Faraफरा
⏱ Prep 30m🍳 Cook 25m🍽 Serves 4🌿 Vegan
Video: Chef Ranveer Brar (YouTube)
Fara is a wholesome steamed snack from Chhattisgarh made from rice flour dough shaped around a spiced chana dal filling. Eaten for breakfast or as an afternoon snack, fara is popular during festivals and everyday meal breaks alike. Because it is steamed rather than fried, it is light and sustaining, carrying the clean flavors of rice flour and lentils without the weight of oil.
📍 Make it in Plano
This recipe is the same everywhere — but where you buy the ingredients and eat the dish is local to you.
Finding Desi spots near Plano…
Ingredients
- ▪rice flour (fine)2 cups
- ▪hot waterapprox. ¾ cup
- ▪salt½ tsp
- For the filling
- ▪chana dal (split Bengal gram), soaked 2 hrs½ cup
- ▪green chili, finely chopped2
- ▪ginger, grated½ tsp
- ▪cumin seeds (jeera)½ tsp
- ▪turmeric powder¼ tsp
- ▪coriander leaves, chopped2 tbsp
- ▪salt for fillingto taste
- ▪green chutney or tomato-garlic chutneyfor serving
🌍 Cooking abroad? Substitutions
- Rice flour for steamed dough works best when fine-textured; look for Indian or Southeast Asian rice flour at Asian grocery stores abroad. Do not use glutinous rice flour, which has a different texture and stickiness.
- Chana dal is available in most South Asian stores internationally as split Bengal gram. If unavailable, yellow split peas make a reasonable substitute with a similar texture when coarsely ground.
- The tangy chutney served alongside can be replaced with any condiment you like — a mint-coriander chutney or tamarind sauce both work well and are available at most South Asian grocery stores.
Method
- 1Soak the chana dal for 2 hours, then drain and grind it coarsely — not a smooth paste, but small broken pieces with texture.
- 2Mix the ground dal with green chili, ginger, cumin seeds, turmeric, coriander leaves, and salt. Set the filling aside.
- 3Bring water to a boil with ½ tsp salt. Pour the hot water gradually into the rice flour, mixing with a spoon until a soft, pliable dough forms. Knead briefly while warm.
- 4Divide the dough into golf-ball-sized portions. Flatten each in your palm into a disc about 3 inches wide.
- 5Place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the center. Fold and seal the edges firmly, pinching to form a half-moon or oblong shape. Make sure there are no cracks or the fara will open during steaming.
- 6Arrange on a lightly greased steamer plate, leaving space between each piece. Steam over boiling water for 15-18 minutes until the dough is cooked through and appears slightly translucent.
- 7Serve hot with green chutney or fresh tomato-garlic chutney.
A Desi.Net original recipe · part of our Indian Cuisine library. Confirm details and adjust to taste.