Bedmi Poori

Bedmi Poori is a traditional breakfast dish from the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. Typically served with aloo rasedar (a thin potato curry), the delicious and filling combo is known as bedmi aloo and is a popular street food in Delhi, Agra, Mathura, and Banaras. Soaked lentil  (urad dal) paste is added to whole wheat flour along with spices to make the poori dough. Small discs of which are rolled and deep fried to get this crisp and delicious bedmi poori. Bedmi poori is a vegan, protein-rich and onion-garlic free dish. You can have it for breakfast, lunch or brunch with curry of your choice and some raita. It can also be had as a snack with some pickle at tea time.

What goes into Bedmi Poori ?

Split and skinned black gram ( dhuli urad dal) is the star ingredient of this bedmi poori, hence these pooris are also referred to as urad dal poori. Soaked and drained urad dal is ground to a coarse paste with green chilies, cumin and ginger. This pithi is mixed with whole wheat flour, little semolina and spice powders like red chili powder, crushed fennel seeds, amchur powder, garam masala and salt. A semi stiff dough is kneaded from this flour. Small pooris are rolled out from this dough using little oil and then deep fried until crisp and golden brown in colour from both sides.

Is bedmi poori and urad dal kachori the same ?

Both bedmi poori and Urad Dal Kachori are from Uttar Prsedh Cuisine and made using same set of ingredients but the technique is different and hence the taste and out come also differs. In urad dal kachori the pithi made from soaked and ground urad dal is further cooked with spices in oil until a dry stuffing is ready. This dry stuffing is stuffed into the whole wheat flour dough and then kachoris are rolled out and then fried. In bedmi poori the uncooked urad dal pithi is directly added to the flour before kneading it into a dough.

Serving Suggestions:

Bedmi poori is traditionally paired with hot aloo rasedar (a thin potato gravy) and served as a popular breakfast in Delhi and parts of Uttar Pradesh. You can serve bedmi poori with any curry or raita of your choice. It also tastes great when served with pickle at tea time. I love it with hing jeera aloo and boondi raita. You can pair it with Kaddu ki sabzi and Bharvaan Lal Mirch ka Achar as well.

Related Event:

It is month end today and the regular readers of this blog know that it is the time to share a dish from the regional cuisine. I made this delicious bedmi poori for our Gourmet Facebook group, ShhhhhCooking Secretly Challenge. In this group, each month we select an Indian state depending upon the alphabetical order and partners are assigned for the challenge. The chosen partners then exchange a set of ingredients among themselves and cook a dish with those ingredients from the regional cuisine of that state. The other group members who are not aware of the secret ingredients, take turns to guess the ingredients just by looking at the pic of the dish. Doesn't this all sound interesting ?

                                                
                               
For the month of December, we had cook a dish from the Uttar Pradesh Cuisine. My partner for the theme was Mayuri Patel. Mayuri di is a versatile food and travel blogger who shares her culinary journey on her blog Mayuris Jikoni . Her blog is a home to authentic Gujarati recipes and many delicious recipes both from Indian and International Cuisine. I like the fact that in spite of her extensive globe trotting she makes an attempt to cook and share the recipes with the available ingredients. I also like the way she weaves her dish with her travel stories. I have tried a few dishes from her blog and all of them were a hit. I bookmarked a few more to try out soon. Her recent posts, Mini Vada Paav, a lip smacking party starter and Vanilla Chia Panna Cotta are very eye catchy and just perfect for parties.

Mayuri di gave me urad dal and amchur powder as my 2 secret ingredients for the challenge and i made this utterly delicious bedmi poori using them. In return i gave her whole chana and red chili powder and she made another famous street food from Uttar Pradesh , Veg Kabab Paratha  using those set of ingredients.

Preparation Time: 3-4 hours
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Serves: around 20 pooris

Ingredients: Measurements used 1 cup = 250 ml

For Urad Dal Pithi

• 1/4 cup split and skinned black gram / dhuli urad dal
• 2 green chilies
• 1/2 inch ginger piece
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

For The bedmi Poori

• 2 cup whole wheat flour
• 2-3 tablespoon semolina / suji
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon amchur powder / dry mango powder
• 1 tablespoon crushed fennel seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep frying

Method for making Bedmi Poori:

1. Wash the black gram thoroughly and soak it in enough water for 3-4 hours or overnight. Drain the soaked dal and transfer it to a grinder jar with green chilies, ginger and cumin seeds. Grind it to a coarse paste without adding any water. Our pithi is ready.

2. In a mixing bowl take whole wheat flour. Add ground black gram (pithi) to it along with semolina, red chili powder, dry mango powder, garam masala , salt and crushed fennel seeds. Mix everything very well. Using little water at a time knead the flour to a semi soft dough. Cover the dough with a moist muslin cloth and allow it to rest for at least 30 minutes.

