Try This Vegan Dumpling From North India!
By: Anjum Hasan
Tags: Foodies, Asian, Asian American, Food, Cooking

Dumplings are popular in Far East cuisine. Cooked with rice flour, they usually contain chicken or pork as filling. Often it can be hard to find a vegan option. Fortunately, the Indian subcontinent has dumpling recipes that are purely vegan and not a knock-off. Dumplings are not often associated with Indian cuisine in the west. But, did you know that vegan dumplings are a popular snack in northern India?

Of course, we don’t call them dumplings. Fara (pronounced [fur-rah]) is a traditional recipe that combines flavourful legumes with the goodness of rice flour. Fara is cooked in steam to produce small dumplings that go well with ketchup or cilantro chutney. Rice flour can be replaced by corn or wheat flour.

Dal (pronounced [d̪aːl]) in Hindi is an umbrella term including all dry legumes that are rich in proteins and minerals. Dal is often translated to pulses in English. Lentils would be a type of Dal.

Steamed Fara. Photo by Anjum Hasan

This is a festival dish. Usually prepared on festivals such as Diwali, Dussehra, and Karva Chauth. It is most popular in north Indian provinces of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Wheat, rice, and lentils are the staple diet of Indians, providing all the essential nutrients. Rice and lentils are rich in carbohydrates, proteins, Vitamin A, B1, B2, and B3. Minerals like iron, potassium, and phosphorus are also in plenty.

Indian cuisine has many different ways of cooking rice and lentils. Various recipes are there to tickle the taste buds. Dosa, Idli, Uthappam, and Khubali are common in Southern India.

In North India, kachoris stuffed with different pulses like moong, lentil, split gram inside wheat balls as snacks. While rice pudding is cooked as a special treat, khichdi is a different way of cooking rice and pulses together in a savory treat. It is so nutritious and easy to digest that it is often a comfort food.

Fried Fara. Photo by Anjum Hasan

Fara is cooked uniquely. It is prepared with a stuffing of black gram (called urad in Hindi) or split gram in a ball of rice or maize flour.

Ingredients:

Rice flour: 2 ½ cup

Carom seeds (Ajwain): ½ teaspoon

Soaked split gram dal: 1 cup

Soaked white urad dal: ½ cup

Clove:1

Black pepper: 2

Black cardamom: 1

Green jalapeno: 1

Finely chopped onion: 1 medium

Finely chopped garlic: 4 cloves

Oil: 2 teaspoons

Red chili powder: ½ teaspoon

Salt: according to taste

Mustard seeds: 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves: 5–6

Preparation time: 10–12 min

Cooking time: 30 min

Preparation:

Soak the urad and split gram dal for 6–8 hours

Blend soaked split gram dal and white urad dal with black pepper, black cardamom, and green chili in a mixer

Add onion, garlic, salt, and chili powder in a blended paste and mix it well

Add rice flour, salt, and carrom seeds in a bowl

Pour little water in it to make the dough

Then make small balls of the dough

Put some oil on your palm keep a ball on it and press gently with the other hand to make a small circle

Keep one spoon stuffing on half side of the rice circle and then fold the other half on it

Make other faras similarly

Steam it for 30 min

It can be consumed steamed or lightly sautéed

Serve with cilantro chutney or ketchup

That’s it! An original and easy vegan dumpling recipe!

The recipe best works as a snack, especially for those rain-soaked days when you crave something spicy!

Once prepared, faras can also be stored for a few days in the refrigerator. But, it is best to consume them on the same day.