Receta Rosh bora / drunken lentil fritters for Holi
H A P P Y H O L I
Though Bengali sweets are particularly known for milk based desserts, sweets like rosh bora hardly makes any statement in the huge array of more complicated and evolved chhena mishti. In my home rosh bora makes its annual appearance mostly during Holi and through the years it has gained a permanence among the wide display of sweet and savory platter.
Rosh bora / drunken lentil fritters for Holi Author: Sukanya Ghosh Recipe type: Dessert Cuisine: Indian
Urad dal (split) / Black husked lentils : 1 cup Fennel seeds : ½ tsp Cardamom pods (green) : 4-5 Salt : a pinch Sugar / date palm / jaggery : 1 cup Water : 1½ cup Oil for deep frying
Wash and soak the urad dal overnight or atleast 5-6 hours. If the water is fermneted enough (you will see lots of foam collects on its surface) it will make super spongy fritters. Grind the dal to a fine paste by adding little (approx 1 tsp water) or no water. Roast the fennel seeds and grind them coarsely. Add it to the dal paste. You can add pinch of cardamom powder also. Add just a pinch of salt to the paste and give it a nice swirl. Take a saucepan, add sugar or jaggery and water. Bring it to a gentle boil and reduce the flame. Keep stirring ocassionally till the syrup thickens slightly. Syrup should be on watery side and not thicken enough to coat the back of the spoon. Keep the syrup warm. In a deep frying pan, heat enough oil to fry the lentil fritters. Once the oil is heated enough, lower the heat and try to maintain a constant temperature. Scoop a tablespoon of batter and put it in hot oil. Do not overcrowd the pan. Fry the fritter on lower heat and fry till it turn golden brown from all sides. Drain the oil from fritters on a tissue paper and dunk them immediately in warm syrup. Repeat the steps till the batter last. Once the fritters soaked enough syrup, place them in a separate bowl. If the fritters drink too much syrup. it will become soggy and will break. Add extra syrup only if it requires at all. 3.2.2929
Rosh meaning syrup and bora meaning fritters in Bengali and their cosmic union makes a wonderful simple homely dessert sweet. Dessert is more flowery word and this dish is not. The split urad dal (black husked lentils) when soaked overnight, slightly fermented produces this rich creaminess which goes onto make super spongy fritters, primed enough to be dunked in sugary syrup. Try date syrup for a change or our very own nolen gur but I will give saffron a deliberate miss here, as it will add a shahi flavor to the dish and it might lost its pure and rustic innocence.