3. After resting time, knead the flour again and make small gooseberry size dough balls of it. Roll each dough ball on a greased working surface using a rolling pin to a round disc of around 3-4 inch. Roll out a couple of poori dough.

4. Meanwhile, heat enough oil in a wok or frying pan. Slide the rolled out poori into it. Press the sides of the poori with a slotted ladle so that it puffs. Fry the poori well from both the sides until it is golden brown in colour. Remove it using a slotted ladle and allow to soak on an absorbent sheet. Make all the poori similarly.

 5. Serve the delicious bedmi poori with aloo rasedar and boondi raita and enjoy with your loved ones ! You can also serve the bedmi poori with kaddu ki sabzi, or bharvaan lal mirch ka achar.

                               

Recipe Notes:

• Do not grind the urad dal very fine or very coarse as either way the pooris will not puff properly.
• I was running short of time when i made these bedmi pooris as the weather was gloomy and it was about to rain and i had to click the pics so i did not allow the poori dough to rest for 30 minutes . So my pooris have not puffed well. Make sure you allow the dough to rest for best results.
• Adding suji to the poori dough makes the poori crisp the way my family likes. You may skip it for soft pooris.
• Adjust the number of green chilies or the quantity of red chili powder as per your spice tolerance.
• Do not skip the fennel seeds as they add the characteristic flavor and aroma to bedmi poori.
• You can roll all the pooris first and then fry them together for ease but make sure you keep the rolled out poori disc covered with moist cloth to prevent them from drying out.

I hope a few of you would love to try out this recipe. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with us in the form of likes and comments in the comment section below this post. All your suggestions are also more than welcome. If you like my work and feel it is worth following, do hit the follow button at the top right corner of this blog. Your appreciation means a lot to me. For more recipes and new updates follow us on social media.

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Related Posts:

• Bharvaan Lal Mirch ka Achar

                               

• Urad Dal Kachori

                            

• Vegetarian Shammi Kebab

                            

• Up Style Aloo Rasedar

                            

• Dubki Kadhi

                            

• Steamed Dahi Bhalla

                            

Aloo Rasedar / UP Style Potato Curry

Aloo Rasedar is a delicious potato curry from the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Aloo means potato and rasedar refers to thin gravy in Hindi, hence the name. Here, crumbled boiled potatoes are simmered in a thin tomato based curry with some basic spices and herbs to make this dish. Aloo Rasedar is an onion-garlic free vegan curry usually served with bedmi poori or Kachori in UP but also makes for a comfort food with hot phulka or chapati. Aloo rasedar also comes to your rescue when you run short of veggies or are pressed for time as the dish is ready under 30 minutes from scratch.

My first encounter with aloo rasedar was in one of the Bhandara few years back. Bhandara is the meal offered to deity after any pooja, jagrata or havan and then distributed among devotees as prasad. The food served in bhandara is essentially satvik, which means the vegetarian food that is fresh and devoid of onion or garlic. Aloo rasedar is also referred to as Bhandarewale aloo or dubki wale aloo. In Uttar Pradesh Aloo Rasedar is a famous street food and often paired with Poori or Urad Dal Kachori. In the picture below, i have served i with bedmi poori, cucumber salad and Boondi Raita.

What goes into this Aloo Rasedar ?

The main ingredient of this Aloo Rasedar curry is obviously potatoes. Boiled potatoes are simply crumbled with fingers and added in the curry. Tomatoes are pureed with ginger and green chillies. A simple oil tempering of cumin seeds and asafoetida is done. Aloo rasedar is also referred to as hing jeera wale aloo owing to this simple yet flavorful tempering. Tomato puree is added to this tempering and sauteed until you see oil floating on the top. Spice powders like red chili powder, turmeric powder, crushed fennel seeds. amchur powder and garam masala are added to it and stir fried for few seconds. Crumbled boiled potatoes are added to this masala followed by water. The curry is allowed to boil and simmer for few minutes for the spices to blend well with the potatoes. Lastly the aloo rasedar is garnished with fresh coriander leaves and served with poori or chapati. So let's get started.

Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Serves: 3-4

Ingredients:

• 4 medium size potatoes
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 green chilies
• 1/2 inch ginger piece / adrak
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds/ Jeera
• Pinch of Asafoetida / Hing
• 1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds /saunf
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/4 teaspoon amchur powder/ dry mango powder
• Salt to taste
• 2 tablespoon oil
• 1-2 tablespoon finely chopped coriander powder

Method:

1. To begin with add washed potatoes to a pressure cooker and cook for 3-4 whistles. Simmer for 5 minutes and allow the pressure to come down on its own. Peel the boiled potatoes on cooling and roughly crumble them and keep aside until use. 
2. Next, add roughly chopped tomatoes, green chilies and ginger to a grinder jar and pulse to a smooth puree.

