Goli baje/Mangalore Bajji/Mangalore bonda

Goli baje/Mangalore Bajji/Mangalore bonda

Goli baje is a popular tea time snack of Udupi, Mangalore region. Goli baje are super light, deep fried fritters that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They're spicy & sweet at the same time. They're usually served with a spicy coconut chutney on the side but they are so delish that you won't need a chutney along with it.

Mom's makes awesome awesoe goli bajo super light, airy, soft on the inside, crispy & crunchy on the outside. So light & so delicious. She can give all restaurants a good run for their money.

These fritters are also known as Mangalore bajji/Mangalore bonda in Bangalore. As kids we loved saying 'nale raje, goli baje, teacherige hathu baje'. :-) It’s a kannada slang that roughly translates to ‘tomorrow’s a holiday, so we’ll make some goli baje and give our teacher 10 extra, for giving us a holiday’, not literally though. 

Ingredients

  • 1 cup gram flour
  • 1 cup plain flour (maida)
  • 6-7 Green chilies
  • Salt to taste
  • A pinch of asafoetida
  • 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds
  • 1/2 cup sour curds/buttermilk - The more sour they are, the better.
  • 1-2 tablespoons of sugar 
  • 1 inch of fresh ginger 
  • A pinch of baking soda
  • 2 twigs of curry leaves
  • Oil for deep frying

Serves: 3-4

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes    

Preparation Method:

1. Sieve both the flours separately to avoid any clump formation while making the batter and keep them aside. 

2. Finely chop green chillies, ginger and then smash them well using a mortar & pestle.

3. Add crushed green chillies, ginger into a mixing bowl. Add in sugar, salt, sour curds/buttermilk, baking soda, cumin seeds, chopped curry leaves, asafoetida melted in a tablespoon of water and stir well such that the sugar dissolves in the curds/buttermilk.

If the curds/buttermilk added isn't sour enough then add in half a lemon's, lemon juice to the mixture in the bowl and mix well.

4. Once the sugar dissolves, add in the sieved flours and mix well.

5. Add water if required to get the batter to the desired consistency. The batter should be between dripping thin and thick consistency.

If the batter’s watery it’ll disintegrate the moment it’s dropped into oil and won’t hold shape. If the batter's too thick then you'll get dense, heavy goli baje instead of super light goli baje. The batter should be of medium consistency such that it drops off your finger tips and won’t stay sticking to your fingers.

If the batter’s runny then add in extra maida - plain flour so that the watery batter gets a little thick. If the batter’s watery then your goli baje will absorb more oil too on deep frying.

6. Keep the batter aside for half an hour so that it ferments a little and becomes super light and fluffy on deep frying. Even if your are in a hurry do keep the batter aside for a minimum of 10-15 minutes. The flavours then combine well into the flours.

7. After the resting period of 30 minutes, heat oil for deep frying.

8. Add in 2 tablespoons of hot oil to the batter kept aside for crispy goli baje and give the batter a good mix.

9. Then drop in a few tennis ball sized batter into the hot oil using your finger tips. The oil has to be rolling hot.

The batter has to puff up and rise to the top of the oil the moment it hits the hot oil. The oil has to be that hot. If not please wait for few minutes for it to heat up.

10. Fry goli baje on medium flame until they are uniformly golden brown in colour.

11. Transfer fried goli baje onto a blotting paper to get rid of excess oil.

12. Serve hot goli baje with ginger-garlic-coconut chutney or with any spicy coconut chutney. You can also have these fritters as-is. They taste yum!

13. As goli baje cools down, they lose their crispiness, lightness and tend to become soggy and heavy. So, enjoy them while they are hot.

A perfect tea time snack!

Side note: 

1. Add sugar according to your liking, depending on how sweet you want your goli baje to be.

2. If your using flours off the fridge then please keep them outside a couple of hours earlier (atleast before 3 hours) or else goli baje's tend to become dense and chewy.

Find more Udupi, Mangalorean tea time snack recipes here.

Tags: Udupi cuisine, Mangalore food, Tea time snack, deep fried fritters, goli baje, Mangalore bonda, Mangalore bajji, Konkani cuisine, Konkani food, Konkani recipe

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