BEBBERI PAPPU GARELU
A delicious and irresistible rice flour crackers loaded with sesame seeds, chana dal, split black-eyed peas and basic Indian spices.
Equipment
- Wok / Kadai/ Deep frying pan
Ingredients
- 3 cups Rice flour
- ¾ cup Split black-eyed peas soaked for 2 hours
- ⅓ cup Chana dal optional, soaked for 3 hours
- ¼ cup White Sesame seeds wash and drain the excess water
- ¼ tsp Carom seeds
- ½ tsp Cumin seeds
- 2 sprigs Curry leaves finely chopped
- 2 tbsp Red chilli powder or substitute with green chili paste
- Salt to taste
- Oil for deep frying
- 2 cups Filtered water
- 2 tbsp Onion paste optional
- 5 cloves Garlic minced (optional)
Instructions
Prepping
- Wash and soak split black-eyed peas, and chana dal if using for about 2-3 hours.
- Wash the sesame seeds until you see water turns clear and later drain the water.
- If using onion and garlic, then make a paste and keep it ready.
Making the dough
- Heat a saucepan, add water, red chili powder, salt and bring it to a rolling boil.
- Meanwhile in a mixing bowl, add rice flour, washed sesame seeds, cumin seeds, carom seeds, chopped curry leaves and give everything a good mix.If you're using onion-garlic paste add at this stage.
- Now add the boiling hot water to the mixing bowl, give everything a good mix. Close the mixing bowl with a lid, and let it sit for about 5-10 mins.
- Remove the lid, taste and adjust the seasoning(spice and salt) as per your taste preference. If you feel the dough is too salty or too spicy add some more rice flour.
- Now slowly sprinkle some cold water and bring the dough together to make a soft pliable dough.
- Divide the dough into lemon sized balls and keep them covered all the time to avoid drying.
- Cover the dough until we start making Garelu.
Method -1 Making garelu by hand
- Use a silicon baking sheet if you have or take a ziploc bag/stiff plastic sheet and cut it open. Apply some oil to it, place one lemon-sized dough ball and slightly press it with your fingers evenly about 4-5 in circle.
- Make a hole in the center and keep the shaped gare aside on a cotton cloth, until we make remaining garelu.
Method 2- Making garelu using Tortilla press/Poori press
- Place the half of plastic sheet on poori press/tortilla press and place the lemon-sized dough ball on it.
- Cover the dough with another half of the sheet, close the lid/poori press cover and gently press to make Garelu.
- Make a hole in the center and keep the shaped Gare aside on a cotton cloth, until we make remaining garelu.
Frying the Garelu
- Heat a Kadai / wide wok, add oil enough for deep frying.
- Drop a tiny piece of dough to test the temperature, if the oil is hot the dough should float to the top immediately. Else, give it some more time until the oil is hot enough.
- Reduce the heat to medium and gently slide the shaped garelu one by one into the wok and fry the garelu on both sides until they turn orangish-brown and crisp.
- Using a slotted spoon take out the fried garelu, place them on a paper towel to remove excess oil.
- Repeat the procedure for remaining shaped garelu, and fry them in batches for uniform cooking.
- Let the garelu completely cool down before storing them in airtight container. These garelu stay good at room temperature up to 3 weeks.
Serving
- Serve these crispy and irresistible Bebbari pappu garelu with some yogurt or just as is.
Notes
- Split Black-eyed peas can be substituted with chana dal or split peanuts.
If using peanuts, dry roast them, remove the skin and split the peanuts. - We used store-bought white rice flour here. But you can get the rice milled locally if you are in India.
- White rice flour can be substituted with brown rice flour and red rice flour too.
- Do not forget to add hot water to the flour, else the dough tends to crack.