Happy long weekend, y'all! It's time to Netflix & Bake in the MelMoon household. We're watching Ibiza and frying up some rava bonda. Chandra's mom sent me this recipe a few years ago, before Chandra's first visit to meet my family in Lexington, Kentucky. The bonda recipe was a hit at my Dad's holiday party and we've been frying them up ever since.
Rava bonda are deep fried balls of ghee and dough wrapped around cashew nuts. They were Chandra's favorite snack growing up in Chennai, and they aren’t so different from the fried pickles and biscuits I grew up eating in Lexington :)
Recipe
Rava (Semolina) Bonda
Semolina: a little less than 3/4 cup (160 ml)
Plain yogurt: a little over 3/4 cup (200 ml)
Raw cashew nuts: approximately 25 nuts, chopped
Salt: 1 teaspoon or to taste
Red Chili Powder: 1 teaspoon
Ghee (clarified butter): 2 heaping teaspoons
Sunflower or vegetable oil: about 1 cup (250 ml) for frying
Step One: Mix the yogurt and semolina in a bowl.
Step Two: Add the salt and chili powder to the batter, then mix in the cashews.
Step Three: Add two heaping teaspoons of ghee and mix everything well.
Step Four: Heat the oil over a low flame. When the oil is ready for frying, create little balls of dough with your fingers. Drop the balls into the oil one at a time. Fry until they are dark brown and transfer to a napkin.