Dahi Bhalla – Tips to Make Soft Bhalla
Oct 19, 2019, Updated Oct 26, 2020
Soft Dahi Bhalla dunked in yogurt and topped with chutneys! These deep fried lentil fritters are popular street snack in North India!
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Make the softest Dahi Bhalla with this fool-proof recipe!
These lentil fritters are dunked in yogurt and topped with spicy and sweet chutneys. No celebration in my house was complete without them.
If there was one thing which mom always made for all festivals, it was this- Dahi Bhalla!
Whether it was Holi, Diwali or Raksha Bandhan, these were always on the table.
Dahi Bada is what we call them in eastern Uttar Pradesh, in Delhi they are usually called Dahi Bhalla.
Well, whatever you call them the bottom line is they are delicious and a must have for festivals.
So what are dahi bhalle? These are deep fried fritters made with lentils.
They are served with topping of yogurt and chutneys and that’s what makes them so delectable.
My mom always made dahi bada with urad dal dhuli (split & dehusked black gram lentil).
However I use a combination of 2 dals- urad dal and moong dal dhuli (split & dehusked mung beans).
I learnt to make dahi bhalla this way from my mother-in-law. She makes them the best!
Tips to Make Soft Bhalla
When I first started making them, my dahi bhalle won’t be soft.
Once, they even burst into oil, yeah I have had my share of kitchen disasters.
But over the years, I have learnt some tips which make the softest and fluffiest dahi bhalla and I am excited to share those with you guys!
Use half moong and half urad dal: like I said, my mother-in-law does this and I have learnt this from her. If you prefer a more prominent urad dal flavor, you can do 75% urad dal and 25% moong dal.
But I do 50-50!
Do not add a lot of water to grind the dal: just enough the grind them to a thick paste.
Don’t forget salt in batter: when grinding the batter, remember to add salt to it.
Beat the batter using stand mixer: very important to aerate the batter and for that I usually use my stand mixer.
You can use your hand mixer or even use a whisk and mix with your hands until batter looks fluffy.
Once whisked well, batter will change color and become lighter, look aerated and almost double in size.
To test if it’s done, drop some batter in a bowl full of water, the batter should float. Which means it’s light and airy and ready for frying.
Make equal sized bhalla by using a ice cream scoop: I use a mini ice cream scoop to drop bhalla into hot oil. This way they all are of similar size and I don’t have dip my hands into the batter either.
Heat oil at correct temperature: for the bhalla, the oil should be on medium heat. If too hot, the bhalle will become brown quickly but will be under-cooked from inside.
If the oil is cold, it will soak a lot of oil. So medium heat is what it needs to be.
Soak fried bhalle in warm water water for 15 to 20 minutes: once the bhallas are fried let them cool a bit and then dip them in warm (not lukewarm) water for 15 to 20 minutes.
The bhallas will increase in size and become really soft.
Then you squeeze water from each bhalla carefully by pressing between your palm and transfer to a container and add yogurt.
Freezing the Dahi Bhalla
These bhalla freeze so well and honestly I love this about them!
I often make a big batch (because I hate frying) so I will make a big batch one and then freeze them to use later.
To freeze, fry the bhallas and let them cool down completely.
Then transfer to a freezer bag, I line the bag with sheet of paper towel first.
Squeeze all the air out of the freezer bag and freeze. Oh and don’t forget to write down the date on the bag before you freeze it.
I have successfully frozen these for up to 2 months.
When you want to eat them, simply heat water in a pan and then add the frozen bhallas to the hot water.
Let it remain like that for 20 to 30 minutes. Then squeeze the water from the bhalla carefully by pressing between your palms and then dunk them in yogurt and follow the rest of the steps as it is.
I hope these tips will be helpful and you will give these dahi bhalla a try soon!
Method
1- Rinse the dals with water and soak overnight in 3 to 4 cups water.
2- In the morning, drain the water and transfer the drained dal to a blender along with 1/3 cup water (approx), salt and cumin seeds.
3- Grind the mixture to a smooth paste.
4- Then transfer the batter to a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. You can also use a hand mixer here or use your hands and mix with a whisk/spoon.
Beat at medium speed for 5 minutes (using the whisk attachment) until the batter doubles in size and becomes fluffy.
It will also become lighter in color. If mixing by hands, whisk for around 10 minutes.
5- To check if the batter is ready for frying, drop some of it in a jar of water, it should float which means it’s airy and ready to fry.
6- Heat oil in a kadai on medium heat. Oil should neither be too hot, nor too cold. If it’s too hot- bhalla will become brown quickly but will be raw from inside.
