Dahi bhalla is soft lentil dumplings in sweet, spiced yogurt. Urad dal is soaked, ground into a thick batter, whisked until light, fried, soaked in water, squeezed, and then covered with chilled yogurt, tamarind chutney, green chutney and a dusting of cumin and chilli.
One thing decides whether it works: air in the batter. A batter that has been whisked until a drop floats in water fries into a bhalla that drinks up the yogurt. A batter that sinks gives you a dense, rubbery ball, and no amount of soaking fixes it afterwards.
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Recipe
Dahi Bhalla (Soft Lentil Dumplings in Spiced Yogurt)
Ingredients
For the bhallas
For soaking
For the yogurt
To finish
Method
- Rinse the urad dal, and the moong dal if using, until the water runs clear. Soak in plenty of water for at least 5 hours, or overnight.
- Drain well. Grind with the ginger, green chilli and salt, adding the cold water a spoonful at a time, until the batter is smooth and thick enough to hold its shape on a spoon. Stir in the cumin seeds.
- Whisk the batter hard in one direction until it turns paler and fluffy: about 5 minutes with an electric whisk, or 10 by hand. Drop a little into a glass of water. If it floats, it is ready; if it sinks, whisk for another minute and test again.
- Heat the oil over medium heat. Drop in spoonfuls of batter with a wet hand or spoon, without crowding the pan. Fry for 8 to 10 minutes, turning often, until golden all over and cooked through.
- Stir the salt and hing into the warm water. Add the fried bhallas and soak for about 20 minutes, until they swell and turn pale.
- Whisk the yogurt with the water or milk, sugar and salt until completely smooth.
- Lift out one bhalla at a time and press it gently between your palms to squeeze out the water without breaking it. Arrange them in a serving dish.
- Pour the yogurt over to cover. Chill for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours.
- Just before serving, drizzle with tamarind and green chutney, and sprinkle with cumin powder, chilli powder, chaat masala and coriander.
What dahi bhalla is
Dahi bhalla is a chaat: fried urad dal dumplings served cold in yogurt with sweet and sour chutneys. Dahi is yogurt and bhalla is the dumpling. Every recipe compared for this page builds it the same way, in layers, so each spoonful carries soft dumpling, cool yogurt, tangy tamarind and a little heat.
It is eaten cold or at room temperature, never hot. Pakistani recipes regularly present it as a Ramadan dish for iftar, set out beside fried snacks such as chicken pakora, because it is made hours ahead and waits in the fridge until sunset.
Dahi bhalla, dahi vada and dahi baray: the same dish?
Yes. Dahi bhalla, dahi vada, dahi bhalle and dahi baray are names for the same yogurt-soaked lentil dumpling. Pakistani recipes tend to say dahi bhalla or dahi baray; Food Fusion, for one, titles its recipe dahi baray. Indian recipe sites such as Hebbar’s Kitchen and Swasthi’s Recipes lead with dahi vada and give dahi bhalla as the second name.
The recipes do differ in the lentils. Some use urad dal alone, some add moong dal, and some Pakistani versions add chana dal and baking powder. Those are variations of one dish, not separate dishes, and the method below covers all of them.
What dahi bhalla is made of
Dahi bhalla is made of three parts, and each one can be prepared on its own schedule.
- The bhallas: soaked urad dal, ground with ginger, green chilli and salt, with cumin seeds stirred in. Moong dal is an optional addition for a softer crumb.
- The yogurt: plain yogurt whisked smooth with a little water or milk, sugar and salt. It should be pourable, like thick cream.
- The toppings: tamarind chutney (imli), a green chutney of mint and coriander, ground roasted cumin, red chilli powder, chaat masala and chopped coriander.
The sweetness is a matter of taste rather than rule. The recipes compared range from 2 teaspoons of sugar for 4 cups of yogurt to well over a quarter cup. The card gives 3 to 5 tablespoons with 4 as the default, which sits between the lightest and the sweetest.
The step most people get wrong
Under-whisking the batter is the mistake that makes hard bhallas. After grinding, beat the batter in one direction until it turns paler, looks fluffy and has visibly grown. Cook with Manali gives 5 minutes with a whisk attachment or about 10 by hand; Tea for Turmeric whisks for 1 minute in a stand mixer on medium-high.
