Goli Baje.

I had seen this coming. Sonny declared with exasperation that he was done with the baking and eating cakes. He wanted something theek(spicy in konkani). That's the only konkani word he knows..:D And by theek, he meant all the Indian snacks that his brain could think of. Chakuli, sonte, kaara kaddi.....the list goes on. Not that I would prepare all of this back home. These are goodies which are freely available at any store. Also, a variety of snacks are available in many hotels, so there was indeed no need to break your head over preparation. 

Sonny's desire got me thinking. It is true that now being well versed with baking, I think I must have gone overboard. But to me, it is simple to bake a cake, healthier, and easier to pack it as a snack(in the muffin form). So, when Michelle's blog popped up with the goli baje post and the drooly pictures, I thought I would surprise my family for a change.

So, on the decided day, I informed hubby of what I was upto in the kitchen and informed him to come home early. It tastes heavenly to pop in the goli bajes into your mouth when piping hot than when it is stone cold(which is what the food turns to pretty soon in Deutschland). In between frying and constant calls to hubby dearest to get home as soon as possible, the goli baje's turned out to be such a hit that I had content children going to bed without any dinner, cause they had stuffed themselves with so many of these fried balls. Not to forget the glee on hubby's face too when served with these the kudla way!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flour(maida)
• 1/4 cup besan flour(chickpea)
• 1/2 cup plain yoghurt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp sugar,
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp finely chopped ginger
• 1 green chilly finely chopped
• 3 tbsp fresh coriander, finely chopped
• enough oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Sift the flour, besan, baking soda, salt and sugar.
2. Add the yoghurt, mixing well.
3. Now slowly whisk in the water, a little at a time, until the batter just heavily slides off a spoon.
4. Stir in the ginger, chilly and coriander leaves.
5. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes to 6 hours( mine sat for 7).
6. Heat enough oil for deep frying in a pan. The oil should be hot enough so that when batter is dropped in, it should quickly rise to the surface.
7. Drop in spoonfuls of batter, not too many at a time. Lower the heat as you do this.
8. Deep fry for seven to eight minutes until they are a light golden brown in color.
9. Use a slotted spoon to remove them gently from the pan and drain them on an absorbent kitchen paper.
10. Repeat until batter is used up.
11. Serve hot with a chutney(I didn't have the ingredients to whip up one) or ketchup along with a cup of hot tea!!!

A great snack to wipe away not only the winter blues also homesickness!!!!