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