Bhakharwadi
Bhakharwadi is one of the popular snacks in some parts of India. It’s made with chickpea flour dough filled with spicy, sweet, savory, sour filling shaped into spirals and deep fried to perfection. The filling is made form coconut, sesame seeds, fennel seeds, spices toasted and ground into slightly wet paste. It’s spicy at the same time sweet and tamarind or lemon juice adds slight sourness. Such a prefect snack to have with a cup of tea or coffee.
Anytime I visit India, or someone is visiting us, I ask them to bring me some Bhakharwadi. It’s one of my most favorite snack. It’s ideally deep fried but I wanted to experiment baking it to avoid frying and to make slightly heathier. I cannot wait to show the recipe because it came out so perfect. It’s crispy and the filling is perfect in all sense.
I could have added a little more spice and sugar, but I wanted it to be less spicy so others can also enjoy. I would suggest when you try this recipe, please taste the filling and adjust according to your liking. You might find this snack in lot of places throughout India but its popular in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
There are two variations available in this snack. One is bigger in size with wet filling and the other one is tiny sized, and the filling is drier version.
The recipe might sounds daunting but seriously it comes out easily then you can imagine.
- Make dough and let it rest
- Make filling and let it cool down, grind it.
- Assembling and shaping them
- Deep frying or baking them
Tips to keep in mind
- Make a stiff dough, so use less water and see how it holds up. Don’t add all the water at the same time. Let the dough rest for at least 20-30 minutes.
- For the filling – roast them lightly, be careful not to burn it. Don’t grind it too much and make paste. You want a coarse filling. That way you can taste a little bit of coconut, sesame seeds, fennel seeds. I reserve a little bit of some of the filling stuff on side and added it once I ground up rest as I wanted to some texture to it.
- While shaping it, slightly press the dough on top after filling and rolling the dough. You want them to flat look not round. Don’t press on them once you have cut into spirals.
- I oiled each one lightly with oil before baking. It gives it some shine and they don’t look dry.
- Let them cool down completely and then store it on an air-tight container.
Bhakharwadi
Ingredients
Dough
- 3/4 cup Chickpea flour fine variety
- 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup Whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp oil
- ¼ cup water
Filling
- ¼ tsp coriander seeds
- ½ cup dry roasted coconut shreds
- 1 ½ tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 ½ tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 3 big cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 inch ginger, chopped
- 1 green chili, chopped
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 2 tsp garam masala
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
- 3-4 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp water
Assembling and Shaping
- ¼ cup tamarind pulp
- oil to brush
Instructions
Dough
- Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and add oil and start rubbing it and mixing it with oil until you see tiny crumbles. Gradually add water to the dry ingredients and knead dough. The dough should be tighter and not very soft. Do not be tempted to add too much water. ¼ cup was enough for me, you can add 1-2 tbsp more if you need more.
- Leave it to rest for at least 20-30 minutes.
- Meanwhile make the filling.
Filling
- Take coconut, sesame seeds, garlic, ginger, chilies, fennel seeds, poppy seeds, coriander seeds and lightly roast them on low flame in a pan. Let it cool down. Mix all the ingredients in a spice grinder or food processor, leave out just some fennel and sesame seeds to add later. Grind everything at intervals keeping the texture coarse. Add few drops of water to make it wet that way it will stick to the dough. Leave it aside.
Shaping
- Now, to shape actual bhakharwadi. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 equal parts. I had 3 parts. Roll out dough into about 6-7 inch in diameter and ¼ inch thickness on the sides. Make sure its not too thick or too thin.
- Using a pastry brush, spread tamarind pulp on the rolled-out disc of dough. Spread the filling equally all over the tamarind pulp. Gently, start rolling the dough along with filling of course, and make a rolled log.
- With light pressure, press the log on top slightly to flatten it. If you avoid this step, it will be rounder in shape. When you flatten it, you get iconic bhakharwadi shape, it looks much better. Cut the log into ¼ inch equal pieces. I got about 8-9 in each log.
- Place all the rolled out and cut pieces on a greased baking tray. Brush them on all sides with some oil. Place them flat side up, filling can be seen. Bake for about 12 minutes on each side, after 12 minutes on one side, remove the tray, turn bhakharwadi pieces (upside down) and bake it until both sides are slightly dark in color and are cooked.
- Finish baking rest of the pieces and remove them on wire rack to cool down.
- Serve immediately with some tea. Store in an airtight container.
