Crispy Urad and Rice Spirals/Chaklis

Soaked and boiled urad chaklis? Hmmm....When I first heard about them from from my dear friend Sulatha, I was really skeptical, but then I tasted the ones she made and I was hooked. When she showed me the process, and I saw how easy it was, and also that it was a sure fire recipe, I liked them even more. I love to make them, and its so much the better when you know that the recipe can't go wrong.

We have had it year after year, at her Ganesha pooja as naivedyam prasad, and we love the chaklis. I have been making them ever since I learned to make them from her firsthand, and since then, the recipe is one of my favorites. She generously agreed when I asked her if I could post her recipe. So here it is, I have written it the way I have interpreted her recipe and my process in making it.

Soaked and Boiled Urad and Rice Flour Chaklis

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Urad dal

• 3 - 4 cups Rice flour (It could need less than 4 cups, so start adding the rice flour gradually a little at a time, depending on how moist the cooked urad is)

• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder

• Salt to taste

• 2 tbsp Sesame seeds (til)

• 1 tbsp carom seeds (ajwain)

• 1/4 tspn Hing

• 2 or 3 teaspoons hot oil or melted butter for the dough

• Water to make a stiff dough

• Oil for deep frying

Steps:

1. Wash urad dal and soak in water for an hour. Cook it in a pressure cooker for 4 to 5 whistles, or as I did in the Instant Pot for 8 minutes on Manual pressure. (I usually put it in another vessel and not directly in the container, with just enough water to cook the dhal. I think I put about a cup of water or less)

2. I mashed the cooked urad dal with my potato masher. You can also grind to fine paste (without added additional water) in a blender.

3. Add in the Rice flour, red chilli powder, salt, sesame seeds, carom seeds and hing, and the hot oil or melted butter. Mix well.

4. Add enough water and make a stiff dough. I usually add the water very little at a time. Keep the dough aside covered.

5. Now heat oil in a pan. Fill the dough into the Chakli mould and drop small spirals/chaklis onto a parchment paper, and carefully drop them into the hot oil. Alternatively, if you are comfortable, you can drop the spirals directly into the hot oil.

6. Fry until they become crispy, (when they turn to golden color) remove them from the oil and place them on a kitchen paper towel to drain.

7. Tasty (Boiled) Urad dal ke chaklis are ready. Store them in an airtight container, it is really a perfect snack with evening tea/coffee....try them...........

Notes:

• Another variation to these chaklis is that you can dry roast the urad dhal till you get a nice aroma and then soak it and grind it. That tastes good as well.