Pappadavada

Pappadavada is a crispy spicy evening snack prepared by Konkani’s. It is usually prepared during festival season when guests are expected. It is usually served along with tea and coffee. The dish is prepared with pappad. Other ingredients are raw rice and besan or gram flour. Sesame seeds (‘Tilu’ in Konkani) is another important ingredient of the dish pappadavada.

Ingredients

You need

• 25 numbers of medium size pappad (Or ‘Happolu’ in Konkani)
• 1 cup raw rice
• 1/4^th to 1 tspn turmeric powder
• 2 to 4 numbers of red chilies or as per your spiciness level
• 1 tspn Asafetida or hing
• 2 to 3 tbspns of besan or gram flour
• 1 tbspn Sesame seeds (‘Tilu’ in Konkani) (Black/white seeds can be used)
• Water as required to make a thin batter
• Oil for deep frying
• Salt to taste

Method

Wash, clean and soak the rice for 3 to 4 hours.

In the mean time dry the pappads in the sun for a long time or till the sides of the pappad starts curling up.

Grind the soaked rice, red chilies, turmeric powder, hing and salt to a very smooth batter adding water.

After grinding add besan/gram flour and tilu and mix well so that no lumps are formed and you get a uniform batter. Add water and make the batter very thin and watery.

Now heat oil in a kadai or pan for deep frying. Use medium to low flame for frying.

Dip one pappad in the batter and hold it straight as shown in the photograph to remove excess batter and drop it into the oil (If excess batter sticks to the pappad you will get soft and sticky pappads after frying). The batter should just get mildly coated on the sides of the pappad.

Deep fry the pappad till golden brown. Your pappads shouldn’t swell in oil. If they swell then they are not properly sundried. Flip the pappads frequently and let it cook on both the sides.

Remove the pappad from oil. Remove excess oil using a strainer or paper towels.

Your Pappadavada is ready to be served.

Once cool store in air tight containers.

Shelf life – 2 to 3 weeks

Tips

Each time before you dip the pappad in the batter mix the batter well else sesame seeds will settle down and may not get coated on the pappad.

In your hurry to finish work do not dip too many pappads at a time. Dip one by one and put them in oil or else chances of breakage of pappad is there.

After frying some pappads you will find that the batter has turned thick. Then add water and give and check for hing and salt after adding water.

Use fresh coconut oil for frying the pappads.

If you want you can even cut the pappads into different shapes and sizes as you like. Then keep them for drying and frying.

If you cannot sun-dry the pappads then dry the pappads as follows: while boiling water on the gas stove you will be covering the vessel with a lid. Spread the pappads on top of this lid till the sides curl up.