Oma podi (sev)

Omapodi (plain sev) is a savory snack of India. The flavor of these crispy snacks comes from a seed called omam / ajwain / bishop weed. This is one of my most favorite snack. I prepared this on a Friday evening to give as surprise gift for my hubby. In my house, preparing some snacks for weekends is a must, otherwise hubby will buy a pack of snack from any first grocery store we enter :)  Homemade snacks are not only fresh and delicious, they are definitely an inexpensive way to show our love for our family :)  This recipe is my mom's , which she got from our 'Tuticorin ladies club cook book'.

Omapodi (sev) ready to be served with evening tea.

various sev / omapodi pressing molds. I used the middle one for a Tamilnadu style omapodi. Very thin sev is used for chaats.

Ingredients: Flours and ajwain seed powdered.

The flavor of the oma podi comes from omam seeds (ajwain).

Before squeezing omapodi.

Oma podi gets crispy within a minute of frying.

Perfectly prepared oma podi should not absorb any oil.  Anyways stack them over kitchen towel.

Ingredients:
Besan flour - 1 cup
rice flour - 1/4 cup
salt - 1 tsp (to taste)
ajwain (omam) - 1 tsp
oil - to deep fry

Method:
Put the flours in a wide mixing bowl.
Run the ajwain seed in mixie and powder it finely. Add some water and make a fine paste. Add the above said salt to this and dissolve it in 1/4 cup water. Extract the omam juice. Likewise extract another time.
Add this to the flours. Mix well , so that it gets a 'soft sticky chapati dough' (or cookie dough) consistency. Fit a required sized hole in the pressing mold (see photo above). Fill the omapodi / sev presser (idiyappa kuzhal).
In the same time , heat enough oil to deep fry in a frying pan.
As soon as the oil got hot, reduce the flame to medium heat and squeeze the omapodi directly to the oil in a circular form. Oma podi gets cooked in less than a minute. So flip once and cook both sides and take out still it is yellow in color, but completely crispy. This is the correct texture for the sev / oma podi. keep it over paper towels to drain oil.  Oma podi is ready.

Serving suggestions:
Serve as snack with evening tea.
Omapodi is one of the major ingredients in the popular Indian snack , the 'mixture' / namkeen.
The same sev, if prepared using a very fine pressing mold , is used as a garnishing item in chaat foods.

Note:
Perfectly prepared omapodi should not absorb oil.

Thattai

Thattai is a popular south Indian snack. Other names are thattu vadai, thattai murukku. I just love this snack very much and will try to buy a pack whenever I see it anywhere. But hubby dear likes this snack only if I make it at home, as he thinks store bought thattai have a harder texture and unbreakable:) There are various thattai recipes but the core ingredient is rice flour. I usually make thattai using murukku flour (with thattai ingredients) also, but there is a separate recipe for the thattai that melts in mouth and here is my recipe after many permutation combinations:). I add more pottukadalai mavu (puffed channa dal flour) to get a crispy wafer like texture but we can halve it too.

Happy Krishna Jeyanthi!

thattai

pressing thattai.

thattai dough for 30 numbers.

Ingredients:
Rice flour - 2 cup
urid dal - 2 tbsp
pottu kadalai (puffed channa dal) - 3/4 cup
curry leaf - 2 sprig
shredded coconut - 2 tbsp
sesame - 2 tbsp
channa dal - 2 tbsp
red chilly powder - 2 tsp
hing (asafoetida) - 1/4 tsp
salt - to taste (3 tsp)
butter - 2 tbsp
oil - for deep frying

Method:
Soak the channa dal in water for 1 hour. Keep aside.

Dry roast the rice flour for few minutes till it looses moisture. I use store-bought rice flour and it takes 2-3 minutes per cup of flour to get that loose texture.
Dry roast the urid dal till it smells good (not red), let cool and powder it.
Powder the puffed channa dal (dalia flour).

Put the flours in a large mixing bowl. Add butter, curry leaf, soaked channa dal, sesame, red chilly powder, shredded coconut, hing. Mix salt with a cup of water and use this to knead the flour.
Knead the dough to a very soft stage (like chapati dough). Apply some oil over it.

Make small lemon size balls (approx 30 numbers).
Take a  ziplock cover and open three sides with one side closed. Or simply fold a plastic sheet and use it to press thattai.

Place one ball inside the opened ziplock cover , close and press using a flat cup(as shown in photo). Prick a few holes using a fork or toothpick (to avoid thattai puffing up). But I didn't prick all the thattais (as mine are thin only).

In the mean time start heating the oil in a frying pan. As it gets maximum heat, put the pressed thattai and reduce flame to medium. After a few seconds flip and cook till bubbles settle. Take out , drain excess oil and keep on paper towels. Just like this fry the thattai one by one. The whole process may take 45 minutes.

Store in airtight containers and enjoy!

Serving suggestion:
Serve as snack with tea or coffee.

Onion bajji

Onion (Vengayam) bajji is a popular snack of India similar to onion rings. Though it is mostly served as snack , sometimes I make this bajji as side dish with sambar rice during weekends or nights when we need something more delicious than the usual side dish.  I am narrating my recipe for vengaya bajji.

Vengaya bajji (photo updated : Feb 2014)

Ingredients (for 10 pieces) :

Red Onion - 2
Besan flour (kadalai mavu) - 3/4 cup
dosa batter - 1/4 cup
(or) rice flour - 2 tbsp
salt - to taste
red chilly powder - 1 tsp
hing (asafoetida)- 1/8 tsp
baking soda - 1/2 tsp
garlic - 2 pieces (finely ground)
ajwain (omam / bishop weed) - 1/4 tsp
red food color - a pinch (optional)
oil - to deep fry (200 ml)

Method:

Peel the onion. Slice it into thin (1/4 inch thick approx) round pieces, using a knife and cutting board. Carefully cut the onion, so that the concentric pieces remain intact.

Grind the garlic and omam to a fine paste with 1 tsp water. Mix all the above (except oil) along with 1/4 cup water to a thick batter. Add more water if needed, but keep the batter like thick idly batter ,otherwise the bajjis will absorb more oil.

Heat oil in a wok. As it gets smoky hot, reduce flame and keep in medium flame.

Dip the onion slices in the batter and put it on the hot oil.  Do not clutter. Flip and fry both sides. Drain oil and take out.

Onion bajji / fritter is ready!

Serving suggestions:

Serve hot as snack along with hot coffee or tea during rainy / winter season.
Coconut chutney or tomato ketchup are good side dishes for these fries.