Urad Dal Badi

Badi is a Bengali preparation of making dry nuggets out of soaked and ground batter of different kinds of lentils. It is pronounced as 'Bodi' or 'Bori' in Bengali and generally, these are known as Vadi in other parts of India, and this age-old tradition is followed in West Bengal where Badi making is very famous in every rural household.These can be prepared with Moong Dal, Urad Dal, Masoor Dal, Chana Dal etc. There are varieties of Badis prepared by every Bengali household such as the Plain Badi, Masala Badi (Masala=spicy), Goyna Badi (Goyna=designer), Phool Badi (Phool=flower), Bodo Badi (Bodo=big) etc.

Badi is a traditional method of making lentil dumplings and drying them under the sunlight. It is the oldest way to bring all the female group in the house together at a place to put the lentil dumplings in a mat/cloth/ aluminium utensils under the sunlight. Usually, the terrace or the big verandah is chosen where women make a big circle and they gossip to the fullest while putting the dumplings/small balls. This traditional method of making Badi is still carried on in each and every household in the Eastern part of India such as West Bengal, Orissa, Assam so on. Even the city dwellers have not given up this method of making Badi at their narrow verandahs or common terrace in an apartment.

Badis on mat under the sun

We also get readymade lentil dumplings in the grocery/provision stores in Kolkata markets, and these readymade Badi in the sense are nothing but women from the rural areas make them and then supply to the traders. There are small-scale industries in the rural places or in the suburbs of the city, which enhance this household tradition so that people whenever they want them readymade, can buy immediately from the shop because city dwellers are usually busy with the day long hectic schedules. Overall to keep the traditional Bengali cuisines alive in the nuclear families, the Badi in the markets are always available and serve as the best option. On the contrary, the modern household has slowly forgotten this traditional method, obliterating to the present fast pace of livelihood people do not have so much time or patience to spend on making the dumplings and it also needs a little bit of labor.

Few households still use the homemade Badi for the traditional Bengali recipes such as Shukto, Chorchoda, Kadhi or evenly used for any kind of recipes for that matter. The joint families where Grandmother is the ablest individual who continues the tradition of Badi making and also she patiently make these Badis every year, preserve them in a big container for the entire year, few she distributes to her daughter or son living in different places to carry the legacy of supreme taste in the Bengali recipes. Many housewives even in today's modernization have continued learning this traditional art of making Badis from their mothers or Grandmothers. This process of making dry Badis are usually done during the winter season when women soak themselves under the warm sun in the cold season, also enjoy making the Badis with their hand.

There are modern techniques that have come into the market to make Badis, but the way our ancestors used to spend their time and put their love into making those Badis were beyond any description. These age-old process of making Badis can still be kept alive with this generation next. So I'm going to share the easiest method to make these Badis at your house or even at a very small place where there is a sunlight availability for at least 3-4 hours a day.

Tips: Using market available vessels to put Badis can give you the best result. They are known as 'Chong' in Bengali.

[Veg]

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Making Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 60 minutes

Cuisine: Indian/ Bengali

Measuring Items: 1 cup = 150 ml; Tablespoon (tbsp)

Ingredients:

1. Urad Dal (Split Black gram) - 600 grams ( about 1.5 cups)
2. Ginger - 2 inch
3. Cumin (jeera) powder - 6 Tbsp
4. Salt - 3 tbsp
5. Mustard oil- 1 cup

Method:

How to prepare ‘Urad Dal Badi’ with step by step pictures and instructions-

1. Soak Urad dal overnight.
2. Rinse with water properly and drain the water.

   

   Urad Dal

3. In a mixer grinder, take a handful of urad dal, little ginger and half a cup of water. (Blend dals batch-wise or else if you blend all together it may not give a smooth batter)
   
   
   
   
4. Blend it into a smooth paste (keep adding water little by little to make a fine paste, because urad dal is very thick and sticky).
   
5. Grease the aluminium utensils with a spoonful of mustard oil and put the plates under the sunlight before you start putting the dumplings.
6. Put the blended paste in a large bowl/ thali, add jeera powder and salt. Spread the batter over a thali and keep whipping until it gives a puffy texture (at least for 8-10 minutes).
     
7. Now slowly take a handful of the batter, make a fist and from the gap of your thumb and index finger, put the dumplings in small portions.
   

There is another way to put these dumplings. Although there are many modern technology, however, what's my work without an Art. So I thought of a homely method to put these dumplings easily. It's a typical home-based method out of the things that you get in your house. You would just need an empty toothpaste tube, an empty milk packet and a rubber band, and of course a scissor for cutting.

1. First, take the toothpaste tube and cut it near the mouth of the tube.
   
2. Wash the empty milk packet, cut and open one side of the packet. And a little hole at one corner of the other side.
    
3. Insert the tube's mouth in the milk packet and tie it with the rubber band.
   
4. Now pour in the Badi batter inside the milk packet, and enclose the open end of milk packet with your palms.
   
5. Now start putting the Badi dumplings in a little amount by slightly pressing down towards the mouth.
   

That's how you can easily put the Badis, and can finish putting nearly 200 Badis within half an hour.

Paromita Pramanick ©2018. All Rights Reserved.