Piaju / Onion Lentil Fritter
By Rownak Jahan,
Cook time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8-10
Piaju / onion lentil fritter is delicious snack which is must item in Ramadan month. It is very easy and handy. Only tricky part is not to make smooth lentil paste, make it coarse.
Ingredients:
• 1 cup red lentil
• 1 large onion sliced
• 3 green chilli chopped
• 1 tablespoon rice flour/ semolina
• 1/6 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves(optional)
• ¼ teaspoon black salt(optional)
• Salt to taste
• Oil for deep fry
How to make:
1. Soak the lentil 20-30 minutes and drain with enough water thoroughly.
2. Make coarse paste and mix with rice flour, onion, chilli, turmeric, coriander and salt.
3. Mix lightly.
4. Place the pan on medium heat and when oil is ready, make flat fritter and put on oil carefully(you can use spoon and don’t squeeze the lentil mix). Don’t overcrowd the pan.
5. Fry them till these become golden brown. Take off from oil and sprinkle black salt. Repeat the process to finish the mix
6. Serve piaju / onion lentil fritter hot with puff rice.
I love this street food from bangladesh. I have tried to make it before but did not work for me. I will try your recipe and will let you know.
Thanks for providing Piaju receipe. I shall be trying to prepare it. Actually I was preparing with all the items that you have mentioned except rice flour/semolina that’s why it was not becoming crunchy and hard.
Most welcome. I am very happy to have the readers like you.
Dear Rownak,
Thanks a lot for the lovely recipes.Now young girls can try your recipes and can flood the dining table with your delicious items. I ve told my daughters to try some of your recipes. Thanks a million.May Allah bless you with all the best. I live in Malaysia and i need these recipes when I forget mine. Hahaha! Take care and keep in touch,
Thank you for this recipe. As a westerner who spent a few years in Bangladesh I have enjoyed piaju many times but never learned to make it. Attempted today — but the lentils would not hold together as a fritter; the moment they hit the oil they scattered all over. Any suggestions? Are the lentils supposed to be soft before you cook them? (mine were still hard; maybe I didn’t use enough soaking water?) I still have some extra uncooked lentil mixture . Anything I can do/add to make it stick? (we sprinkled the fried lentils over the rest of our food and it was very tasty, but I would like to learn how to make piaju Bangladeshi-style). Many thanks!
Soak lentil with enough water and time next time and please try my recipe. For rest of lentil mixture , add bit of chickpeas flour(besan) if you can not find chickpeas flour add bit of plain flour, then fry it. Hope it will solve your problem. Thanks
With Regards
Rownak