Moong Dal Pakoda (Fritters)

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Moong Dal Pakoda is a vegan and a gluten free snack, made using yellow split moong dal and a few ingredients available at home. This pakoda's are irresistible and a perfect tea time snack to munch on.

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Being from North India, and few of my ancestors coming from parts of Rajasthan, we do have a lot of food influenced by the cuisine of Rajasthan. I remember this Moong Dal pakoda is one of the favourite pakoda's of my dad and use to be one of the go to snack for Sunday Evening.

Local street vendor's in North India do sell this lip-smacking pakoda's topped up with chat masala or chutney. If you are on a train journey to the North, you will definitely see this selling by the local train station vendor's once you enter's MP , Rajasthan and UP.

Ingredients used in Moong Dal pakoda

Yellow Split Moong dal (Dhuli moong) is the main ingredient in this Moong dal pakoda. The rest is just a few basic masala like whole coriander seeds, black pepper, salt, ginger and green chillies. There may be different versions of this as people do substitute or mix the dal's. But this is one of our traditional recipes and is always made in the same way by my mom.

The Secret Ingredients & The challenge

We are travelling to the state of Rajasthan for this month's challenge,  of Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge group. I was paired with Seema Doriaswamy who blogs at Mildly Indian. She has a wonderful collection of some simple and some traditional recipes. So she gave me 2 secret Ingredients as Moong Dal and Salt and I made this Moong Dal Pakoda. I gave her sattu and a sweetener of her choice and she made this delicious Gramflour sattu Ladoo & designer sattu.

Rajasthan ~ A trip down the memory lane

As earlier stated we had our ancestors from Rajasthan and our Kul devi Kaila Devi temple, from my mom's side is also in Rajasthan. So growing up I have been there almost every alternate year. The temple do provide a lot of peace and I have a lot of memories associated. Being a kid, I use to love enjoy seeing the peacocks flocking the terrace early morning. Loads and loads of them singing in their beautiful voice.

We use to enjoy the tea served in Kulhad aka earthen pots and water fresh from the wells. The main fun of kulhad apart from the aroma was breaking them after we finished the tea. The early morning breakfast of Aloo Sabji and Bedai or Puri, along side some hot jalebi's. mmmm....Need I say more? I would never dream of eating this heavy breakfast early morning in Mumbai, but over there, everything is digested. Till date, if I am going, I do enjoy this early morning. Probably the air and the fun times. Then in the evening comes the dinner served on decompostible plate made using leaves called as dona or pattal. The food would be some hot phulka's with spicy and sweet kadoo (Pumpkin) sabji. I am just drooling writring this and I want it now :-).

Cuisine of Rajasthan

Rajasthan the land of Maharaja's is famous for its rich culture. Rajasthani's love their food and is evident from their preparations. Even though much of the food was influenced by both the war-like lifestyles of its inhabitants and the availability of ingredients in this arid region , they still do have a lot and lot of royal treats.

Food that could last for days and eaten without heating was preferred. Scarcity of water and fresh green vegetables, can be seen in their cuisine. It is famous for snacks like Bikaneri Bhujia, Mirchi Bada, Pyaaaj Kachori. Other famous dishes include Bajre ki roti, Mawa Kachori, ghewar, gatte ki sabji etc etc. Since fresh vegetables is a scarcity a lot of different raita's are common to be there for lunch or dinner's. The Marwar region or the community is famous for its vegetarian food.

According to a 2014 survey released by the registrar general of India, Rajasthan has 74.9% vegetarians, which makes it the most vegetarian state in India (Source Wiki)

I can go on and on about Rajasthan, but need to stop. So here goes the recipe of Moong Dal Pakoda:

Ingredients

• 500 gms ~ 2 Cups of Split Yellow Moong Dal
• 1 tablespoon of Whole Coriander
• 1-2 teaspoon of Whole Black Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon Green chilly paste
• Salt to taste
• Oil for Deep frying

Preparation

• Wash and Soak the Split Yellow Moong Dal for 4-5 hours.
• Lightly crush the Whole Coriander in a mortar and pestle or with the help of a rolling pin.
• In a blender add in the soaked Moong Dal with little or no water.
• Grind it to a coarser texture. We do not want a paste, the dal needs to be coarse.
• Now add the crushed coriander, black pepper, ginger paste, chilly paste and salt.
• Mix everything and in a deep wok keep the oil for frying.
• Once the oil is hot, switch the stove to medium and drop half of the lemon size batter in the oil.
• Take the batter in your fingers, and slide it using the thumb.
• The frying has to be on slow to medium, or else the dal will not be cooked properly and you will get raw or uncooked pakodas.
• Turn in between for 2-3 times, until the pakodas are cooked from all the sides and are golden brown.
• Serve it hot with Green coriander chutney and Chai (Tea)

Notes

The frying has to be done on slow to medium or else the pakodas would be left uncooked.

Few More Regional recipes

• Baked Shana Jhieg | Meghalaya Starter/ Snack
• Sana Thongba | Manipuri Paneer curry (No onion, No Garlic)
• Chakki ki Sabji |Ate ki Sabji (Tangy and Spicy Gravy with whole wheat flour dumplings)
• Idli Podi
• Akki Roti
• Kashmiri Dum Aloo (No Onion, No Garlic)
• Authentic Pakodi/Pakoda Kadhi
• Mizoram's Panch Phoran Tarkari
• No Oil Tomato Chutney from Nagaland
• Odia's Sapuri khatta | Pineapple Sweet & Sour Chutney
• Dal Makhani | Indian Style Creamy Black Lentils

Moong Dal Pakoda (Fritters)

Moong Dal Pakoda is a vegan and a gluten free snack, made using yellow split moong dal and a few ingredients available at home, best served along with tea.

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Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Dal, Fritters / Pakoda, Gluten Free, Legumes / Beans / Pulses, Vegan

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes minutes

Soaking Time: 4 hours hours

Total Time: 5 hours hours

Author: Renu Agrawal-Dongre

Equipment

• Wok for Frying
• Mixer/Blender for Grinding

Ingredients

• 500 gms ~ 2 Cups of Split Yellow Moong Dal
• 1 tablespoon of Whole Coriander
• 1-2 teaspoon of Whole Black Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Ginger paste
• 1 teaspoon Green chilly paste
• Salt
• Oil for Deep frying

Instructions

• Wash and Soak the Split Yellow Moong Dal for 4-5 hours.
• Lightly crush the Whole Coriander in a mortar and pestle or with the help of a rolling pin.
• In a blender add in the soaked Moong Dal with little or no water.
• Grind it to a coarser texture. We do not want a paste, the dal needs to be coarse.
• Now add the crushed coriander, black pepper, ginger paste, chilly paste and salt.
• Mix everything and in a deep wok keep the oil for frying.
• Once the oil is hot, switch the stove to medium and drop half of the lemon size batter in the oil.
• Take the batter in your fingers, and slide it using the thumb.
• The frying has to be on slow to medium, or else the dal will not be cooked properly and you will get raw or uncooked pakodas.
• Turn in between for 2-3 times, until the pakodas are cooked from all the sides and are golden brown.
• Serve it hot with Green coriander chutney and Chai (Tea)

Notes

The frying has to be done on slow to medium or else the pakodas would be left uncooked.

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Disclaimer: I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.

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