Tea Time Snacking with Mangalore Buns

Until three days ago, I had no idea that Mangalore Buns existed. I was tempted to make this because I was just too lazy to bake a Banana Bread with the one poor over-ripe banana that was lying in my fruit bowl, and this recipe looked much more simpler (and tasty - yes, what's there to not love deep fried desi stuff?). The only thing one needs to keep in mind is that this is not instant - the dough needs to be prepared in advance and kept for about 8 hours or overnight in the fridge.

Surprisingly, I could not find too many recipes for Mangalore Buns online, but whatever I found was enough to get an idea of how I wanted to make it myself.

Firstly, this is NOT a bun. It is more like a slightly thicker version of a poori. Secondly, it should be treated like one - a lot of recipes I saw online had this super thick texture (or it seemed so). But if made properly - evenly rolled out - it puffs up just like a poori. But yes, they are quite heavy and just a couple of them might start to fill you up. Anyway, moving on to better stuff... here is what you need:

Atta/whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Maida/refined flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 21/2 tbsp (a bit too much sugar and you lose the sweet-savoury balance)
Jeera/Cumin whole - 2tsp (I ended up putting more, but really it's okay)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/8 tsp
Banana - 1 ripe, mashed
Curd/Dahi - 2 tbsp
Ghee - 1tbsp
Oil - for deep frying
Water - this is optional, and I will explain why.

How do you make this?

Take all the dry ingredients in the list starting from wholewheat flour to the baking soda and mix them well.

Mash the banana well and add the curd to it and mix them both well. Add this mixture to the dry flour mixture and knead it into a soft dough. Add ghee to this and keep kneading.

At this point, you may need a bit of water but don't go overboard and just add a tiny bit just to knead the dough. The dough will be slightly sticky but that is okay. Let the dough rest overnight in a covered container.

In the morning or after about 7-8 hours, take the dough out and bring it to room temperature. Make small roundels and roll them out with a rolling pin in the shape of pooris. Deep fry them in hot oil. Don't fiddle around too much with them as they tend to fluff up on their own. Fry them on both sides until they get a golden brown colour.

Remove them from the frying pan, and have them with tea or coffee, or for brunch, serve them with coconut chutney, potato sagu or corn & coconut curry (will upload the recipe soon).



Trust me, the combination of cumin with banana and sugar is amazing!

Bon Appetit!