Piyaju

Ingredients

The lentils

• 250 gred lentils
• or split yellow peas
• soaked 4 hours
• drained

The rest

• 3onions, very thinly sliced
• 2green chillies, chopped
• 3 tablespoonschopped coriander
• 1 teaspoonground turmeric
• 1 teaspoonground cumin
• 3garlic cloves, crushed
• 2cm ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• 2 tablespoonsrice flour
• if needed

To fry

• oil, for deep frying
• a deep heavy pot

To serve

• hot at iftar
• with chotpoti
• or puffed rice

Directions

1. Grind them to a coarse thick paste. Some whole lentil pieces should remain. Add as little water as possible. The lentil paste should be thick. Mix the salt in just before frying. Rinse all the lentils thoroughly. Cover them all with cold water.
2. Let them soak for about four hours. They swell to about twice their size. Use a bowl larger than they look to need. Four hours is enough for red lentils. Drain all the lentils thoroughly. Let them drain in a fine sieve. Give them a few minutes to drip. Shake the sieve to help it along. Grind all the drained lentils. That keeps the lentil paste coarse.
3. Add water only if it will not turn. Add it in a spoonful at a time. The paste should be thick and stiff. Slice all the onions very thinly. Thin slices distribute through the fritter. Slice them as thin as you can. A mandoline helps considerably. Mix the lentil paste and sliced onion. Add the chillies and coriander. Add the turmeric, cumin, garlic and ginger. The onion should be a large proportion.
4. Add the salt just before frying. Salt draws water from the onion. Add it right at the last moment. Judging the mixture takes a squeeze. Squeeze a handful in your palm. It should hold together firmly. Add rice flour if it is too wet.
5. Add it in a spoonful at a time. Do not add any wheat flour to it. Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot. Fill it no more than half full. Heat it to about one hundred and seventy degrees. A deep pot of hot oil is genuinely dangerous.
6. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on an oil fire at all. Keep children well away from the pot. The lentil needs time to cook through. Drop a small piece of mixture in. It should sizzle steadily and rise. Adjust the heat before the batch. Shaping them is done with the hands.
7. Take a small handful of mixture. Flatten it roughly between your palms. Do not smooth them out at all. Turn them and give three more minutes. The lentil must cook right through.
8. Break the first one open to check. The inside should be cooked through. Fry them for longer if it still is. Lift them out onto a wire rack. Let all the excess oil drip away. That softens them within minutes. Serve them hot from the fryer. Serve chotpoti alongside if you like. They are eaten hot at Ramadan iftar.

Technique

• Grind the soaked lentils to a coarse thick paste with some whole pieces still visible rather than a smooth puree, which fries dense — that coarseness is what gives the crisp rough texture. Add as little water as possible, since wet batter gives soggy fritters that spread in the oil.
• Add the salt only just before frying and then fry straight away: salt draws water out of the sliced onion and that water thins the whole mixture.
• Fry at a moderate one hundred and seventy degrees for a full seven minutes, since the lentil needs time to cook through and tastes raw and pasty otherwise; too hot and the outside burns first. Break the first one open to check.

Substitutions

• Split yellow peas stand in for red lentils and need rather longer soaking.
• Add rice flour a spoonful at a time if the mixture is too wet — it fries crisper than wheat flour, which gives a softer result.

Variations

• The onion is nearly equal to the lentil in volume, which is not a mistake — piyaj means onion in Bengali and the name records its importance. Slice it as thin as you can, since thick slices stay raw and crunchy.
• Shape them roughly between the palms rather than smoothing them, since uneven edges crisp best and that irregularity is characteristic.
• They are sold at Ramadan iftar stalls beside beguni, battered fried aubergine, and crumbled over chotpoti or mixed into puffed rice as well as eaten on their own.

History

Sold beside beguni at Ramadan iftar stalls; the standard Bangladeshi accompaniment to chotpoti and puffed rice.

Frequently asked questions

What is Piyaju?

Piyaju is a street food from Bangladesh: fritters of ground lentils and sliced onion, fried crisp and salty. Sold beside beguni at Ramadan iftar stalls; the standard Bangladeshi accompaniment to chotpoti and puffed rice.

How long does Piyaju take to make?

Piyaju takes 30 minutes plus soaking of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 25 fritters. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Piyaju?

Yes, within limits. Split yellow peas stand in for red lentils and need rather longer soaking. Add rice flour a spoonful at a time if the mixture is too wet — it fries crisper than wheat flour, which gives a softer result.

What is the most important thing to get right in Piyaju?

Add the salt just before frying. Salt draws water from the onion. Add it right at the last moment. Judging the mixture takes a squeeze. Squeeze a handful in your palm. It should hold together firmly. Add rice flour if it is too wet.