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Dal Baflaदाल बाफला

⏱ Prep 25m🍳 Cook 70m🍽 Serves 4🌿 Vegetarian

Video: Sanjeev Kapoor Khazana (YouTube)

Dal bafla is the soul food of Madhya Pradesh — a dish that looks simple but demands patience. Baflas are dense wheat dumplings that are first boiled in water until cooked through, then either roasted over a flame or baked in a hot oven until their exterior browns and crisps. They are then cracked open and dunked immediately into a pool of clarified butter before being served alongside a robust toor dal. The combination of the grainy-textured bafla soaking up ghee, and the warmth of the dal poured over the top, is deeply comforting in a way that few one-pot dishes can match.

📍 Make it in Plano

This recipe is the same everywhere — but where you buy the ingredients and eat the dish is local to you.

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Ingredients

🌍 Cooking abroad? Substitutions
  • Toor dal: Also sold as arhar dal or yellow split pigeon peas. Widely available at all South Asian grocery stores. Split yellow lentils (masoor dal) can substitute but produce a softer, less earthy dal — increase cooking time by 5 minutes if using a pot instead of a pressure cooker.
  • Carom seeds (ajwain): These small grey seeds taste strongly of thyme and are sold at Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi grocery stores. If completely unavailable, dried thyme (one-third the quantity) is an imperfect but workable replacement for the bafla dough.
  • Pressure cooker: A standard stovetop pot works fine — simmer the dal covered for 45-50 minutes until completely soft. An Instant Pot at high pressure for 12 minutes (natural release) also works well.

Method

  1. 1Make the bafla dough: Combine wheat flour, semolina, carom seeds, salt, and 3 tbsp of ghee in a bowl. Rub the ghee into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add warm water a little at a time (about 100-120 ml) and knead into a stiff dough — stiffer than roti dough. Divide into 8 equal balls, rolling each into a smooth round. Rest covered for 15 minutes.
  2. 2Cook the toor dal: Rinse the dal well and pressure-cook with 3 cups of water, turmeric, and half the chopped tomato for 4-5 whistles until completely soft and mashable. Let the pressure release naturally, then whisk the dal smooth.
  3. 3Boil the baflas: Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Drop in the dough balls and cook for 20-25 minutes until they float to the surface and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove with a slotted spoon and pat dry.
  4. 4Brown the baflas: Preheat your oven to 200°C (400°F). Place the boiled baflas on a wire rack set over a baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes, turning once, until the surface is golden-brown and has cracked slightly. Alternatively, hold each one with tongs and rotate over an open gas flame until charred in spots — this is the traditional roasted method and gives a better flavour.
  5. 5Make the dal tadka: Heat 4 tbsp of ghee in a heavy pan over medium-high heat. Add cumin seeds and let them splutter. Add the chopped onion and fry until deeply golden, about 8-10 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; fry 2 minutes. Add the remaining tomatoes and all the dry spices; cook until the oil separates, about 5 minutes. Pour the cooked dal into this masala base, add salt to taste, and simmer together for 10 minutes. Adjust consistency with water — the dal should flow freely but not be watery.
  6. 6Dunk the baflas: Immediately after removing from the oven or flame, crack each bafla open with your thumb and submerge in a bowl of warm melted ghee for 2 minutes. This soaking is essential — without it, baflas are dense and dry.
  7. 7Serve the ghee-soaked baflas in wide bowls with the hot dal ladled generously over them. A side of churma (crumbled fried wheat with jaggery and ghee) is the traditional accompaniment.

A Desi.Net original recipe · part of our Indian Cuisine library. Confirm details and adjust to taste.

Dal Bafla Recipe — Madhya Pradesh (दाल बाफला)