Baya Kyaw ~ Burmese Yellow Split Pea Fritters

Deep fried food, specially fritters are always welcome and specially on rainy cold days. Fritters served with spicy chutney is mouthwatering. Yesterday was one such day. It rained most of the day and these fritters were welcome in that cold rainy day. For the next three days I will be posting fritters from around the world.

For the first day I have fritters from Burma or Myanmar. Baya Kyaw are fritters made with yellow split peas. Split peas are soaked overnight, ground to paste to make the fritters. These fritters make a great finger food to serve at parties and also a nice snack with evening tea. And this was my dinner last night.

These fritters are similar to masala vada. In fact the fritters taste a lot similar to masala vada and one would not notice any difference between Burmese fritters and masala vada unless mentioned. Chana dal can be substituted for yellow split pea though, these two are from a different legume families.

I substituted red bird’s eye chilies with frozen green chilies. Wondering why I am using green chilies, well that is because there is a shortage of green chilies on the east coast here in the US. Fortunately I always have a pack of green chilies in my freezer and it is coming handy now. Since I was using frozen chilies, I ground the chilies to paste along with the peas. I spiced up the fritters to suite my spice level. These fritters are served with sour chili dip. This dip has fish sauce in it. Yesterday happened to be Tuesday and I do not eat non veg on this day. So I served it with coriander chutney.

Source: Hsaba
Total Time: 25 – 30 minutes (excludes soaking time)
Preparation: 5 – 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Yields: 30 – 34

Ingredients:

• 1 cup or 225 grams (approx.) Yellow Split Peas (soaked overnight or for 7-8 hours)
• 1 Bird’s Eye Red Chili, chopped ( I used 2 frozen green chilies)
• 2 tbsp. Water for grinding the peas.
• 1 medium Onion chopped, about ½ – ⅔ cups chopped Onion
• Handful fresh Coriander Leaves chopped (I used about ¼ cup but felt could have used more leaves)
• ¼ tsp. Paprika (adjust to taste, I used 1 tsp. Chili Powder)
• ¼ tsp. Turmeric Powder
• 1 tsp. Salt
• Oil for deep frying

Preparation:

• Wash and soak yellow split peas overnight or up to 7-8 hours.
• Transfer the dal to colander and drain the water. Take ½ of the peas in a food processor and coarsely pulse it. Take it in a bowl and keep aside.
• Take the remaining peas in the processor bowl, add chopped chilies and process it until smooth. Add some water if required. I added 2 tbsp. of water.
• Transfer ground paste to the bowl of coarsely pulsed peas, add onion, cilantro, salt, chili powder/paprika, coriander leaves and mix everything together.
• Heat oil in a pan to deep fry the fritters.
• Using a teaspoon scoop out some mixture. Using another teaspoon shape the mixture to an oval shape.
• Drop in hot oil and fry for 2-4 minutes on medium flame until golden brown. Can fry 6-8 fritters at a time in each batch.
• Remove from a oil with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Serve warm with coriander chutney or sour chilli tamarind dip.

Note:

• Fritters freeze well. Fry fritters until just golden. Let them cool completely before freezing, When ready to serve, defrost and grill for 2-4 minutes on side before serving. I have not tried this but it might work.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 53