“Sabudana- Onion- Methi Leaf Bajo (Bajia/ Fritters)" served with Tomato Ketchup … a delicious deep fried to golden crispy- spongy fritters that tastes great served with chutney or ketchup as a snack during tea time or for breakfast along with other dishes … try it, tastes awesome … Yummilicious …
** Bajo’s/ fritters are the most loved deep fried snack and in my home, it is no different. There are so many varieties that can be served for meals or as a snack and enjoy them either with chutney or ketchup, they taste equally good. For this particular bajia, you will need to prepare the soaking part for sabudana at least a few hours prior and you need to have fresh methi leaves handy while rest of the ingredients are always available in our kitchen. They turned out crispy with soft spongy effect within and were tasty to munch on. Do try them in leisure and enjoy with your family and friends.
** Here is my simple recipe for “Sabudana- Onion- Methi Leaf Bajo (Bajia/ Fritters)” … my style; do try it, tastes awesome ….
** Ingredients :
Sabudana/ Tapioca Pearls : ½ cup
Besan/ Chane Peeta/ Chana Dal Atta/ Bengal Gram Flour : ¼ cup
Rice Flour/ Tandla Pitti/ Akki Hudi : 2-3 tblsp
Fresh Methi/ Fenugreek Leaves : ½ cup
Onion/ Piyavu/ Kanda : 1 large sized
Curds/ Dahi : 2 tso
Ajwain/ Vonvo/ Ovam/ Bishop’s weed/Carom Seeds : 1 tsp
Green Chilly/ Tarni Mirsaga/ Hari Mirchi : 5-6
Curry Leaves/ Kadipatta/ Karbevu : 10-12 fresh ones
Adrak/ Alle’/ Ginger : 1 inch piece
Hing/ Asafoetida Powder : ½ - 1 tsp
Oil/ Tel/ Tela : 1 tblsp
Salt/ Namak/ Meeta : to taste
** Plenty of Oil for deep frying the Vadas
** Preparing Sabudana/ Tapioca Pearls : Wash and soak large size variety of sabudana/ tapioca pearls in a large bowl adding water in ratio 1:1 and leave it covered overnight or for 6- 8 hours. Now you can use it in preparation of vadas. You can prepare this in advance and keep it in the fridge and use as and when necessary. It remains good for 2-3 days. In case you do not have time or forgot to do so soak the sabudana in double quantity of water (1:2) and leave aside covered for about 1 hour, then drain of the water completely by putting it in a colander and it is now ready to be prepared. Sabudana should swell properly and look like small white pearls to get best spongy effect. So soaking and resting period is very important, so kindly do not skip it.
** For Methi/ Fenugreek Leaves : Choose fresh green tender methi (fenugreek) leaves for preparing any dishes. Pick and clean the methi leaves, discarding the stems. We need to add only the leaves for preparing of Vadas. Wash well, strain off excess water, and then chop them fine and keep it ready aside.
** Note : You can apply a little bit of salt to methi leaves, rub it all over, leave aside for 10-20 minutes and then squeeze of the water from methi leaves properly, wash and keep this aside ready too. This above step is carried out to remove the bitterness from fresh methi leaves. I personally do not follow it as I believe that it should be consumed as it is for its medicinal and health properties. You may choose any method.
** Peel the outer skin of onion/ piyavu and chop it to fine pieces and keep it aside ready. Similarly chop green chillies/ tarni mirsanga and ginger/ adrak to fine pieces and keep it aside ready. Wash, pat dry and chop curry leaves/ kadipatta also to fine pieces and keep it aside ready along with other ingredients.
** Add all the chopped ingredients (green chillies, ginger, curry leaves, onion) along with ajwain and hing, into a wide bowl. Add in chopped methi leaves, soaked sabudana, curds, salt to taste and give a light mix. Now add besan, rice flour, oil and mix well for a minute or two. Now add water little by little while you keep mixing the ingredients to a thick evenly mixed paste with dropping consistency.
** Cover with a lid and keep it aside for about 15-20 minutes to rest so that the flours absorb moisture and soften. Check the consistency of bajo/ bajia/ fritters mixture and give it a good mix to bring to a smooth consistency without any lumps whatsoever. If you find the mixture too dry or too thick you can add little water, mix well to bring to dropping consistency. If you find the mixture thinner textured, then just add either besan or rice (besan is better choice) and mix well to bring to right consistency.
** For Deep Frying Vadas : Heat sufficient oil for deep frying in a thick bottomed kadai/ pan tofull heat/ smoking point. Reduce the heat to medium and wait for 5 minutes. Check the temperature by adding a little bit of mixture in hot oil carefully. If the mixture comes up within a few seconds, it means the temperature of oil is perfect. If it takes more time, you need to raise the heat for some time and if it turns brown immediately it means you need to cool down the temperature for a few more minutes. Keep the heat at medium temperature constant throughout frying of the vadas for perfect results.
** Now make small lemon sized balls of the batter making it into round shape with the help of your fingers and running the batter/ mixture on the rim of the bowl and gently add it into the hot oil. Be careful not to drop it with force or the hot oil may splutter, so be careful. Continue adding a few bajo’s/ fritters as required. Do not overcrowd the kadai with bajia’s there should be enough space for them to be evenly fired.
** Fry the bajo’s/ fritters for a few minutes as it is in medium heat and once you find them somewhat fried and not sticking to each other, stir them gently with a ringed spatula and flip them over to cook evenly all over. Do not hurry or raise the heat to cook them fast as then the center part will remain uncooked. However, if you find no sizzles in the oil then you should raise the heat a little bit for even frying.
** When they become evenly browned and crispy, remove with the holed/ ringed spatula and place them on an absorbent paper for the excess oil to drain off. Now continue preparing the required number of bajo’s/ fritters with the remaining dough following the same method and fry them in batches until all are done. The method is not at all tough and one always learns with practice, You can check You Tube for guidance.
** Note : In case of excess batter or if you want to fry some later, then put them in an air tight box and immediately put in fridge, remains good for 24 hours. Just remove from fridge and let rest for 10-15 minutes before frying them.
** “Sabudana- Onion- Methi Leaf Bajo (Bajia/ Fritters)” is done and ready to be served. You can serve them with any chutney of your choice, though I served them with tomato ketchup one of children favorite way of relishing fries. I had guests dropping over so prepared it as snack and prepared a few for breakfast the next morning with the leftover mixture to be served along with Egg Omelette and it was a lovely- tasty breakfast in all, I am making a separate post of the same following this one.
** For more “Bajo/ Bajia/ Fritters” recipes with different veggies/ leaves etc. Please follow the common link shared below …
** Sharing a common link to all "Chutney" recipes shared in the Blog, you may browse through and try out any, they will taste equally good ...
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