Chorbir Bora! This is a signature Bengali fritter prepared with mutton fat. These taste amazing and all you need to do is to procure some fat separately while purchasing mutton!
Jump to:
- Typical Mangshor Jhol Bhat- Bengali meal!
- Chorbir Bora recipe and how!
- Fun facts
- Ingredients
- Instructions
- Top tip
- Frequently Asked Questions about Mutton Fat Fritters aka Chorbir Bora
- Recipe Card
- Chorbir Bora Recipe Video
- Pairing
- Food safety
- Have you tried the Bengali Kharis Mangsher Chorbir Bora recipe from Debjanir Rannaghar!
- Here's the Perfect Bengali Chorbir Bora Recipe Pin for your Pinterest Board!
Typical Mangshor Jhol Bhat- Bengali meal!
"Hey, what's for lunch today? It's been a long we had Mangshor Jhol. Moreover, it's been a long we are at home for the entire day. How about simple bhat, masoor dal, chorbir bora, and also mangshor jhol followed by chutney today? Do you think we can manage that today?" Mehebub asked while preparing Pasta's morning glass of hot chocolate on a Sunday morning 2 weeks back. I was still sleepy and was sipping my morning dose of black coffee without sugar.
Chorbir Bora recipe and how!
It was a mundane discussion the last to last Sunday that took me back to a similar morning two years back. Back then It was not a usual day that day, neither in India nor in any part of the world, almost. After all, the battle with COVID-19 started at that time! I opened my drive to check when I took the pictures of Chorbir bora frantically. It was 22nd March 2020 and we were on Janta curfew today. Believe me, I felt weird. The coffee tasted like sawdust.
I found the menu absolutely fine. Mehebub mostly picks extra chorbi aka mutton fat while purchasing the meat which I use in making other dishes including Chorbir Bawra. Luckily there were some soaked lentils in the fridge. The chorbi comes for almost no extra cost and the bora aka the fritters are to die for. The mutton was there in the fridge for almost one week and it was easier to make the mangshor jhol. However, I decided to cook Dak Bungalow Mutton Curry instead of the pressure cooker mutton curry. I made a few chorbir bora as well to go with the Masoor dal and we had Begun Borir Ambol as well as a condiment.
While I cooked, Mehebub managed Pasta and Coffee and Luchi including their obscene request of "I want this" and "I want that!"
Fun facts
I then decided to write the recipe for Bengali mutton fat fritters. Here though I have used pictures from another time. It seems I cooked Chorbir Bawra with Borishali Ilish while I clicked the pictures. I captured, edited, and posted the recipe video of Mutton fat fritters during the lockdown which you can check below.
Ingredients
This recipe calls for a few basic ingredients and for sure fresh mutton fat. You can check the recipe card for measurements.
- Mutton Fat
- Red Lentil aka Masoor Dal
- Rice Flour
- Onion
- Garlic Paste
- Ginger Paste
- Green Chili
- Turmeric Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Mustard Oil
See the recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
You can check the recipe card for more details!
Soak Red lentil overnight before making a paste
Make red lentil paste for chorbir bora after adding green chili and salt as well
Cut mutton fat into bite-sized pieces
make a tight batter using the lentil paste, mutton fat, chopped onion, chopped green chilies, rice flour, ginger and garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt, and baking soda
Fry the fritters in a low flame
Use mustard oil to deep fry mutton fat fritters
Keep the flame low all through
Fry Chorbir bora till it is crisp yet the fat chunks are well cooked
Hint: While frying keep the flame low all through. The fritters should be crisp but the mutton fat should be well-cooked and soft.
Top tip
Do check the video for the texture of the batter!
Frequently Asked Questions about Mutton Fat Fritters aka Chorbir Bora
There are certain delicacies we cook with the almost discarded parts of the veggies, meat, and even grains. Take Khosha Bhaja, Bou khuda, Macher teler torkari or bawra, and also Chorbir Bawra for example. Debjanir Rannaghar is having a few recipes which call for not-so-important ingredients and I plan to post a few more in the coming time. The ingredients I am talking about here are Khosha aka Peel, broken rice, meat fat, fish fat, etc. I plan to use those and want to come up with the recipes here as much as I can. There is nothing like utilizing the resources as productively as we can, isn't it?
Obviously not if you are eating it every day! Once in a while is fine I suppose!
Yes, you can
Recipe Card
Bengali Chorbir Bora (Mutton Fat Fritters)
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 15 pieces 1x
Description
Chorbir Bora is a delicious fritter prepared with mutton fat chunks and a few selected ingredients. These mutton fat fritters go amazing with simple Dal rice and also with a hot cup of Chai!
