Baris (Sun Dried Spicy Black Gram Lentil Dumplings) for Indian Cooking Challenge

Hello friends,

First of all I want to thank Srivalli for allowing me to post this so late on 16th. As you all may know my husband and my older son have been sick for a week. They are almost to normal now. Thanks to all the wishes that came their way.

If you have never heard of Indian Cooking Challenge or participated in one, please check the link and go for it. It is such a great way to try new things which in normal way, you may not try as you may not know about it, or think it is complex or otherwise.

I have to tell you how much I loved the outcome. It was spicy and you could just smell it when it was being baked.

Baris (Sun Dried Spicy Black Gram Lentil Dumplings)

Ingredients
Urad/urd/urid or black gram dal, skinless - 2 1/4 cups
Cauliflower - 1.5 cups

Ginger - 1/2 cup

Green chillies or more - 3/4 cup

Cleaned coriander leaves, washed and drained - 1/2 cup

Black cardamom seeds, coarsely ground - 1/4 cup

Whole Panch Pooran - 1/4 cup

Coarsely ground red chillies - 3/4 cup

Coarsely ground black pepper - 1/3 cup

Fennel or sonf seeds, coarsely ground - 1/4 cup

Cloves, coarsely ground or pounded - 1.5 tbsp

Whole cumin seeds - 1.5 tbsp

Cumin powder - 1.5 tsp

Black cumin seeds - 1.5 tbsp

Mace powder - 1 tsp (I did not have and so could not use)

Nutmeg - 1/4 tsp, freshly grated

Asefoetida or hing powder - 1 tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Preparation

• Firstly, coarsely grind the urad dal and mix it well with water in a big enough bowl (make sure it is big as this is bowl where we will leave it to ferment and rise overnight).
• Once the whole batter is wet (not runnym, just wet), add about 1/2 cup water more to it and leave it still aside for couplke of hours (I left it for 2 hours).
• After couple of hours, scoop out a bit of batter from top, add asefoetida and no need to mix and pour the batter back. If the batter at this point is too dry and stiff, add about 1/4 cup more water.
• Leave the bowl still for fermenting overnight. It will also rise.
• Once it has fermented overnight, grind green chili, ginger and coriander and mix it well in batter along with everything else that is listed in ingredients list. Once mixed, it should be of scoopable consistency. If it is not, feel free to sprinkle some more water.
• Immediately grease a plate or cloth and scoop out batter little by little in bari shape (check my pic, if you have no idea how they look). You can place them real close to each other as they don't swell and rather shrink after drying up.
• Now comes the drying part, you can do it 2 way (and I tried both). (1), heat your oven to 275 degree F and bake your baris in that for 2 hours, with flipping then half way. (2) sun dry them (the traditional way) for 2-3 days depending on how much sun you get, till they are bone dry.
• Once all dried up, save them in dry place and if want to save them for future, feel free to bag them and freeze them :)

Serving
This can be used as a main ingredient in lots of curries, rice and stuffed paratha preparation. Wait for recipes to come using this.

That's all for now. Take care till next post.