It’s Spring time! Which brings mix of cold with taste of some good weather and occasional rain. This definitely calls for some rainy season goodies. One of my favorite and sinful indulgence for this weather is “Bhajiya” otherwise known as Pakoras or Fritter’s.

Among different varieties of “Bhajiya” found in India, Ratalupuri is one of the special dishes of Gujarati’s. It is prepared as snack when entertaining the guests and during the monsoon. I don’t know how this dish originated but it is delicious! I bringing you the recipe for it from my Mom’s kitchen.

What does the name “Ratalupuri” mean? We will divide it into two parts to understand, “Ratalu” and “Puri”.

Ratalu is a root vegetable also known as violet yam. They come in two varieties: long and round with beautiful violet color.

Puri (fried) is a Indian flat bread. They are round in shape and about the size of base of chickpea can.

Ratalupuri is usually served with special condiment “chutney”.

Instruments you would need:

Sieve

Mixing bowl

Frying pan

Frying ladle

Kitchen paper

Other essentials

Ingredients:

Oil to deep fry

Roughly crushed black pepper

Roughly crushed coriander seeds

Ratalu (Indian violet yam) peeled and sliced disc of 1/4 inch thickness

Ingredients for bhajiya batter:

3 cups “chana nau lott” (gram flour or besan or chickpea flour, yellow in color)

1tbsp white rice flour

Ajwain (carom) seeds

Salt to the taste

Black pepper powder roughly crushed to the taste

Red chili powder to the taste (can be substituted with white chili powder, if you desire light colored fritters)

A pinch of soda bicarbonate (baking soda) to add the extra crunch and makes bhajiya light and fluffy

Water as per the requirement

Method for the batter:

Sieve chickpea and rice flour into a bowl.

Add carom seeds, salt, black pepper powder and chili powder and mix well.

For smooth batter and to achieve dropping consistency of batter which is not too runny and not too thick add water as required. It helps to avoid lumps and mixes well. Mom’s best tool to mix is with her fingers, the Indian way but you can choose to whisk it.

Taste it to adjust as per your requirements.

Tip 1: Let the batter settle for a while, as that would help the spices to marinate well and brings out the flavor. Tip 2: Add 1 tbsp hot oil to the batter when ready to fry. Tip 3: Add baking soda to the batter only when ready to fry fritter’s. Mix well.

Frying method:

Heat sufficient oil to deep fry in a frying pan on a medium heat. Quick test: drop little batter to hot oil to make sure it’s ready to fry. When the batter quickly surface up on the oil, it is ready to fry.

Dip sliced ratalu discs in the batter, make sure it’s nicely coated from all the sides.

Sprinkle roughly crushed black pepper and coriander seeds only on ratalu on one side.

Deep-fry in hot oil until golden and crisp.

Drain the access oil with kitchen paper.

Serve hot with the suggested condiments.

Condiments:

Sharing recipes for the condiments. You can go with either or both.

Instruments you would need:

Thick base pot medium

2 mixing bowl

Whisk

Grater

Other essentials

1: Onion raitu

Ingredients:

1/2 grated onion. Squeeze it dry

1 cup yogurt

Following ingredients to taste:

– Red chili powder

– Salt

– Pinch of sugar

Method: In a bowl add all the above ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

2: Bhajiya chutney



Ingredients:

1 cup yogurt

Water (to make buttermilk consistency)

3 tsp chana nau lott (gram flour or besan or chickpea flour)

Green chili and ginger paste to taste

Pinch of sugar

Salt to taste

Long green chilies finely chopped

Chutney mixture method:

Whisk yogurt and water to smooth and buttermilk consistency.

Add chickpea flour and whisk to mix well. Avoid any lumps to form.

Add finely chopped green chili and ginger paste along with salt and sugar.

Taste the mixture to adjust flavor, sugar should not be over powering.

Vaghar (tadka) ingredients:

1 tbsp oil

Rai (mustard seeds)

Pinch of hing (asafoetida)

6 curry leaves

Vaghar method:

Heat oil on medium and add mustard seed. Wait to pop.

Add pinch of hing and curry leaves.

Add the vaghar to chutney mixture (prepared as mentioned above ) and mix well.

Tip 1: Refrigerate chutney mixture until ready to serve. Final Step: When ready to serve, heat chutney mixture by continuously stirring it until it bubbles at the edge of a thick base pot and thickens.

Serve hot Ratalupuri with hot chutney and onion raitu. Everyone will ask for second and third.



Can be made versatile with any of following vegetables and fruits instead of Ratalu:

Long green chilies

Potatoes

Banana

Green bell pepper

Aubergine

Onion rings

Tomatoes

Mix vegetables (potatoes, onion, chilies)

Fresh ajwain leaves

Jalopeno

Spinach

Avocado

And more..

As its said among Gujaratis, “Garam garam bhajiya ane chutney” is the monsoon must.

Let us know your experience if you try this recipe or what other ingredients you choose to make pakoras with? We would love to know your favorites.

The city Surat where I come from, the locals makes a special trip to near by bay “Dumas” for these goodies as there are stalls that sells Bhajiya and are very popular.

Thank you for stopping by!

xo,

Nidhi and Mom