Boondi
Boondi is a small crispy, crunchy, salty snack that can be either consumed as such or can be added to Mixture, Phova ukkari or Charmurya ukkari. It is actually an Indian household snack. We Konkani’s prepare it as follows.
Ingredients
You need
- 1 cup gram flour/besan
- 1/4th tspn turmeric powder
- A small pinch of asafoetida
- Salt to taste
- Water as required to make the batter
- Oil for deep frying
Method
In a wide mouth mixing bowl add besan, turmeric powder, asafoetida salt and mix well
Add sufficient water to form a smooth running batter. The batter should be slightly thin than the bonda /bjajji batter. If it is too thick then boondi will be flat and if it is too watery they will develop long tails.
Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying
Keep two perforated ladles ready. One for making the boondi’s and one for removing fried ones from the oil. Keep tissue paper for wiping the ladle ready on your side.
Once the oil is hot place a perforated ladle above the oil and pour batter over the ladle. Spread the batter with the help of a spoon (Photo A) (While holding the laddle see that you do not hold it neither high above from the oil nor too low). Small drops of batter will fall into the oil forming boondi’s.
Stir in between so that the boondi’s get cooked become crispy and golden brown (Photo B).
Use the second perforated ladle to remove the boondi’s from the oil.
Drain the excess oil by placing a strainer or paper towel (Photo D).
Continue the process with the remaining batter. Remember that before adding the next round of batter to perforated ladle for making boondi’s wipe the laddle in both sides with a clean tissue paper. This is done to remove the batter sticking to it (Photo C).
Your boondi is ready to be served.
Variations
This is the basic recipe for boondi that can be had as such. You can add even chilli powder to it as per your taste.
Now if you are going to use boondi as an ingredient for other dishes, for example mixture, phova ukkari or charmurya ukkari you need to follow the basic ingredients as such.
Bondi for sweet dishes you need not have to add asafoetida the rest remains the same.
Tips
Use fresh besan for preparing the batter
Use fresh oil for frying the boondi or else you will get an odd smell and taste.
