Omapodi: The South Indian Sev, Perfect For Tea Time
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What is tea time without snacks, or evening drinks without munchies? Crispy, crunchy additions to satisfy your snack desires are a must. But instead of reaching for a bag of chips, you can instead make your own healthy bites in the comfort of your own kitchen for an endless supply. One quick and easy option is the South Indian snack of Omapodi.

Also known as karapusa this farsan is similar to sev and often used as a topping for chaat and is often served around Diwali when guests frequent the home. The main base of this recipe is gram flour but in some cases, rice flour is added to keep them crispy for longer and add an even bigger crunch to the snack. Many people choose to let the basic flavour shine through, but sometimes ajwain, chilli or garlic are also used to flavour the Omapodi.

It doesn’t take a wealth of cooking skills to get Omapodi right, but using a ricer, sev maker or extruder to create the thin strands of dough can be a big help since rolling them by hand is time-consuming and often difficult to achieve the correct thinness.

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon ajwain (carom seeds)
  • 1 cup besan (gram flour) or 120 grams besan
  • 100 grams of rice flour
  • 1 generous pinch of asafoetida (hing)
  • 2 pinches turmeric powder - optional
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt or add as required
  • 1 tablespoon oil or ghee or butter
  • 6 to 7 tablespoons water or add as required
  • oil as required for deep frying

Method:

  • Dry roast ajwain for 2 mins till a nice aroma comes, then add to a mixer jar along with little water. Blend it well.
  • Then filter the ajwain water and keep it aside. To a sieve add besan flour and rice flour. Sieve it well, and discard the remains.
  • Add salt, hing, turmeric powder, chilli powder, filtered ajwain water, hot oil, butter, and required salt and mix this well first.
  • Add water little by little to form a soft slightly sticky dough. Make logs like this and keep them ready.
  • Grease the press with oil and then fill it till 3/4th.
  • Meanwhile heat oil – To check if the oil is hot, pinch a small piece of dough and drop it in the oil if it immediately comes to the top then the oil is ready. Press it in the preheated oil starting from the corners like a circle and finishing it up in the middle.
  • Once it is cooked on one side turn over to the other side and cook till bubbles cease.
  • Repeat this process for the rest of the dough. Finally, break it and store it in a clean dry airtight container.