3. Heat oil in a wok and add cumin seeds to it. Once the seeds crackle , add a pinch of asafoetida to it. To this tempering, add the tomato puree and saute until oil starts floating on the top.

4. Now, lower the flame and add the spice powders, red chili powder, turmeric powder, crushed fennel seeds and garam masala. Stir fry the spices for a minute or so before adding the crumbled boiled potatoes to it.

5. Add about 2 cups water and give a good stir. Season the curry with salt and amchur powder and allow it to boil. Now lower the flame and cover cook the curry for 5-7 minutes.

6. Lastly garnish the aloo rasedar with finely chopped coriander and put off the flame. Serve hot with poori, kachori or bedmi poori.

Recipe Notes:

• We love aloo rasedar slightly on the spicier side. You may reduce the green chilies or spices powders as per your spice tolerance and liking.
• As the name suggests, aloo rasedar is a thin potato curry. However, you may adjust the consistency of the curry as per your choice.
• You may chop the tomatoes and add to the curry instead of adding the tomato puree.

I hope some of you would love to try out this recipe. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with us in the form of likes and comments in the comment section below this post. All your suggestions are also more than welcome. If you like my work and feel it is worth following, do hit the follow button at the top right corner of this blog. Your appreciation means a lot to me. For more recipes and new updates follow us on social media.

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In case you are also an aloo lover like me, check out the following potato curries from this blog

• Kashmiri Dum Aloo

                                 

• Achari Aloo

                                

• Aloo Posto - Potatoes in poppy seeds paste

                               

• Aloo Palda - Potatoes in yogurt gravy

                              

• Aloo ko achar

                              

• Aloo Matar Curry in 1 teaspoon oil

                               

• Batata Harra - Lebanese Spiced Potato

                              

Hara Bhara Kabab

Hara Bhara Kabab is a healthy and delicious Indian vegetarian snack. Made with spinach, green peas, and potatoes, these spiced cutlets make up for a flavorful tea time treat or a party starter. This hara bhara kabab is pan-fried, onion-garlic free, gluten-free and can be easily made at home. Served with green chutney, dates tamarind chutney or ketchup this hara bhara kabab is a delight to the taste-buds and a crowd-pleaser for sure. Best part about this dish is that you can make the patties ahead of time and just pan fry before serving. I have added little paneer also in this kabab, but you can skip it to make a vegan version.

What is  Kabab?

Kababs or Kebabs are the various cooked meat dishes with their origin in Middle Eastern Cuisine. Kebab dishes make up for a delightful starter dish during parties and get-together. Kebab dishes can consist of cut or ground meat , or sea-food , sometimes with fruits and vegetables that are often skewered and cooked over fire. Vegetarian kebabs are also popular and can be shaped like cutlets and either, grilled , baked, deep fried or shallow fried as per preferences. The traditional meat for Kebab is often mutton or lamb but regional recipes may include goat, chicken , beef or fish. Vegetarian kebabs can be made with mixed vegetables, lentils, paneer etc along with flavorful spices.

What is Hara Bhara Kabab?

Hara Bhara Kabab is named so owing to the vibrant green colour it gets from its two main ingredients, spinach and green peas. Apart from these two, boiled potatoes are used along with spices to make this flavorful kabab.  I have not used bread crumbs in this recipe. Gluten-free chickpea flour is the sole binding agent here. Chickpea flour is dry roasted until the raw smell is gone. It adds a lovely nutty flavor to the kabab. Spinach leaves are blanched in boiling water for 2-3 minutes and then immediately transferred to ice cold water to retain the lush green colour. Green chilies and ginger are ground along with boiled green peas and blanched spinach without adding any water. This green paste is added to boiled and mashed potatoes along with little crumbled paneer, roasted chickpea flour, garam masala and amchur powder and rolled to a patties. For a vegan version simply skip the paneer. These patties can be made ahead of time and refrigerated in zip lock bags for 1-2 days and just pan-fried before serving. These kababs can be deep fried or even grilled. You may keep the kabab plain or press a halved cashew nut in the center of each patties just the way it is served in restaurants.

Serving Suggestions:

Hara bhara kabab is usually served with green chutney, lemon wedge and some salad but you may serve it with any dip of your choice or even with ketchup.  I have served it with coriander chutney and khajur Imli Chtney / Dates tamarind chutney Hara bhara kabab can be served as a tea time snack or as a party appetizer.

                           

Party Starters at Foodie Monday Blog Hop

Holiday Season is going on and we are just a day ahead of the New Year Eve. It is the time for dinner parties and get-together with friends and extended family. So when it was my turn to suggest a theme for our gourmet Facebook group, Foodie Monday Bloghop this week,  I knew Party starters would get maximum votes from co-food bloggers of the group. I am looking for some savory snack that could be served as party starter this holiday season. My contribution towards this theme is this healthy and delicious hara bhara kabab. I am excited to see the creations of my co-bloggers on this theme.

