RADHABALLAVI with ALOOR DOM

Radhaballavi is a quintessential Bengali dish that we make for special sunday breakfast, for dinner, for any pujo, and even in our wedding feasts. I have some fond memories of eating Radhaballavi. My mum makes the most amazing ones (I learnt making these from her), and my group of friends and I used to have Radhaballavis after class from a sweet shop near my college. At home we always had Radhaballavi with Aloordom, and like every child, I'd say, my mum makes the best Aloordom. This dish is very close to my heart, so I thought I'd share it with you.

Let's start with the STUFFING required for our Radhaballavi. You will need:

• Urad dal - 1 x a 250 ml cup (washed, and soaked overnight, or atleast 6hrs.),
• Ginger paste - 2 tbsp,
• Green chillies - 4 (the long ones, for more flavour and less heat),
• Salt,
• Hing - 1 tsp,
• Ghee - 4 tbsp,

...and to make a spice blend you need:

• Cumin seeds - 3 tbsp,
• Fennel seeds - 3 tbsp,
• Bay leaves - 2 or 3,
• Dried red chillies - 4.

In a frying pan, dry roast the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaves, and red chillies, on a low heat till they slightly change colour and become very fragrant. Transfer to a dish, and allow it to cool. Then grind it in your food processor into a fine powder. Store in an air-tight box.

• Drain the urad dal, and grind it with the green chillies, adding little water, just enough to keep your food processor moving.
• Heat ghee in a kadhai. Add the ginger paste and fry for a few seconds. Then add the hing, and stir in for a couple of seconds. Now add the urad dal mix, and the salt (according to your taste). Keep stirring the dal mixture. It will get very sticky and lumpy. Just keep going at it. This will take a good 15-20 mins.
• Turn the gas off when the mixture begins to leave the sides of the kadhai. Transfer into a bowl, and allow it to cool down to room temperature.
• Add around 2 tbsp of the dry roasted spice powder (its called the 'bhaja moshla') to the dal mixture, and mix in. This mixture will still have hard lumps in it, and if you try to make the Radhaballavi with the stuffing as it is, the dough will tear when you'll try to roll it out.

So, what I do is, I take as much amount of mixture as I'd be needing at the moment, and give it a whiz in the spice grinding / chutney jar of the food processor, and there you have it, a fine lump free powder of the stuffing.
The rest of the dal stuffing that you won't be needing can be stored in the freezer in an air-tight box for up to a month.

For the dough:

• Take a cup of tepid water, and add a tablespoon of sugar, and a teaspoon of salt to it. Stir in to dissolve.
• Take your all purpose flour in a bowl, add a tablespoon or so of veg. oil to it, and knead it with the cup of water. Adiust the amount of water according to the amount of flour.
• Form a smooth ball of the dough, and apply a film of oil on it to avoid drying out. cover the bowl with a tea towel, and a lid over it. Allow it to rest for 20-30 mins.

• Cut out a portion of the dough (double the size than you'd need to make a roti), flatten it with your hand, fill in more or less 2 teaspoon of the dal mixture, seal and roll in between your palms to make a smooth ball.
• Roll it out into the size of a regular roti, taking care not to tear the dough. Try to roll out thinly more at the edges than at the centre.
• Heat 700 ml to a litre of veg. oil (depending on the size) in a Kadhai. Fry the Radhaballavis into golden perfection.

For the Aloor dom, you need:

• Potatoes - 6 large ones, peeled and cut into 4 pieces,
• Mustard Oil - 2 tbsp + for deep frying,
• Ghee - 2 tbsp,
• Turmeric - 2 tsp,
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp,.
• Bay leaves - 2 to 3,
• Dried red chillies - 4 (kept whole),
• Ginger paste - 2 tbsp,
• Hing - 1 tsp,
• Yoghurt - 250 ml,
• Cumin powder - 1 1/2 tsp,
• Kashmiri red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp,
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 to 1 tsp,
• Sugar - 1 tbsp,
• Salt,
• Shahi garam masala - 1 to 1 1/2 tsp.

You can use a store bought Shahi Garam Masala, or make your own by dry roasting 3 tbsp Green Cardamom, 2 tbsp Cloves, four 2" pieces of Cinnamon, 4 Black Cardamoms, 2 whole Nutmeg, 2 tbsp of Mace, 2 Star Anise, and 2 Bay Leaves in a frying pan, over low heat. Allow it to cool. Then grind it into a fine powder. Store in an air-tight box.



Making the Aloor dom:

• Add some salt and turmeric to the potatoes and mix well coating each potato with it. Deep fry the potatoes in mustard oil till light golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.
• Heat 2 tbsp of mustard oil and 2 tbsp of ghee in a Kadhai over low heat. Add the cumin seeds, bay leaves, and red chillies. Saute for a while.
• When the red chillies turn brown, remove them (just the chillies), and add the ginger paste. Cook off for a minute, and add the hing and the turmeric powder. Stir in for a couple of seconds and take the kadhai off the heat.
• Now add the yoghurt, and mix in. Bring it back on heat. Add the Kashmiri chilli powder and mix in. Turn the heat up and keep stirring till the mixture reduces, and the oil seperates and begin to float on top. Now add the sugar, red chilli powder, and the cumin powder, and mix in till the sugar dissolves.
• Add around 300ml of water to the kadhai, and salt (according to your taste), and stir it all in. Now add the fried potatoes and bring it up to a boil.
• When it begins to boil, clamp on a lid, turn the heat down, and let it simmer for 15 mins., or till the potatoes are done.
• Turn the heat off, ad sprinkle over the Shahi Garam Masala, and let it sit covered till you serve.

Hope you guys enjoyed making and of course serving up this tasty dish.
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