Ram Ladoo/Moong dal  Pakoda Chaat

I believe this is a chaat from the streets of Delhi.  I have never been there nor had this till date.  When I was browsing some channels on street food, I came across this.  The name said ladoo and it was a chaat.  That drew my attention and searched up a little bit on this.  After searching different methods of making this chaat, here is my version :-)
If you are from Delhi or have had this chaat and feel this is not the authentic Ram Ladoo, please pardon me 😬 I am open to trying variations so do leave a comment if you have any :-)
However, I personally loved this chaat and recommend you to try

Preparation Time - 4-6 hrs for soaking
Cook Time           - 30 mins
Serves                  - 3 to 4

Measurements & Ingredients:

For the Pakoda:

Mung beans/Moong dal/ Hesaru bele - 1 cup(before soaking)
Ginger                              - ~1.5 tsp grated
Green chilies                    - 2 (or as spicy as you want)
Salt                                   - to taste
Eno fruit salt (no flavour) - 1 tsp (optional)
Oil                                     - enough to deep fry

For the topping:

Radish                   - 1 or as needed
Coriander leaves    - a handful
Black Salt               - as needed
Chaat masala          - as needed
Green chutney        - as needed
Sweet chutney        - as needed
Curd/yogurt            - as needed

Method:

Soak the moong dal for at least 4 hours.  Drain all the water out and grind it into a smooth paste along with green chilies and ginger.  Add maybe just a couple of Tbspn of water if needed.  We want a thick batter and not a watery one.







To this add salt and Eno fruit salt.  When you mix you will see the batter turns light and fluffy.  Do not over mix.











Mix and make tiny pakodas(bite size) by deep frying them in hot oil.

While the pakodas are frying in oil, grate the radish and squeeze out the water.  We do not need the radish water for this chaat.  Chop the cilantro and mix it with the grated radish and keep it aside.  Beat the yogurt/curd to have a smooth pouring consistency.  

To plate - arrange a few of these pakodas, top it with the radish-cilantro mixture, a little of the curd, top it with green chutney, sweet chutney and sprinkle a little black salt and chaat masala.







Ta-Da!! Your Ram Ladoo is ready to be served....or eaten...😊

Notes:

• If you do not have Eno fruit salt, add baking soda.  
• Eno fruit salt or baking soda is optional.  It will absorb quite a bit of oil when frying.  But the pakodas will be crispy and light.
• Do not skip the radish.  Trust me, I was really wondering how would it taste in a chaat.  But it blends so well that...ohh.. you should experience that feeling...rather than me trying to explain :-)
• Making bite size pakodas made the dish more enjoyable I felt, instead of it being bigger in size like a bonda or regular pakoda.

Eggless Waffles

Preparation time - 5 mins
Cook Time         - approx. 4 mins for each waffle
Makes                - 4 waffles

Measurements & Ingredients:

All purpose flour(Maida) - 1.5 cups
Salt                                   - 1/4 tsp
Oil                                    - 3 Tbspn
Baking powder                - 3 tsp
Baking soda                     - < 1/2 tsp
Sugar                                - 2 tsp
Warm milk                       - 1.5 cups

Method:

Mix all the dry ingredients - Maida, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and keep aside.

In another bowl, mix the oil and warm milk and to this add the dry ingredients mixture and gently mix preferably using a whisk to get a lump free mixture, but do not over do the mixing.  Because of adding the baking powder and baking soda, you could see the air bubbles in the batter.

You should be getting a batter of thickness like that of somewhere in between dosa batter and idly batter.

Now pre-heat the waffle maker.  Once it is pre-heated, grease the maker with some oil and pour a cup full of batter in the middle and let it spread out by itself.











Close the waffle maker and let it cook till it is ready.


Serve with powdered sugar!








Notes:

• You can use 1/2 maida and 1/2 whole wheat flour or totally substitute with whole wheat flour.  I have tried with whole wheat flour as well, the taste was still good except for the fact that I felt it was denser.
• You can substitute oil with butter
• Do not beat the batter, just mix only enough to mix liquids and dry ingredients well.
• Each waffle maker has it's own temperature setting so please check the user manual for your waffle maker.
• A few other serving suggestions are maple syrup, honey, chocolate syrup, banana or blue berries, whipped cream.
• Do not fill the batter up to the brim because it will overflow as we have added baking powder and baking soda.