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Steamed Dahi Bhalla

Healthy version of classic Dahi balla, Steamed lentil balls aka bhalla drenched into creamy greek yogurt sauce, topped with sweet and spicy chutney and crunchy goodies like sev, boondi & pomegranate
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Soak Time6 hours
Course: Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine: Indian
Servings: 15 bhalla

Ingredients

Steam Bhalla Ingredients

  • ¾ cup Urad Dal
  • ¼ cup Yellow Mung Dal
  • 2 Thai Green Chili
  • 1 inch Ginger Root
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • ½ tsp Roasted Cumin Powder
  • ¼ cup Water
  • 1 tsp Eno
  • ¼ cup Chopped Cashews
  • ¼ cup Raisins

Yogurt Sauce

  • 32 oz Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt
  • ¼ cup Water only if needed
  • ¼ cup Powdered Sugar
  • ¾ tsp Salt
  • ½ tsp Roasted Cumin Powder

Thin Yogurt Water to soak bhalla

  • ⅓ cup Fat Free Plain Greek Yogurt
  • 3 cup Water
  • ½ tsp Black Salt
  • ½ tsp Roasted Cumin Powder

Toppings

  • ½ cup Date Tamarind Chutney https://myvegetarianroots.com/ultimate-chutney-lineup/
  • ½ cup Cilantro Mint Chutney https://myvegetarianroots.com/ultimate-chutney-lineup/
  • ½ cup Thin Sev
  • ½ cup Pomegranate Seeds
  • ¼ cup Savory Boondi
  • ¼ cup Chopped Cilantro
  • 1 tsp Kashmiri Red Chili Powder
  • 1 tsp Roasted Cumin Powder
  • ½ tsp Black Salt

Instructions

Steamed Bhalla

  • Mix Ural dal and yellow mung dal. Wash 3-4 times until the water run clear and soak them for 4-6 hours.
  • Once soaked, remove all the water from the lentils. Grind it with ¼ cup of water 2 thai green chili, 1 inch ginger root, 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp roasted cumin powder using Vitamix like blender. Grind it until almost smooth. Add 1 tbsp of additional water at a time if needed to grind the batter. The batter should not get runny.
  • Once batter is ready, it it out in a mixing bowl and whist it vigorously for at least 10 minutes. I like using Kitchenaid standing mixture with the whisk attachment for this step.
  • If baking the bhalla, add 1 tsp of eno (fruit salt) once you are almost done whisking. Skip eno if you are deep frying the bhalla. Once whisking is done, drop a small amount of batter in a bowl of water, if the batter floats on top, that means the batter is ready. If it falls apart or sinks, keep whisking until you get it to flow in a bowl of water.
  • Once ready, grease idli molds. Place a big dollop of batter in each idli mold and steam them for 12 minutes, or test out by poking toothpick in the steamed bhallas, if they come out clean that means they are done steaming.

Soaking of bhallas

  • While bhallas are steaming, mix ⅓ cup of yogurt, ½ tsp of black salt and ½ tsp of roasted cumin powder with 3 cups of water. Mix it all well so that there are no lumps. I like using emerson blende for this step.
  • Once bhallas are done steaming, let it sit at room temperature just for couple of minutes. Then take them out of the idli mold and put them into water + yogurt liquid for 10-15 minutes. Let them to soak up the liquid.
  • After soaking of 10-15 min, take one bhalla at a time between your palms and gently squeeze some liquid out, not all. Keep them a side.

Assemble Dahi Bhalla

  • Blend 32 oz of greek yogurt with ¼ cup of water, ¼ cup of powdered sugar, ¾ tsp of salt and ½ tsp of roasted cumin powder until it becomes thick smooth liquid.
  • Take a wide tray like glass baking tray, pour just a little thick yogurt sauce at the bottom. Place prepared bhallas in single layer on top of yogurt layer.
  • Then pour rest of the thick yogurt sauce on top of bhalla so that each bhallas are well covered with it.
  • Sprinkle it with mix of kashmiri red chili powder, black salt and roasted cumin powder.
  • Drizzle generous amount of sweet and spicy chutney on top.
  • Refrigerate it for 20 minutes before serving.
  • Right before serving, Sprinkle generous amount of sev, pomegranate seeds, savory boondi and chopped cilantro.