Recipe: Falhari Bondas

Bondas, a popular snack from the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, must have been created for tea-time munching.

In my version, there's a slight deviation from the original recipe as I have given it a falhari twist! Instead of rice flour, I use a combination of fasting-appropriate ingredients, like amaranth and barnyard millet flour. The mixture is then kneaded into a soft dough with yoghurt, and fried to perfection.

Falhari Bondas makes fasting a delicious affair :).

It is a great dish to have on your menu on Mahashivratri. 

Falhari Bondas

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup sabudana or sago pearls, soaked for 5 hours
• ¼ cup rajgira or amaranth flour
• ¼ cup bhagar pith or samo rice or barnyard millet flour
• 2 tbsp roasted peanut powder
• ¼ cup dahi or yoghurt
• 2 tbsp chopped green chillies
• 1 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
• 1 tsp grated adrak or ginger
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp sugar
• Water as needed, about ½ cup
• Sendha namak or rock salt to taste, about 1 tsp
• Oil for deep frying
• Flour for dusting the board while rolling
• Sweetened dahi, spiced with a dash of black pepper powder and sendha namak, to serve
• Slices of lemon, to serve
• Green chillies, to serve

Method

• Drain the excess water from the soaked sabudana and transfer it into a large bowl.
  Add the rajgira flour, bhagar flour, roasted peanut powder, yoghurt, salt, chopped green chillies, jeera, lemon juice, sugar and the grated ginger.
  Add some water and knead into a semi-soft dough and let the dough rest at least 30 minutes.
• With your hands mould into round balls like you would sabudana wadas.
• Heat the oil in a kadhai or frying pan.
  Deep fry the fritters until golden brown over medium heat.
  Make sure you flip them so they fry evenly. 
  Take off heat and serve hot with sweetened dahi, flavoured with sendha namak and black pepper powder, as well as lemon and green chillies.