Indian
Gluten freeDehrori
Fried rice and curd dumplings
Chhattisgarh's festive fried rice-and-curd dumplings (देहरौरी) soaked in cardamom syrup (plus 6 hours soaking and overnight resting)
Dehrori is the sweet Chhattisgarhi families make for Diwali, Holi and weddings, and it tastes like no other syrup sweet: soaked rice is ground coarse, left to sour gently with curd, then fried in ghee and dropped into cardamom syrup. The fermentation gives it a faint tang and a light, spongy crumb under a crisp shell, a little like a rustic cousin of rasbhari or gulab jamun. Grandmothers judge the batch by how well the dumplings hold their shape in the syrup. Chef's tip: grind the rice to the texture of fine semolina, not a smooth paste; that grain is what keeps dehrori light.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Serves
- 8
- Per serving
- 320 kcal
Ingredients
For the dumplings
- 7 oz raw short-grain ricesoaked 6 hours
- 3 ½ oz plain yogurtslightly sour
- ¼ tsp ground cardamom
- 2 cups gheefor frying
For the syrup
- 10 ½ oz sugar
- 1 cup water
- 4 green cardamom podscrushed
- 2 tbsp almonds or cashews (optional)slivered
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Drain 7 oz raw short-grain rice well and grind it with 3 ½ oz plain yogurt, in pulses, to a thick, gritty batter like fine semolina. Add no water unless the blender stalls.
Step 2: Cover and leave in a warm place for 6 hours or overnight, until the batter smells pleasantly sour and has a few small bubbles. Beat in ¼ tsp ground cardamom with a spoon for a minute to aerate it.
360 minStep 3: Boil 10 ½ oz sugar, 1 cup water and 4 green cardamom pods on medium for 7–8 minutes to a sticky one-string syrup. Keep warm.
8 minStep 5: Fry for 6–7 minutes, turning, until evenly golden and crisp on the outside. If they brown in under 4 minutes the heat is too high and the centres will be raw and dense, the most common fault.
25 minStep 6: Drain and drop straight into the warm syrup. Soak for 15–20 minutes until they swell and turn glossy, then lift out. Scatter with 2 tbsp almonds or cashews and serve warm or at room temperature.
20 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 320 kcal
- Protein
- 4 g
- Carbs
- 58 g
- Fat
- 9 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does dehrori take?
- About 70 minutes in total: 30 minutes to prepare and 40 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of raw short-grain rice?
- Any long-grain rice, same amount.
- What can I use instead of plain yogurt?
- Sour cream or buttermilk, same amount.
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