Bread Dahi-vada

Healthy Dahi-vadas! Sounds like an oxymoron? Certainly not! Unlike what you may be thinking, this one does not call for frying, or standing at the frying pan, sweating bullets for hours at end (I so hate to stand in front of a frying pan and that too during summers; its akin to physical torture if you asked me). The first time I had it was when I was about 10-12 yearrs old, when Nani made some for me during one of my summer holidays. I was begging for a second helping in no time and because of the astonishing speed at which I had devoured my first, I was sporting a cute li’l white mush from the curd on my upper lip, and looked like a kitten with its tiny whiskers soaked in milk! I really miss summer vacations at Nani’s…sigh!

This is such an easy-to-make dish, that too in a jiffy. Im positive you all will love it! Read on…

Ingredients:

• Unsliced Bread (salted) – 1 loaf
• Thick Curd – 1/2 litre
• Red Chilli powder, Jeera powder, Amchur powder, Kala Namak, Chat powder – 1/2 tsp each
• Sugar – 2 tsps (preferably powdered, so it dissolves easily)
• Salt – to taste
• Cilantro/Coriander – a handful, finely chopped
• Carrots – 2 nos (medium sized, grated)
• Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
• Asafoetida – a pinch
• Oil – 1/4 tsp (for tadka)
• Spicy boondhi/sev – 2 cups (to garnish)

Note: If you are unable to procure unsliced bread, dont fret! Cut off the browned edges/crust from all sides of each slice, and cut each slice into 4 pieces (make one horizontal half and a vertical half). Follow the same method as below, but arrange the bread and curd in alternate layers. Put one layer of curd at the bottom, then one layer of bread pieces, then another layer of curd and so on, till you get about 5 layers of bread and curd.

Serves: 4 persons

Method:

• Remove the crust from all sides of the loaf.
• Once you are left with only the white portion of the bread, dice into 2″ cubes and keep aside. Work very delicately with the bread, taking care not to crush it.
• If the bread is very hard, soak in a shallow plate of lukewarm water about 1/2″ to 3/4th” high. Allow to soak for 5 minutes. Lightly squeeze out the excess water from each piece, taking care not to crush the bread and keep aside. You can completely skip this step if you get fresh, soft bread.
• In the meanwhile, whisk the thick curd lightly till it gets a smooth texture. Do not add any water to it.
• Make a tempering of the mustard seeds along with asafoetida.
• Add the tempering, salt, sugar, red chilli powder, jeera powder, amchur powder, kala namak, half of the finely chopped cilantro to the beaten curd, and stir well to incorporate all the spices.
• Now, take a wide, flat dish and pour 1/3rd of the masala curd at the bottom.
• Place the bread pieces one by one in the flat dish.
• Pour the remaining masala curd over the bread pieces, ensuring all the pieces are doused in the masala curd.
• Allow to sit in the refrigerator for about 1 hour so the bread pieces can soak in the flavours.
• Garnish with the remaining finely chopped cilantro, grated carrot, spicy boondi/sev and serve chilled for a refreshing, healthy snack!

This one is going to Padmajha’s ‘No-cook’ Event. Padmajha, here’s one more for you!