What is the correct word

[muqawwee123]

Re: What is the correct word

@psyah

Peace muqawwee123

I always thought that balai is the Urdu variant of the word bhaley - which is from dahi bhaley … it is a savoury dish where chickpea flour balls are deep fried and soaked in yoghurt. Malai means cream and is typical to the sweet dish ras malai …

I think people have gradually taken balai to mean just something round and ball like and hence they have started interchanging the name malai with balai …

i think balai is a reference to the shape whereas malai is a reference to the ingredient - i.e. milk, cream or milky/creamy …

This is my guess …

But isn’t balai mean ‘something on top’.. as we say Balai Punjab - Upper Punjab… and as the Malai came up on top of the milk while boiling, its also called Balai.

So seems that Balai and Malai are same thing.