                                                                 
                                   

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Serves: 15-17 kababs

Ingredients: 1 cup = 250 ml

• 3 medium size potatoes 
• 1 cup green peas fresh or frozen
• 2 cups spinach leaves 
• 1/4 cup crumbled paneer around 50 grams (optional)
• 3 tablespoon chickpea flour / Besan
• 3 green chilies
• 1 inch ginger piece
• 1/2 teaspoon amchur powder
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• Salt to taste
• Handful of halved cashew nuts
• 2 -3 tablespoon oil for shallow frying the kabab

Method:

1. Boil the green peas and potatoes in a pressure cooker for 2-3 whistles and then simmer for 5 minutes. I have used a 3 liter pressure cooker and placed green peas and potatoes in separate containers inside the cooker without any water. Water is added only to the base of the cooker to steam the green peas and potatoes. 

2. While the potatoes and green peas are getting cooked, place around 3 cups of water in a sauce pan and allow it to boil. Add the cleaned and washed spinach leaves and tender stems to the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes. Put off the flame and immediately transfer the blanched spinach leaves using a tong or two spoons to a bowl of ice cold water. This shock treatment step is optional but it not only cools the spinach leaves but also ensures further cooking of spinach leaves is stopped and thus help in retaining its green color.

3. Meanwhile, dry roast the chickpea flour in another wok on low to medium flame for 5-7 minutes or until the raw smell goes of and you get a lovely nutty aroma. Make sure you do not burn the flour.

                            

4. In a grinder jar, take drained blanched spinach, boiled green peas, green chilies, and ginger. Pulse it to a paste without adding any water.

5. Peel and mash the boiled potatoes in a mixing jar using a potato masher. add the roasted chickpea flour, crumbled paneer, the green peas spinach paste, garam masala , amchur powder and salt to taste. Mix everything very well and do a taste test at this stage and add the seasonings if required.

6. Pinch out small portions of the mix and roll it between your palms to give a cutlet shape. Make all the patties similarly. Place a halved cashew nut in the center of each kabab and press slightly. Prepare all the kabab balls similarly. You may refrigerate these kababs in zip lock bags for a couple of days and just pan fry before serving.

7. Grease the pan with little oil and heat it on low to medium flame. Place the kababs over it and cook until the kabas turn golden brown in color. Now flip the kababs delicately and cook on the other side as well.

8. Serve the delicius hara bhara kabab hot with some dip of your choice at tea time and enjoy with your loved ones. I have served the hara bhara kabab with coriander chutney and Dates and tamarind chutneychutney.

Recipe Notes:

• Spinach leaves can be sauted in little oil and used in this kabab instead of blanching it if you wish so. Fresh green peas can be steamed or boiled in a pressure cooker or microwave oven. Thaw the frozen peas before steaming them. 
• Some people prefer adding chopped cooked spinach leaves directly to the boiled potatoes. I prefer making a paste of it along with boiled green peas to get the uniform green colour of the kabab. 
• Regular potatoes can be replaced with Sweet potatoes in this recipe if you wish or to make it all the more healthier.
• Addition of paneer gives a rich texture and taste to the kabab. However its use if optional. You may skip it for a vegan kabab.
• Blanched spinach leaves are added to a bowl of ice cold water to stop further cooking and thus retain its lush green colour.
• These kabas have basic spices. I love it to be on the spicier side, so added 3 green chilies while making the spinach paste apart from the garam masala used. You may adjust the number of chilies used as per your spice tolerance.
• You may add more roasted chickpea flour if the kabab mix appears to be sticky and difficult to work. You may add little bread crumbs also if you wish to. I have not used any crumbs in this recipe. 

I hope a few of you would love to try out this recipe. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with us in the form of likes and comments in the comment section below this post. All your suggestions are also more than welcome. If you like my work and feel it is worth following, do hit the follow button at the top right corner of this blog. Your appreciation means a lot to me. For more recipes and new updates follow us on social media.

• Facebook Handle: https://www.facebook.com/poonambachhavblogspot/
• Instagram Handle: https://www.instagram.com/poonambachhav/
• Twitter Handle: https://twitter.com/poonampagar_B
• Pinterest Handle: https://in.pinterest.com/poonambachhav/

Related Posts:

• Vegetarian Shammi Kebab

                               

• Broccoli Cutlets

                               

• Beetroot Cutlet

                               

• Mix Veg Cutlets

                              

• Hara Bhara Paneer Tikka

                               

• Mushroom Tikka

                              

• Vegetable Chop

                              

• Paneer Lollipop