Soft and juicy, buttermilk soaked savoury lentil doughnuts accompanied with flavourful and spicy potato curry is the literal definition of this dish. This Odia street food has taken the taste buds by storm all over. Read more to find out.
Dahibara Aloodum, the name by itself defines it. The Baras (Indian savoury donuts) are soaked in spiced buttermilk instead of yoghurt. While serving the Baras, they are slightly squeezed to drain the excess buttermilk out of it and then topped up with Aloo dum & Ghuguni, a beautiful white peas curry. There are other condiments like chopped onions, Sev (fried lentil crisps), Chopped green chillies with dry roasted cumin and dried red chillies. It can be considered as a dish that is extremely famous in Odisha and now all over India.
It is said that it was first made and sold at Bidanasi (old Cuttack), the vendors who were selling near Barabati Fort. The item soon widely spread around Cuttack and the whole state of Odisha. The dish is now popular throughout India. It has also got an award at National street food Festival 2020 held at New Delhi.
As a school student, I remember being so tempted to have this every time I crossed the Dahi Vada Aloo dum stall on my Bicycle. The Dahi Vada Aloo dum vendor would arrive at the designated spots pretty early in the morning at around 7:30 AM. There would be large aluminium containers (large rounded containers) tied to the bicycle handle. Two large Handis contain the Dahi-bara and Aloo-dum respectively. Then there will be one small size handi having the Ghuguni inside. The most special part of having a loyal vendor is the fact that he would give you extra Aloo dum every time you ask them. It’s very interesting to see how engaging some of the vendors are to the customers, I guess that is their way of doing a bit of marketing. It ends up being pretty entertaining while hogging on the spicy and mouth watering dish you get to have an elaborate chat with the vendor about politics, city development, his personal stories etc.
The dish is always served in a leaf bowl which is eco-friendly and pocket friendly. There are two portion sizes that you could choose from. A smaller portion would have five Baras in it in and the bigger portion would have 10. Depending on the sizes of the Baras, each vendor has their own version of portion sizes. It’s pretty healthy & filled with protein.
Let’s make it and know by ourselves.
Prep time | 8 hrs
Cooking time | 90-120 mins
Difficulty level | Intermediate - Advance
Aloodum Ingredients & Recipe
Ghuguni Ingredients & Recipe
Bara Ingredients & Recipe
Dahibara ingredients
Dahi/ Curd/ Yoghurt, 1 cup
Black salt to taste
Chilli flakes ½ tsp
Coriander leaves 2 tbsp, finely chopped
Water,8-9 cups
Additional ingredients (quantities can be according to individuals taste)
Chopped onions
Sev
Chopped green chillies
Roasted cumin & dried red chilli powder
After the Aloo dum and Ghuguni has been made, keep them aside. Now let’s prepare the Dahi Bara. Take 5-6 cups of water in a large bowl and soak the Baras in it. Let it soak for 10 to 15 minutes. By doing this method we will be eliminating excess oil from the Baras and prepare them To be soft in order to soak in all the spiced yoghurts flavours later on.
Add 1 cup of whisked yoghurt, in a separate large bowl. Add 4 cups of water to it. Then add black salt to taste, chilli flakes, coriander leaves and mix it well. Now squeeze the Baras out of the water to remove excess water from it and drop it into the buttermilk.
Removing the excess water is a critical step as it lets the Baras soak in buttermilk well and takes on the buttermilk’s flavours.
Let it soak for another 10 minutes.
As all other individual dishes are ready, now is the time to assemble the Dahibara Aloodum. In a soup bowl take 3/4 pieces of Dahibaras. You can drain a bit buttermilk out of it.
Now serve a large spoonful of Ghuguni on to it followed by 2 large spoonfuls of Aloodum onto it.
Sprinkle some chopped onions, sev, chopped green chillies and few pinches of roasted cumin and dried chilli powder.
There you go, Sumptuous bowlful of addictive goodness is ready for you to indulge. Let me know if you could resist with just one bowl. I bet, you can’t.
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