Then test it. Drop a little batter into a glass of water. If it floats, it is ready to fry. If it sinks, whisk for another minute and test again. This float test appears in most of the recipes compared, because it is the only reliable check before the oil.
Two smaller things decide the rest. Add the grinding water a spoonful at a time: a runny batter will not hold air and spreads flat in the oil. And fry over medium heat, not high. Tea for Turmeric puts that at 160 to 170°C (320 to 340°F); at that heat the outside turns golden over 8 to 10 minutes while the centre cooks through. On high heat the crust browns in two minutes and the middle stays raw.
Dahi bhalla, step by step
Soak the dal for at least 5 hours, or overnight.- Grind it to a thick, smooth batter with very little water.
- Whisk until light, then check that a drop floats.
- Fry over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden.
- Soak in warm salted water, then squeeze gently between your palms.
- Cover with sweetened yogurt and finish with chutneys and spices.
Soaking and squeezing the bhallas
Soak the fried bhallas in warm salted water for about 20 minutes, until they swell, turn pale and feel heavy. The published times run from 15 to 30 minutes. This step washes out excess oil and opens the crumb so the yogurt can get in.
Squeeze each one gently between flat palms, the way you would press water from a sponge without tearing it. It should flatten slightly and stay whole. A bhalla that breaks apart when pressed was either too wet as a batter or soaked too long.
Home style and the shorter routes
The method on the card is the long, home-style route: soaked dal, ground fresh, whisked by hand or machine. It takes planning but nothing difficult.
Baking powder. Tea for Turmeric and Patel Brothers both add baking powder to the batter for extra lift. It makes the float test easier to pass. What you lose is a little of the clean lentil flavour, and the bhallas can turn spongy rather than tender if you add too much.
No frying. Ministry of Curry cooks the batter in a paniyaram (appe) pan with a little oil, about 4 to 5 minutes on the first side and 3 to 4 on the second. The dumplings are lighter on oil but denser, with a flat side, and they take the yogurt up less evenly.
Mixed dal. Moong dal alongside the urad makes the bhallas softer and slightly less springy. Cook with Manali uses equal amounts; Hebbar’s Kitchen uses a quarter as much moong as urad, which is the quantity on the card.
Serving dahi bhalla
Serve dahi bhalla chilled. Tea for Turmeric rests the dressed bhallas for at least 30 minutes; Cook with Manali and Ministry of Curry chill them for 2 to 3 hours. The longer rest gives a softer bhalla all the way through.
Add the chutneys and spices just before serving, not before chilling, so the colours stay separate on the white yogurt. Thin sev, chopped onion and boondi are common extras on top.
On a Ramadan table it sits alongside heavier dishes like haleem, and something sweet such as zarda to finish.
Make ahead and storage
The bhallas are the part to make ahead. Fry them earlier in the day and keep them dry, then soak and dress them a few hours before serving. Tea for Turmeric also gives instructions for freezing fried bhallas when making a double or triple batch.
Dressed dahi bhalla is a dairy dish and belongs in the fridge. The USDA advises refrigerating perishable food within 2 hours and eating leftovers within 3 to 4 days. In practice the bhallas keep softening in the yogurt, so it is best on the day it is made or the next.
Questions people ask
How do you make bhallas soft?
Whisk the batter until a drop floats in water, fry over medium heat rather than high, and soak the fried bhallas in warm water for about 20 minutes before squeezing them. Each of those three steps adds softness; skipping any one of them gives a firm, chewy bhalla.
Why are my dahi bhallas hard?
Hard bhallas almost always come from a batter that was not whisked enough, or one that was ground with too much water and could not hold air. Frying on high heat makes it worse, because the crust sets before the inside has risen.
Can I make dahi bhalla without frying?
Yes. Ministry of Curry cooks the same batter in a paniyaram pan with a little oil. The result is lighter on oil but denser, so give them a full soak and a longer rest in the yogurt.
Should the bhallas go into the water hot or cooled?
Both work and the recipes differ. Tea for Turmeric moves them straight from the oil to the water; Cook with Manali lets them cool first. Either way, soak them for about 20 minutes and squeeze gently.
How long does dahi bhalla keep?
Keep it in the fridge and eat it within a day or two for the best texture. The USDA limit for refrigerated leftovers is 3 to 4 days.
