Ribbon pakoda

Ribbon pakoda is a quick snack to be served with evening tea/coffee or can be enjoyed as any time snack. 

I have fond memories of my mother making batches and batches of snacks during Diwali and other festivals. But my liking for most of the snacks is limited. But after marriage I started trying snacks for my foodie husband who relish home made delicacies. 

Today Aru was asking me, whether I will again try to make the snack for her, I started to prepare for the snack which hardly takes 10 minutes to make the dough, plus 15 minutes to fry it in oil, yes it's such a nice thing to do to engage yourself in the afternoons. 

All you need is good quality rice powder, besan and very few spices. 

Picture courtesy :Aru and her interest in clicking good pictures is a blessing to me when both my hands were busy squeezing the pakoda! 

Now we will go to the recipe 

Ribbon pakoda 

Ingredients 

2 cups rice powder 

1 cup besan

1 teaspoon black til

1/2 teaspoon jeera

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon red chilli powder 

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder (for that brilliant colour) 

Salt as required 

A pinch of heeng(I used Tata heeng) 

Method 

* Use a large bowl or plate, Take a sieve and add rice powder, sieve it to get a fine rice powder, do the same with besan, just check the flours, it should be like talcum powder, extremely fine. 

*Add turmeric, red chilli, jeera, til, fennel, salt, heeng and mix them to the sieved flour. 

*Keep oil for heating on a Kadai, pour three tablespoons of hot oil in the prepared flour, knead well, make sure oil is finely spread all over the flour, this step is very important as it gives the crunch to the pakoda. 

*Pour water little by little and make a soft dough. 

*Take the sevai nazhi, the small press that I am holding in the picture, open and place the pakoda thin disk inside, close it, apply oil inside the nazhi, it helps smooth flow of the dough. 

* Check the temperature of the oil in the Kadai, it should be hot, put a small piece of the dough, if the oil is properly heated, the small piece will immediately flot on the oil. Looking crispy and cooked. 

*You can devide  the dough into five parts, place each one into the press, use the other piece of the nazhi to press the pakoda directly to the hot oil, circular move, completely press the dough into the oil, make sure you keep it at a height where your hands don't get burned. 

*Wait for a few minutes, use a perforated ladle to just check whether the pakoda is cooked and is crunchy, you can gently tap it, if it's done flip around and cook the other side, when it's done, the pakoda will be floating on the hot oil, carefully remove and place it on a kitchen napkin, let all the excess oil drain off. 

*Continue making with rest of the dough, once it reaches room temperature serve with tea or coffee. It's crunchy and yum, I am sure you will try this snack often as I do. Happy cooking!