Dahi Gujiya is a delicious and festive North Indian dish that is especially popular during Holi. It consists of deep-fried urad dal gujiyas (savory lentil dumplings) stuffed with nuts and spices and served with chilled, dahi (sweetened yogurt). It’s then garnished with tamarind chutney and spices.
Festivals are for special recipes and dahi gujiya is used to be a festival favorite in our home. My grandmother used to make them on Holi and Diwali. The lentil batter is shaped into how we shape sweet mawa gujiya shape but instead they are stuffed with a savory filling of chopped nuts, ginger, green chillies and raisins.
The soft and spongy gujiyas are a burst of tangy, spicy, sweet and salty. They take a few extra minutes than your usual dahi vada and the texture of chopped nutsin every bite is just heavenly.
The gujiyas are served topped with spiced yogurt, chaat spices such as roasted cumin powder and chaat masala and sweet tamarind chutney. You can add green chutney too.
If you do no want the stuff, you can use the recipe to make vadas as usual, minus the stuffing part, the recipe remains the same.
I soak the gujiyas in hing water for about 15-20 and that makes a lot of difference in their softness. You can make ahead and store them for 4-5 days easily. Just fry and keep in the fridge. When you are ready to swerve, soak them in hot water before plating.
Dahi Gujiya (Stuffed Dahi Vada)
Ingredients
For the Gujiyas
- 1 cup split white urad daal without skin
- ⅓ cup split yellow mung daal
- ¼ inch ginger
- 2-3 green chilies adjust to taste
- 5-7 black peppercorn
- ¼ teaspoon hing
- ½ teaspoon salt
For Nut Stuffing
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
- 2 green chillies
- 4 tablespoon cashews finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon raisins finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon chironji if available
For Spiced Yogurt
- 2.5 cup plain yogurt make sure its not too sour
- ¼ cup sugar adjust to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper powder
- ½ teaspoon red chili powder
- ½ tablespoon chaat masala
- 1 teaspoon kala namak
- ½ teaspoon roasted cumin powder
- Salt to taste
Toppings
- Sweet Tamarind Chutney to taste
- Green Chutney to taste
- Nylon Sev to taste
- Chopped Cilantro & Green Chilies to taste
- Pomegranate arils to taste
- Chaat Spices to taste)
Instructions
Soak & Grind The Lentils
- Place both the lentils in a large bowl and wash them a few times until the water runs clear. Soak them for not more than 5 hours. I usually soak them right in the morning , and make at noon. If you soak them for a long time, lentil fritters tend to become oily.
- Discard all the water from the lentils. Place them in the a high speed blender like Vitamix along with hing, black peppercorns, cumin seeds, green chillies and ginger. Start the blender slowly and then gradually increase the speed to medium.If you feel that the lentils need water to grind, add 1 tablespoon at a time. Don't go beyond 2-3 tablespoon, use a scraper to scrape the sides of the blender. Grind everything to a almost smooth batter.
- Transfer the ground lentils to a large wide bowl. Add salt. Start beating the ground lentils rigorously with your hands in a circular motion or use hand mixer to fluff the batter. To test if the lentils are fluffy, drop a tiny amount of ground lentils in the water in the small bowl, the batter should immediately float on the water. If the batter drops and settles at the bottom of water, you need to whip more.
Shaping the gujiyas
- Set 2-3 inches deeo oil in a large iron kadai or wide pan for heating up on medium low flame.
- Place a slightly thick piece of plastic (like a ziplock bag, don't use cling film) on a flat surface. Spread a few drops of water on the plastic. Take a lime sized portion of the lentil batter. Place it on the plastic.
- Dip your hands in little water and flatten the lentil batter into a 3 inch circle, do not spread very thin. Put ½ tablespoon of nut stuffing on one half of the circle (don't add too much). Lift the plastic and fold over the other half of the lentil circle to make a semi circle ( haf moon she). Using wet hands, press the ends to seal nicely and make the shape neater if you wish.
- To check the temperature of oil, drop a little lentil batter into the oil, if it sizzles and rises up immediately, oil is too hot, if it drops to the bottom, the oil is cold. Pick the shaped gujiya and carefully, peel the plastic away from the gujiya and place them in the oil. Fry the gujiyas in oil flipping once or twice till they are lightly golden on both sides.For making plain vada, you can drop little portions of lentil batter with a spoon in hot oil.
Soaking the gujiyas
- Place fried gujiyas in large bowl. Add ½ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon hing. Pour 3-4 cups of hot water. Press down with the help of a small plate (smaller than the diameter of the bowl). The more the area of the gujiyas will be soaked, they will be softer. Let them soak for about 20 minutes. They will become super soft and will fluff up slightly.
- Take them out of the water, gently press between palms of you hands to remove water. Refrigerate the gujiyas for at least 1.5 hours till the are chilled.
Spiced Yogurt
- While the gujiyas are chilling, you can make the yogurt and chutneys for topping. Whisk the yogurt to smooth using a whisk, add water to thin out per desired consistency and then mix with all the spices and sugar. Taste and adjust the spices as you wish. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Assemble & Serve
- In a dish, add about ¾ cup of yogurt that we made. Layer the chilled gujiyas in a single layer. Pour another ¾ cup of yogurt on top. Reserve the remaining yogurt for when serving. Chill everything in the fridge for 3-4 hours.Serve the chilled gujiyas as you wish with extra yogurt and chaat toppings.
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