Once the oil is heated, use a ice cream scoop or use your hands to drop batter into the hot oil. Do not overcrowd the kadai, give enough space for the bhallas to fry.
7- Fry the bhalla on medium heat, stir often.
8- Fry until they turn golden brown, this will take around 8-9 minutes on medium heat. Remove fried bhalla on paper towel.
Repeat until all batter is finished.
9- Let the bhallas cool. Once cooled, add fried bhalla to warm water for 20 minutes. Bhalla will swell up and increase in size.
10- After 20 minutes, take each bhalla and squeeze gently between your palms to drain water, repeat with all the bhallas.
Meanwhile whisk 2 to 3 cups plain yogurt. Add little water or milk to thin it down.
11- Add bhalla to a bowl and then cover with the whisked yogurt.
Let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
12- Whisk the remaining 3 cups yogurt and add some salt and sugar to it. The yogurt should be thick but pouring consistency.
Take out the bhalla from the refrigerator, place each in serving tray.
Then pour the whisked yogurt all over. In total I used around 5 to 6 cups of yogurt here.
Sprinkle cumin powder, red chili powder and salt on top.
Top the dahi bhalla with cilantro chutney, sweet chutney, sev and serve! You may also garnish with pomegranate arils, cilantro.
If you’ve tried this Dahi Bhalla Recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram to see what’s latest in my kitchen!
Dahi Bhalla
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup urad dal dhuli 100 grams, split & dehusked black gram lentil
- 1/2 cup moong dal dhuli 100 grams, split & dehusked mung beans
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- water to grind the dal, approx 1/3 cup water
- oil to fry the vadas, I used canola oil
To serve
- 5-6 cups plain yogurt or you can use more to taste
- cilantro chutney to drizzle on top
- sweet tamarind chutney to drizzle on top
- cumin powder to sprinkle
- red chili powder to sprinkle
- salt to sprinkle
- sev optional, to sprinkle
Instructions
- Rinse the dals with water and soak overnight in 3 to 4 cups water.
- In the morning, drain the water and transfer the drained dal to a blender along with 1/3 cup water (approx), salt and cumin seeds.Grind the mixture to a smooth paste.
- Then transfer the batter to a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment. You can also use a hand mixer here or use your hands and mix with a whisk/spoon.Beat at medium speed for 5 minutes (using the whisk attachment) until the batter doubles in size and becomes fluffy.It will also become lighter in color. If mixing by hands, whisk for around 10 minutes.
- To check if the batter is ready for frying, drop some of it in a jar of water, it should float which means it's airy and ready to fry.
- Heat oil in a kadai on medium heat. Oil should neither be too hot, nor too cold. If it's too hot- bhalla will become brown quickly but will be raw from inside.
- Once the oil is heated, use a ice cream scoop or use your hands to drop batter into the hot oil. Do not overcrowd the kadai, give enough space for the bhallas to fry.
- Fry the bhalla on medium heat, stir often. Fry until they turn golden brown, this will take around 8-9 minutes on medium heat. Remove fried bhalla on paper towel.Repeat until all batter is finished.
- Let the bhallas cool. Once cooled, add fried bhalla to warm water for 20 minutes. Bhalla will swell up and increase in size.
- After 20 minutes, take each bhalla and squeeze gently between your palms to drain water, repeat with all the bhallas.
- Meanwhile whisk 2 to 3 cups plain yogurt. Add little water or milk to thin it down.Add bhalla to a bowl and then cover with the whisked yogurt. Let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- Whisk the remaining 3 cups yogurt and add some salt and sugar to it (to taste). The yogurt should be thick but pouring consistency.
- Take out the bhalla from the refrigerator, place each in serving tray.Then pour the whisked yogurt all over. In total I used around 5 to 6 cups of yogurt here.
- Sprinkle cumin powder, red chili powder and salt on top.Top the dahi bhalla with cilantro chutney, sweet chutney, sev and serve! You may also garnish with pomegranate arils.
Notes
- You may use 75% urad dal and 25% moong dal if you like more prominent flavor of urad dal in your bhalla.
- I haven't mentioned the amount of chutneys and all the garnishes since those are all to taste. Some people I know like lot of sweet chutney on their bhalla while some prefer it more spicy. So adjust that to taste.Â
- You can even add ginger or green chilies to the dal while grinding it.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is a great recipe. I added dry flour as the batter became too watery one time. And some chaat masala.
great! thanks for trying
Can these be baked instead of frying?
I would try appe pan instead of baking if you don’t want to deep fry
Hi Manali….Can I make it with whole white urad dal?
yes absolutely okay
I made this recipe yesterday and they turned out really good so thank you!! My only variation was to add finely chopped ginger and green chillies to the batter. This is my go to bhalla recipe from now on 😊
so glad!
