Goli Baje ~ Mangalore Bajji & Coconut Chutney from Karnataka

Goli baje or Mangalore bajji is a traditional snack from Mangalore, Karnataka. It is an evening snack prepared with maida / all-purpose flour and yogurt. Once the batter is dropped into the oil, bajji puffs up into a round, marble shape and hence the name goli baje.

There are many versions of this baje online and the common ingredients being yogurt and all-purpose flour, seasoned with green chilies, curry leaves and cilantro. But the variation in recipes is the second flour used; some called for rice flour and some used gram flour. I used rice flour as it gives crispy baje. Some recipes called for resting the batter for 2-4 hours and some called for only 30 minutes. I adapted my recipe from two sites. Baje was a little bland to my taste but it paired well with coconut chutney. This was my late evening snack & dinner that evening.

Coconut Chutney recipe here
Adapted from: Kannamma Cooks & Udupi Recipes

Ingredients:

1 cup All-Purpose Flour or Maida
2 tbsp. Rice Flour
⅛ tsp. Hing ~ Asafoetida
¾ tsp. Salt
14 - 16 Curry Leaves or 2 - 3 tsp. finely chopped Curry Leaves
4 Green Chilies chopped or 2 - 3 tsp. finely chopped Green Chilies
2 - 3 tsp. chopped Ginger, about 1" piece of Ginger
⅙ - ¼ cup Cilantro ~ Kothmir, finely chopped
¾ - 1 cup thick Buttermilk or Yogurt (check note)
1 tbsp. chopped Coconut (optional)
¼ tsp. Baking Soda

Preparation:

Take all the ingredients listed above, from purpose flour to cilantro in a bowl and mix together.
Add yogurt and beat to form a smooth thick batter. Start with ¾ cup yogurt and add more yogurt if required. Batter should be thick, thicker than dosa batter. I used little less than 1 cup of yogurt/thick buttermilk.
Keep the batter aside for 2 - 3 hours.
Heat oil in a deep skillet for deep frying.
Add baking soda and coconut to batter and mix well. If you feel the batter is thin, add some flour and mix well.
When oil is hot, drop a teaspoon of batter to check if the oil is ready. Oil is ready when batter dropped in oil, comes up immediately and floats on top. If it does not, wait for a minute.
Once the oil is hot, add teaspoon of batter into oil and fry on medium flame. I fried 8 baje per batch and do not crowd the pan. For couple of batches I used a spoon to drop the batter and later used my hand. It was easy to drop batter into oil using my hand.
Keep turning the baje around for even frying until baje is dark golden brown.
Remove from oil and drain on paper towel.
Serve hot with coconut chutney.

Note:

Coconut - I did not really care for the coconut in the baje and will leave it out next time.
Yogurt - I used homemade yogurt that had some whey in it. When lightly beaten it had the consistency of thick buttermilk or whisked yogurt.
Flour - Self raising flour can be used instead of all-purpose flour. Since self raising flour is already leavened, do not add baking soda. I have not used self raising flour and in fact this is the first time I have made goli baje. Some of my friends here in the US use self raising flour to prepare this baje.

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