Ingredients
- 200g Mutton Fat
- 150g Red Lentil aka Masoor Dal
- 2 Tbsp. Rice Flour
- 2 Onion
- 1 Tbsp. Garlic Paste
- 1 Tbsp. Ginger Paste
- 4-5 Green Chili
- 1 Tsp. Turmeric Powder
- 1 Pinch Baking Soda
- 1.5 Tsp. Salt or to taste
- 200ml Mustard Oil
Instructions
Soaking the Lentil
- Soak the red lentil in ample water with a pinch of salt overnight.
- Wash the lentil 2-3 times before soaking.
Marinating the mutton fat before making fritters
- Cut mutton fat into- bite-size pieces.
- I prefer using scissors to cut the fat!
- Sprinkle ½ Tsp. Salt and ½ Tsp. Turmeric Powder.
- Coat the mutton fat chunks properly and keep those marinated for 30 minutes before frying
Prep Work
- Meanwhile, peel the skin and roughly chop the onions.
- Chop green chilies as well.
- You can increase or decrease the number of chilies depending on how hot you want the mutton fat fritters to be.
Making the batter
- Take the lentils. The lentils will be fluffy after 8 hours of soaking.
- Add 2 Green Chilies.
- Now add ¼ Tsp. Salt.
- Mix the ingredients using a spoon.
- Now make a thick paste without adding additional water.
- You can use either a food processor or traditional Shil Nora to make the paste.
- I used a food processor and made the paste in 2 batches.
- Please refer to the pictures or video for the texture of the paste.
- Add chopped onion to this paste.
- Now add chopped green chilies as well.
- Add Rice Flour.
- Now add Turmeric Powder.
- Adjust Salt if needed. Consider that salt has already been added to the fat as well as in lentil paste.
- Add Garlic paste and ginger paste as well.
- Now mix using your fingers. You can use a spoon as well however, clean fingers work better!
- Mix till the time the onion releases moisture.
- Now add marinated mutton fat aka Chorbi.
- Mix for another 2 minutes.
- Refer to the pictures or video for the final texture of the batter. It should not be runny.
- You can easily make balls out of this batter.
Making Fritters
- Heat Oil in a pan till it changes color.
- You need oil in excess to deep-fry.
- Make 2" size balls out of the batter and drop 8-10 at once in the hot oil carefully.
- Make sure to add at least one chunk of mutton fat to each ball while shaping those.
- Upon dropping the fritters, the oil would start bubbling.
- Keep the flame low and keep frying the fat fritters.
- It will take around 5 minutes to fry each batch of Chorbir Bora.
- You may fry around 8-10 bora at one go depending on the size of the pan.
Notes
- Mustard Oil to deep-fry the fritters.
- Mustard Oil gives an amazing aroma to the fritters.
- Use a spoon to turn the fritters while frying them instead of using the spatula.
- Use a perforated ladle or spatula that strains the oil to strain the bora once they are deep-fried.
- Do not fry over high heat as the fat will need time to cook properly.
- In West Bengal, while purchasing the mutton, we get the Chorbi aka fat for free (if asked nicely!)
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 30
- Category: Side
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: Bengali
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 50g
- Calories: 278
- Sugar: 0.9g
- Sodium: 253mg
- Fat: 26.2g
- Saturated Fat: 6.7g
- Carbohydrates: 8.8g
- Fiber: 1.3g
- Protein: 2.5g
- Cholesterol: 13mg
Chorbir Bora Recipe Video
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with Chorbir Bora and Gorom Bhat aka Steamed Rice. Select the daal and one of the mutton curries from the list below and you are good to go!
Food safety
We sometimes take for granted that we have years (or decades) of cooking experience, that the average visitor may not. Add to, or remove from, the list below with health and safety tips.
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with a high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
Have you tried the Bengali Kharis Mangsher Chorbir Bora recipe from Debjanir Rannaghar!
I would love to see a picture if you are making it following my recipe. You can share here at dolonchttrj@gmail.com. You can use my hashtag #debjanirrannaghar and share it through Instagram as well. and in addition, you can tag me at @foodofdebjani.
Here's the Perfect Bengali Chorbir Bora Recipe Pin for your Pinterest Board!
About Debjani Chatterjee Alam
I am Debjani Chatterjee Alam. A CSR specialist by profession and a food writer, food blogger, and food photographer as well. I live in Kolkata along with my Husband Mehebub who is an architect by profession, my daughter Pasta, and also my dog daughters Coffee and Luchi.
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