When i was frying, the Bhalas were breaking and absorbing the oil. They were never round at all but instead crispy
Hi Nina, looks like the temperature of your oil was too low that’s why they were absorbing oil. Use a cookie scoop to make them round. You have to soak them in hor water, and then they become soft.
Hi I have already soaked my Dahi bhala in water and I want to use it after two days . Should I put it in fridge now or in the freezer ? Thanks
fridge now since you have soaked in water. For freezing, you have fry them after deep frying (once they have cooled down)
I have soaked all the ballas in water,now if i want to store the ballas,will i have to take it out from the water or will i store it with water?
now you can’t store them for long, now please take them out of water, squeeze water and dip them in yogurt (basically follow all the steps as mentioned). You can’t leave them in water for long. If you want to freeze, you have to freeze after frying and before dipping in water.
Delicious! Thank you for sharing.
I made the bhallas but they were hard, even after soaking them for 20 minutes, any tips?
Puja please read the entire post, I have given so many tips on making soft bhalla. Yours bhallas are hard because batter wasn’t aerated well. Please whisk more next time and to test drop some batter in water and check. It should float if it’s aerated.
Hi! I’m looking forward to trying this! I’m curious. Why do you cover the bhallas with yogurt and keep them in the fridge for 2 hours before adding more yogurt?
I like the flavors more when the bhalla soaks some yogurt before and then I put them in more yogurt. Up to you if you want to do the step or not.
Hey,
In my family we use urad dal only and when we blends we add a few garlic cloves for flavour. And there’s no whisking involved.
But the point here is how do you squeeze the badai and still keep them in a somewhat ball like shape? Mine always end up flat, very soft, but flat regardless of how gently I squeeze them.
In my house also, my mom used only urad dal. This is how my mother-in-law makes it and since I love her version more that’s the one I have shared there. I don’t know the secret behind the shape, maybe using an ice cream scoop to scoop the batter and whisking it so that it’s very aerated helps in the shape?
Hi Manali,
Do you know if daal powder can be used instead of the , would same ratio be applied if we were to use powder? Can’t wait to try it.
Thanks
I have not tested the recipe with Dal powder, so I can’t say sorry
Hi, Manali,
Thanks for your recipe, I cooked today and they came up beautifully awesome. This was the first time for me when I cooked this Dahi bhalla, which my kids really enjoyed it. Do you have some more something like this where I can give my kids all the veggies? You know ye Dil Mange more…and toda hai todey ke jarurat hai… thanks a ton for your recipe.
you can search the blog using search button! 🙂 glad you liked the dahi bhalla!
Madam/Sir
I would like to understand why the Dahi vada burst in oil, I come across with this. You also mentioned the same.
I will be happy to listen the cause and what precaution we should take as its dangerous event.
batter should be well aerated and don’t forget to add salt to the batter while whisking it (before frying).
Hi Manali,
I also faced the same problem and thought it was because I whisked too much? They kind of popped in oil. Any suggestions?
Thanks
for me that has only been once when I didn’t add salt to the batter but it can also happen when the batter has more water. Try to add as little water as possible while grinding the batter
Came our amazing! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
welcome! 🙂
Hi, I tried this recipe and the bhallas look good so far after frying. I made a big batch, so using some today itself and some after 4-5 days. Should I refrigerate for 4-5 days or freeze?
I would freeze
Sure, I will freeze too. We had Dahi bhalla in lunch and they were so soft and absolutely delicious. Thanks for a great recipe!
What’s your tip if I want to use them in a Papdi chaat?
I am not sure what kind of tip? If you mean recipe for bhalla papdi chaat then I don’t have it on the blog yet. Glad you liked them!
I tried them out and they were Just perfect!! thank you!
awesome!
The batter became thin..now what to do
batter has to be thick, you should add as little water as possible to grind the dal. Try adding rice flour now to thicken it up.
Superb recipe with excellent tips. Thanks a lot.
I screwed up on making the Wada’s from a different recipe – they were done from outside but were raw from inside. I landed here for answer and got that it’s due to the temperature of oil. Will try your recipe. Thank you!
I tried ur recipe and very good tips can me out very nice
awesome!
Thank you for the excellent tips ??
Thank you for the recipe !
Manali, tried your recipe and must say it turned out superb. Everyone relished the dahi bhallas ?
I made this and it turned out so good. Thanks for sharing your recipe
welcome 🙂
The bhallas turned out to be soft, just like they should be. Absolutely yum. ?
glad to know!