India. On my way to reaching here, I made a few friends from Cuttack in Orissa, and particularly one who was very close to me.
This friend of mine once told me that dahi vada aloor dum chat is a very popular street food in Cuttack. A street food vendor, who invented this dish, was once worried about his aloor dum going waste everyday while his dahi vada was sold out. So, he decided to mix the two of them to make this chaat and save himself from some loss. Never did he know that eventually, not only will he earn fame for his invention, but also win a first prize at 11th National Street Food Award in 2020. Amazing, isn’t it!!!! To know more about him, visit here.
So, here comes this award-winning snack as tasted once from my friend’s kitchen and of course getting a recipe from her.
Aloor Dum Doi Bora
Ingredients
Batter for the bora
- 1½ cup of urad daal/biuli daal skin removed
- Salt to taste
- 1 inch of ginger
- oil for deep frying
For the dahi mixture
- 2 cups of yogurt/dahi
- Salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons of oil
- 1 pinch of hing/asafoetida
- 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
- 8 curry leaves
- 4 dry red chilies
For the aloor dum
- 4 potatoes peeled and cubed
- 3 tablespoons of oil
- 1 onion chopped
- ½ inch of ginger grated
- 4 cloves of garlic grated
- 1 small tomato chopped
- 4 green chilies
- ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds
- Salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon of cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon of red chili powder
For assembling
- Finely chopped onions
- Finely chopped coriander leaves
- Sev or bhujia
Instructions
Making the boras
- Soak the urad daal for 5-6 hours in water.
- Transfer the soaked urad daal to the blender along with the ginger and blend them to a fine paste.
- Blend them in batches and ensure that the daal blends to a smooth paste.
- Whisk the daal with a wired whisk or an electric beater such that the volume of the daal paste doubles in volume. (See Notes)
- Add salt to the batter and mix again.
- In a pan, take the oil for frying and heat it.
- Once, the oil is hot enough, take a dollop of the batter and gently drop in hot oil. (See Notes)
- Fry the boras on low medium flame. As one side of the bora is done, gently flip the boras to cook the other side.
- Once the boras are done, strain the boras from the oil and drop the boras directly in water.
Making the dahi/doi mixture
- Take the dahi or doi in a big bowl. To the doi add about 2 cups of water.
- Add salt to the mixture and whisk the doi and water to form a uniform mixture and keep aside.
- In a small pan, add the oil and heat it.
- Once the oil is hot, temper the oil with cumin seeds, mustard seeds, dry red chilies, asafoetida and curry leaves.
- As the aroma of the spices, fills your kitchen add the tempered oil to the dahi mixture and stir the mixture for even mixing.
- Now, gently squeeze the boras, to remove the excess water and drop the boras in the dahi mixture.
- Keep this aside and let the boras soak up the dahi mixture.
- Making the aloor dum
- In a kadai, add oil and heat it. Once the oil is hot, saute the potatoes till golden and keep them aside.
- Temper the remaining oil with cumin seeds.
- As the cumin seeds start spluttering, add the onion, tomato, ginger, garlic paste and green chilies.
- Saute the paste for 1 minute. Then add the turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder and salt along with a splash of water.
- Continue cooking, till you see oil leaving the sides of the pan.
- Now, add the potatoes along with 1 cup of water.
- Cover and cook on medium flame, till all the potatoes are cooked thoroughly and you reach a desired consistency.
- Turn off the flame. Your aloor dum is ready for assembling.
Assembling the aloor dum doi bora chaat
- Take the doibora with a liberal serving of the doi.
- Then add the aloor dum to the plate followed by generous serving of sev/bhujia, onions and coriander leaves.
- Enjoy!!!
Notes
- To check if the batter is ready, drop a bit of the batter in water, if it floats, you are ready to fry if it doesn’t continue whisking.
- You can use your hands to drop the batter. I prefer keeping my hands free, therefore I used two spoons to drop the batter in hot oil.
- Do not drop a huge dollop of batter. The boras almost doubles in size once soaked in water.
Step by step instructions to prepare aloor dum doibora chaat
Making the boras
Soak the urad daal for 5-6 hours in water. Transfer the soaked urad daal to the blender along with the ginger and blend them to a fine paste. Blend them in batches and ensure that the daal blends to a smooth paste. Whisk the daal with a wired whisk or an electric beater such that the volume of the daal paste doubles in volume. Add salt to the batter and mix again.
In a pan, take the oil and heat it. Once, the oil is hot enough, take a dollop of the batter and gently drop in hot oil. Fry the boras on low medium flame. As one side of the bora is done, gently flip the boras to cook the other side. Once the boras are done, strain the boras from the oil and drop the boras in water.
Making the dahi/doi mixture
Take the dahi or doi in a big bowl. To the doi add about 2 cups of water. Add salt to the mixture and whisk the doi, water mixture to form a uniform mixture and keep aside. In a small pan, add the oil and let it heat. Once the oil is hot, temper the oil with cumin seeds, mustard seeds, dry red chilies, asafoetida and curry leaves. As the aroma of the spices, fills your kitchen add the tempered oil to the dahi mixture and stir the mixture for even mixing. Now, gently squeeze the boras, to remove the excess water and drop the boras in the dahi mixture. Keep this aside and let the boras soak up the dahi mixture
Making the aloor dum
In a kadai, add oil and heat it. Once the oil is hot, saute the potatoes till golden and keep them aside.Temper the remaining oil with cumin seeds. As the cumin seeds start spluttering, add the onion, tomato, ginger, garlic paste and green chilies. Saute the paste for 1 minute. Then add the turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder and salt along with a splash of water.
Continue cooking, till you see oil leaving the sides of the pan. Now, add the potatoes along with 1 cup of water. Cover and cook on medium flame, till all the potatoes are cooked thoroughly and you reach a desired consistency. Turn off the flame. Your aloor dum is ready for assembling.
Take the doibora with a liberal serving of the doi. Then add the aloor dum to the plate followed by generous serving of sev/bhujia, onions and coriander leaves. Enjoy!!!
Thank you for stopping by. If you like the recipe do not forget to hit like. If you prepare this dish and publish your photos on Facebook and Instagram do tag #theepicureanfeast. Also for queries, you can mail me epicureanfeast2019@gmail.com
