Deep-Fried Yellow Bean Paste (Baa Yir)
Submitted by MOUSEBURGER
Moong dal pounded into a paste with red curry and kaffir lime, shaped into walnut-sized balls and fried golden. Served with a sweet rice vinegar dipping sauce. A traditional Thai snack.
YIELD
3 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
20 minREADY
30 minBaa Yir is one of those Thai snacks that barely anyone outside of Southeast Asia knows about, and that’s a shame because it’s absolutely worth discovering.
Moong beans get pounded into a paste, then mixed with red curry paste, kaffir lime leaves, and a touch of soy sauce. The paste gets shaped into loose, walnut-sized balls and dropped into hot oil until golden and crispy on the outside.
The dipping sauce is dead simple: sugar dissolved in rice vinegar with a pinch of salt. Sweet, tangy, and the ideal counterpoint to that curry-spiced crunch.
Chef Tips
- Don’t pack the balls too tightly. Loose shaping gives them a lighter, more textured crust when fried
- Make sure your moong beans are well drained before pounding. Extra moisture makes the paste too wet to hold shape
- The sauce should cool completely before serving so it thickens slightly
- Kaffir lime leaves are the aromatic backbone here. Fresh is best, but frozen works in a pinch
Ingredients
Directions
In a mortar pound the drained moong beans to form a paste.
Add the other ingredients in turn, stirring well.
Pluck a small piece of the paste and form into a ball the size of a walnut.
Do not mould too tightly.
Deep-fry the balls until golden brown, drain and serve with the thick sweet sauce below.
THE SAUCE: Gently heat the three ingredients until the sugar dissolves.
Allow to cool before serving.
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