Name: Mangalore Bajji (Goli Baje)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 215 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: ¾ cup All-Purpose Flour, maida; 1 tbsp Rice Flour, for outer crispness; 6⅛ tbsp Indian-Style Yogurt, sour yogurt, slightly whisked; ¼ tsp Baking Soda, cooking soda, absolutely essential; 1 Green Chili Pepper, finely chopped; ½ tsp Ginger, finely grated; 1 tbsp Fresh Coconut, finely chopped into tiny bits (not grated); 5 Curry Leaves, finely chopped; ½ tsp Cumin Seeds; ½ tsp Sugar, aids in browning; ½ tsp Salt, to taste; ⅛ cup Water, adjust as needed for a thick, sticky batter; as needed Cooking Oil, for deep frying

3 hr 35 mintotal

35 min hands-on3 hr hands-off

Prep 20 min · Cook 15 min

Serves: 2
Difficulty: Easy
Spice: Mild

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Method

In a capacious basin, unify the heavily refined flour (maida), the crisping agent (rice flour), sugar, and salt.
Fold in the finely chopped chillies, grated ginger, finely diced coconut, shredded curry leaves and cumin seeds.
Add the baking soda. Pour the sour curd over the dry mixture straight away so it starts to fizz. Mix it in well.
Add water a little at a time, kneading well by hand, until you have a very stretchy, sticky mixture, somewhere between a dough and a batter. It should be much thicker than dosa batter but softer and slacker than chapati dough.
Use your hand as a whisk. Beat the batter hard in one direction only for 2-3 minutes to work as much air into it as you can.
2–3 min
Seal the vessel. Enforce a non-negotiable ambient resting and fermentation phase spanning a minimum of 2.5 to 3 hours.
2 hr 30 min–3 hr
Elevate your deep-frying lipid reservoir to a steady medium heat within a heavy kadhai. Prepare a water station to lubricate your digits.
With wet fingers, pull off small, lemon-sized pieces of the stretchy batter. Drop them gently into the hot oil. The baking soda makes them puff up at once into round balls.
Fry them steadily over medium-low heat. Keep moving them with a slotted spoon so they turn as they cook and colour to an even deep gold all over.
Extract from the oil only when the exterior shatters upon impact. Drain on heavy culinary paper.
Mandate immediate consumption.

How to tell it's done

A perfectly round, uniformly golden crust that is mildly crisp, giving way to an unimaginably soft, spongy, airy, and pillowy interior bursting with sweet coconut bites.

Getting it right

Tip

Frying on medium-low heat is absolutely critical. Because the batter is dense, high heat will turn the outside brown instantly while the inside remains a raw, sticky clump of flour.

What to serve it with

A legendary Udupi/Mangalore tea-time snack. Must be served with slightly sweet Coconut Chutney and Filter Coffee.

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