These fritters have to be without a doubt one of the most consumed snacks during Ramadan in the vast majority of Bangladeshi households, they’re called fiyazi/fiyaza in Bengali.

My family can munch on these moreish Dali Bora (Lentil Fritters) bites on any occasion and being my eldest brother’s favourite snack, I often prepare this along with a sauce when I have my family over. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, these mini delights are a real treasure! The amounts shown here make a large quantity suitable for entertaining guests, if you want to make some for yourself I’d suggest halving the amounts.

I honestly believe less is more when it comes to some recipes, this one being one of them. Many people add ground spices to their boras (fritters), indeed I used to but one day when I prepared them I didn’t add any, my family noticed the difference and preferred the taste. Since then I’ve stopped adding ground spices as the lentils really don’t need it due to the flavour of the onions, chilli and coriander being enough. You really appreciate the subtle and natural flavour of the lentils in this way. Fresh is always best but sometimes for practicality you can make a large batch and freeze some for later. I do this in two ways; sometimes I freeze the blended lentils in food containers for use another day, when I want to use this I defrost the night before and add fresh sliced onions, chillies and coriander. I normally do this during Ramadan when blending lentils everyday becomes tedious. Other times I make a large batch with all the ingredients and freeze in containers; this way there’s no need to add anything, simply defrost and use. For a variation on this recipe try adding a teaspoon of panch puran (indian five spice) to the lentils when blending or a stem of ginger, both of these taste great I can tell you! The only question to ask now is how will you eat yours?

Makes approximately 40 – 50 Dali Boras

You will need: for Dali Bora (Lentil Fritters)

1.5 cups of red split lentils (soaked for at least 2 – 3 hours)
2 medium onions
water (if needed to aid blending)
4 green chillies (more if you want it spicy)
1/3 of a bunch of coriander
1 – 1.5 tsp salt (or to your taste)
oil for frying

Method:

Soak 1.5 cups of lentils in water for at least 2 – 3 hours prior to use, they should expand in size before you proceed to blend them. Once they have expanded, wash them well till the water runs clear and leave in cold water.

Finely slice 2 onions and 1/3 of a bunch of coriander. When you slice the green chillies make sure you slice them into discs and then mince them with the knife till they look like the bottom right photo. I do this as it distributes the heat (chilli) evenly and means no one bites into a piece of spicy green chilli.

Drain the excess water from the lentils and blend in a blender/food processor till smooth. Only add water while blending if you need to, adding excess water isn’t a good idea as this makes the resulting batter very loose and prone to splitting in the hot oil. If you like a rougher crunchier texture, don’t blend the lentils too fine.

Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and add salt; I eye balled the amount here (I’d say 1 – 1.5 tsp), so add salt to your taste.

Mix the ingredients together and leave for at least 20 – 30 minutes before frying, this allows the onions to release water (from the addition of salt) and the flavours to fuse together. The bottom left photo shows you the water that was released from my batch after sitting for several hours, carefully drain this excess water away. If you don’t intend to use all of your lentil batter you may freeze half of it in a food container and defrost when you need to; it’s best to leave it defrosting the night before you intend to use it.

When you’re ready to fry, heat a large pan/wok with oil. Using fresh oil results in crispy tasty Dali Bora!

Prepare a colander with some kitchen towel to drain your Dali Bora on before you start! Using a colander as opposed to a bowl means the cooked Dali Bora remain crispy whilst several batches fry together before being served, I find when they’re placed in a bowl the steam causes them to become soft.

Carefully drop about 1 tsp of the Dali Bora mixture at a time into the oil and deep fry (use your hands or a spoon, I prefer using my hands). Fry them over a medium heat so that the inside cooks through till they are a golden brown colour on the outside. Transfer the cooked Boras onto some kitchen paper once cooked. I know some people will mould their Dali Bora into round balls or create a uniform shape, I much prefer randomness when it comes to cooking these; the random shapes get very crispy especially those bits of onion that just stick out!

 

Enjoy your Dali Bora with a bowl of sweet chilli sauce, ketchup or just as! These are perfect for Iftar during Ramadan, when entertaining guests or as a general snack.

Bon Appétit!!

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