Rice Flour - Moong - Urid chakkuli

Chakkuli ..chakkuli yummy yummy chakkuli. Crispy Chakkuli, Crunchy Chakkuli .

Oh, chakli, chakkuli, muruku, is one of the fried fritters from Karnata since ages. We have read about the pregnant women wants to have chakkuli, the kid wants chakli in her snack box, when the son in law arrive, there will be loads of snack but he likes chakli very much. We want to pack chakkuli while travelling to touring, picnic or even International visit, where son or the daughter waiting to see what all snacks are sneaked and traveled so far.
I am writing all this above because Chakkuli has so much importance in our Indian culture. For Gokulastami /Shree Krishna Janmastami we prepare chakkulis, Ganesha Festivals we do prepare and How can we forget our Deepavali, festival of life has to be have chakkuli. It is easy to prepare and pack, yummy to have and it has a long shelf life.
In Olden days or the days gone, chakkuli used to prepared with using urid dal and rice flower only. Days have gone and so much experiments, different ingredients also used for making chakkuli. Rava chakkuli, Same /little millet chakkuli, palak chakkuli, potato chakkuli, cashews chakkuli, Aval/Poha chakkuli, ragi chakkuli, jolada chakkuli, so the list goes on.
For the festival I have tried here one of the yummy chakkuli recipe and I am sure you too will surely like it, prepare it and enjoy it. It is soft, crispy, crunchy and of course easy.

Just remember you do not use much of roasted chenna, only 2 tablespoons.
I have used rice flour, cooked moong, urid dal, sesame seeds, roasted chenna, little jeera and butter.
The butter also should be minimum or chakkuli might absorb more oil while frying.
No need to roast any thing. Just cook dals separately and then mix it nicely.

Here is the recipe :

Ingredients :

Fine Rice Flour :  3 1/2 to 4 Cups
Urid dal : 1/2 Cup
Moong dal : Little less than 1/2 cup. 2 to 3 Tablespoons
Roasted Chenna /Huri Kadale /Pottu Kadale : 2 Tablespoons
Butter : 2 Tablespoons
Red chilly Powder : 1 Teaspoon
Jeera : 1 Teaspoon
Sesame Seeds : 1 Tablespoon
Oil : 2 Cups (To Fry)
Salt : As Required
Chakli Mould

Method :

1. Wash and cook urid dal and moong dal separately with required water. (Pressure cook).
Let it cool.

2. Dry grind Roasted Chenna / Huri Kadale / Pottu Kadale and keep it aside.
3. Put cooked dals in a big bowl. Smash it nicely. Add salt, rice flour, jeera, sesame seeds, chilly powder and butter.

4. Add dry ground Roasted Chenna and mix all the ingredients nicely.
5. Now add required water and prepare chakli dough. (Add water little by little).

6. Divide the dough into small portions.
7. Take a handful of dough and insert it inside the chakli mould.

8. Press the chakli on the clean cloth.

9. Keep Oil on the fire and heat.

10. Fry chakli in hot oil on medium flame. Fry on both sides.
11. Remove from the hot oil and put it on a kitchen tissue.

12. Repeat the same with remaining dough and prepare the remaining chakkuli.
13. Keep it in a big bowl and let it cool.

14. Store crispy chakkuli in a airtight box or bottle.

15. Serve with a cup of coffee/tea/juice anything of your choice.

Note :

Remember the chakkuli will be so soft while preparing./pressing. Do it carefully or it might break while leaving in oil.
Moong dal adds to the taste. You can dry roast a little and then use it. I have not done it. Let the moong be lesser than urid dal. Adding roasted chenna is optional. Adding hot oil (2 to 3 tbs), instead of butter is optional. Keeping more oil for frying is optional. Adding  more red chilly is optional.
Time 40 to 60 minutes.
Serves : As per your desire

Shelf life : Nearly 2 Weeks.

Sweet Potato Saagu/Curry

Sweet Potato is one of the yummy vegetable that I love to use it in varieties of dishes. Here we go with another dish done, using sweet potato. The sweetness in sweet potato adds to the taste and you don't need to add extra sugar/jaggery or any form of sweetness.

Saagu /Curry done to eat with Pooris. Yep, you need some thing yummy to have hot hot fluffy Pooris.
I have used Sweet Potatoes, potatoes, carrots as vegetables and some spices to add the taste and health.
As usual I have not added any onions or garlic to this Yummy Sweet Potato Saagu/Curry. This saagu is one of the yummy side dish which goes well with chapatis, dosas, rotis idli, plain rice etc.

No Onion and No Garlic Curry.

Let us see the recipe now :

Ingredients :

To Cook :
Sweet Potato : 2 Medium sized
Potato : 2 Medium sized
Carrots : 2 Medium sized
To grind :
Fresh grated coconut : 1 Bowl /4 to 5 tbs
Green chilly : 2 to 3 (mild spices)
Jeera /Cumin Seeds : 1 Teaspoon
Coriander Seeds : 1 Teaspoon
Coriander leaves : 1 Handful
Ginger : An inch
Seasoning :
Cooking Oil : 2 Tsps
Jeera /Cumin Seeds : 1/2 Tsp
Curry Leaves : 6 to 8
Ingh : A little
To Add :
Salt : As required.

Method :

1. Wash and remove the outer layer of sweet potatoes, potatoes and scrape out carrots outer layer.

2. Wash ginger and remove the outer layer. Wash it again and cut into pieces.
3. Cut the vegetables into small and put it in a cooker and cook. Let it cool.
4. Grate coconut and grind it with jeera/cumin seeds, green chilly, an inch of ginger, coriander leaves and coriander seeds.

5. Keep  the cooked vegetables on the fire and add salt. Mix it well and cook for a minute.

6. Add ground coconut spice mixture, and little turmeric. Mix it well and cook it for 2 to 3 minutes.

7. Shift the ready Sweet Potato Saagu to a serving dish and add jeera , ingh, curry leaves seasoning.

8. Mix it well and serve it with Hot poori or choice of your main dish.

Time : 30 Minutes.

Serves : 3 to 4.