Radhaballavi | Radhaballabhi and Aloor Dum

I am all of six, maybe seven.

Yet the kitchen draws me like a magnet. My best times are when I am in the kitchen with Grandma, she cooking yet another of her delectable delicacies, delighting me with her never-ending repertoire of stories, the Ramayana today, Lalkamal and Neelkamal tomorrow, Sukumar Roys absurd rib-tickling limericks the day after, and I, absorbed in her fascinating commentary, all the while imbibing the sights, the sounds and the smells of the kitchen.

I have learnt by now how a pinch of turmeric magically transforms a curry to a gorgeous golden. How adding a squeeze of lemon juice curdles a pot of boiling milk.

I rush to close my ears when Grandma scrapes the bottom of one of her ancient pans. And the sizzle is music when she gently slides in a fish to smoking hot oil.

I am getting initiated to the enigmatic world of fragrant spices.

I know sniffing black pepper gives me paroxyms of sneezing. And rubbing my eyes after touching ground chillies burns furiously.

Grandma and I play a game quite often – I hold my palm in front of my eyes, No, I am not cheating, I assure her, she holds some spice on her outstretched palm near my nose.
It’s cloves. I triumphantly declare.
And that’s cinnamon.
Pat on the back.
I trip on the next one.

Grandma smiles. That’s asafoetida. She patiently explains. Gum of a tree that grows in far-away Afghanistan.
Afghanistan, I frown, unsure if I have ever come across the name
The land of the Kabuliwalas, Grandma patiently reminds me.
Kabuliwalas. Yes indeed, it immediately comes racing back. Grandma had read me the story. Of the little girl Mini and his friend the Kabuliwala.

Grandma now pours water onto the flour and a healthy dollop of ghee. She gets to work on her radhaballavi dough. Sometimes adding a splash of water. Sometimes a sprinkle of flour. More exercise on the dough. Then she tears off balls from the pliable dough and arranges them in neat concentric circles.

Dough balls are amongst my favourites in the kitchen. Plasticine that I use to sculpt the Lilliputian world of my fantasises, midget animals, miniature utensils, dwarf fruits and vegetables. Grandma’s vehicles to teach me how to count, how to add and subtract and later how to multiply and divide.

Do we have all twenty-four dough balls for radhaballavi now, Grandma asks.
I start counting, the circles keep confusing me, I go round and round, where did I start ? I wonder and hasten to start counting all over again.

Grandma senses my helpnessness.
Stick a finger onto the dough ball that you start at. So you shall know where to stop. Grandma’s sagacious words of wisdom.
How do you know so much ? I ask Grandma, amazed how she always has an answer before I have even asked the question.
She smiles, You too shall know when you grow up.

As a grown-up me works on the dough for radhaballavi this morning, I do wonder if I shall ever know as much as Grandma …..Save

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Radhaballavi and Aloor dum

Two Bengali classics. Radhaballavi, the addictive dal-stuffed puri. And aloor dum, a delicious potato curry perfumed with ginger, cumin and coriander.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course Breakfast

Cuisine Bengali

Ingredients

  

For Radhaballabhi

• 1 cup urad dal (you can use bengal gram or chana dal as well), soaked overnight
• 2 cups plain flour
• 2 - 3 green chillies
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida
• 1 tsp shahi jeera
• 2 tsps ginger paste
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• vegetable oil for deep frying
• Salt and sugar to taste

For Aloor Dom

• 400 g potatoes cut into big cubes
• 2 tsps cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp hing or asafetida
• 2 - 3 whole dry red chillies
• 2 tsps ginger paste
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsps coriander powder
• 1 tbsp mustard oil
• sugar to taste
• salt to taste

Instructions

 

For Radhaballavi

• Wash and clean urad dal, make a coarse paste of the urad dal and green chillies with very little water.
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in fry pan, temper with asafoetida and shah jeera and let them sizzle for a while. Add the ginger paste, saute for a while. Now add the ground dal paste, turmeric powder, salt and sugar.
• Keep stirring over medium heat, taking utmost care that the dal paste does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Once the dal takes on a light golden colour and becomes almost dry, allow it to cool. Keep aside.
• Knead the flour with a little salt, 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and a little water to form a soft dough. Keep the dough covered for half an hour or so with a moist cloth.
• Make small balls of the dough, flatten each one in the palm of your hand to form a cup, fill with a spoonful of the dal stuffing and reshape into a ball. Again flatten each dough ball filled with the dal stuffing and roll out into a circle, taking care that the the stuffing does not break through the dough.
• Heat oil in a kadai. Fry the radhaballavis till golden brown. Serve hot with aloor dom.

For Aloor dum

• Boil the potatoes till almost cooked and shallow fry. Keep aside.
• Heat the remaining oil, throw hing, cumin seeds and broken red chillies, once they start spluttering, add the ginger paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder, salt, little sugar and cook over a moderate flame till oil starts to release from the masala.
• Add the fried potatoes, cook over a low flame for 10 odd minutes.
• Add 1/2 a cup of warm water, adjust seasonings and cook till the gravy thickens, a further 7-10 minutes. Serve hot with Radhaballavi.

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