Omapodi ~ Crunchy Savory

Who doesn't like the crunchy, melt-in-the-mouth Omapodi. With just two main ingredients and a spice, you can't imagine how tasty this can turn out to be. Once you taste it, you can't stop munching them until you finish it off. During Diwali, this used to be one of the savories apart from the all-time favorite Pakoda. And invariably, its Omapodi dabba which gets emptied first. Its very easy to make. If you attempt to make in small measures, be warned that it will disappear before you finish making the last batch. I made with 2 cups of rice flour and must have got around 15 nos and believe me it was finished in a day. Two of our friends also helped us to some extent in that regard. Now to the recipe.

You will need

Rice flour - 1 cup (Fresh/Store bought)
Besan/Kadalamavu - 1 cup
Ajwain/Omam - 1 tblspn
Butter - 2 tblspn
Salt to taste
Water to make the dough
Oil to deep fry

If you are using store bought rice flour, you can increase the besan by 1/4 cup to get soft omapodis.

Soak ajwain in warm water for half an hour. Grind it into a paste. Add little water and strain the paste to discard the tiny ajwain. Keep the strained water aside. Measure rice flour and besan into a bowl. Add salt, butter and the omam water. Mix well. Add more water to make a soft,tight dough.

Heat oil in a kadai. When it is hot, with a murukku press and use the omapodi Achu ( one with small holes that is used to make Idiyappam too), press the dough into the oil. Start from the outer portion of the circle and move to the centre, while pressing the dough. Since it is thin, it gets fried faster. Turn them after half a minute. When the sizzling of oil around the omapodi is less, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on an absorbent paper. Cool and store in airtight container. It will stay crisp for weeks together, if at all it lasts that long.

The plate of crunchy Omapodis is on it way to EC's WYF:Fried Snacks event.

Chocolate Marble Chiffon

I've no idea what cakes I would like to bake, my mind is just hanging and running out of idea. Other than making ice cream, I feel myself have no mood to do anything (may be the weather is too hot). So, I decided to do something simple rather than complicated baking.

This the simple marble chiffon cake I've baked which is nothing special that had filled my mood as the texture is excellent. The bad thing is the surface got a tunnel which I've no idea why. How nice if it's a smooth surface and this could be the perfect baked chiffon.

This reminded me life is not perfect, it's the matter of how we value and appreciate everything we have at the moment.

Ingredients for 21cm chiffon pan:

Egg white mixture:
180g egg whites
90g caster sugar
10g corn flour

Egg yolk mixtures:
70g egg yolks
60g water
60g vegetable oil
70g + 10g plain flour
20g caster sugar
8g cocoa powder

1. Mix all the egg yolks, water, oil together until well combined. Add in the 70g of flour and the 20g of sugar, mix everything well combine and no lumps left.
2. Measure the egg yolk mixture and divide it into equal quantities of two portions in separate mixing bowl.
3. Mix 10g of the flour into a bowl of egg yolk mixture and mix 8g of cocoa powder into another bowl of egg yolk mixture.
4. Beat the egg whites in a clean large bowl until peak foam. Gradually add in sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Then finally add in corn flour. Make sure the corn flour mix well in the egg mixture. The egg whites mixture should be peak foam, smooth and shiny. Gently fold in half of the egg whites mixture into the cocoa egg yolks mixture and plain mixture accordingly until well combine. (Note: This stage took some times and patient and practice. Make sure all the egg whites mixture well combine with the egg yolks mixture without breaking the egg whites. Little egg whites left will cause a big hole in the cake during baking. And, over mixing will cause it hardly rise during the baking.)
5. Pour the well mix mixture into a 21cm chiffon cake tin and bake at a 170'C preheated oven for 50 - 55 minutes. After baked, let the baked cake turn upside down for cooling before unmold it. Enjoy this supper soft and fluffy chiffon cake!

Rava Ladoo ~ Indian Cooking Challenge

Indian Cooking challenge is the new event of the blogosphere, kick started by Mela Queen - Srivalli. It has been decided to have a trial run before the real show begins and Rava ladoo turned out to be the recipe for same. The recipe which Valli provided is different from what I usually follow. This one was damn easy and everyone loved it. I simply followed the recipe. No changes.

Rava - 1 cup

Sugar -1 cup

Ghee - 4 tspn

Milk - 2 tblspn

Powdered cardamom - a big pinch

Cashew nuts and raisins - few

Grated coconut - 2 tblspn

Take a kadai. Heat 2 tspn of ghee. Roast cashews and raisins. Remove and add the grated coconut. Roast till it is light brown. Remove the coconut and add the remaining ghee. Roast rava till you can smell the aroma of roasted rava. Switch off the flame. To the kadai, add sugar, powdered cardamom, roasted cashews,raisins and coconut. mix everything well. Slowly add warm milk to the mixture. Mix and switch on the flame and cook for two minutes. Remove from fire and stir for two minutes and transfer to a bowl. While warm make small balls and keep for 10 minutes for it to set well. If needed, you can sprinkle some milk for binding, while making the ladoos. I got 14 small sized ladoos.