Nippattu / Chekkalu

Homemade Nippattus & Store bought Soan Papdi with my evening beverage

M has been asking for some nippattus since months (or has it been more than a year?) and had even offered to help if I had prepared the dough. I too have been postponing it very promptly in the name of calories and cholesterol. He has now moved on from 'requesting' and 'nagging' to 'complaining' stage that he should have asked for a coconut sweet instead. I can’t blame him. You see, I keep satisfying my sweet tooth in the guise of naivedyams and also happen to be a coconut lover. Nippattus are one of the snacks prepared very frequently in his family and here, he has to plead for so long. Somehow the idea of deep-frying repels me and I reserve it to only 2 -3 occasions per year. However when my mother was here recently, I started to cook so many sweets and other savories in the name of learning and experimenting that probably I had finished my several years' frying / sugar quota in a few weeks. I have no excuses now and moreover lecturing about calories sounds so hypocritical and so made these crunchy, delicious nippattus this weekend. Obviously M was happy. :)
Nippattus are disc shaped, deep fried spicy snacks made with rice flour or as my son says 'discs with jagged edges'. Though I don't know the origin of the name, they are so called in Kannada and '(pappu) chekkalu' in Telugu. They are quite easy to prepare and are crispy and yummy.

Ingredients: (Make about 30)

• 3 & 1/2 cup rice flour
• 1/4 cup roasted, skinned peanuts - slightly crushed
• 1/4 cup dalia (pappulu)
• 2 tsp chili powder (adjust)
• Salt to taste (I used about 2 tsp)
• A pinch of asafoetida
• 2 Tbsp hot oil
• Oil to fry

Making Nippattus:
* Combine all the ingredients (except the oil to fry) in a mixing bowl. Add water gradually to make dough of thick consistency. (I had used scant 2 cups of water.)
* Meanwhile, heat oil in a deep frying pan / kadai.
* Take small lemon sized dough and place it on a greased plastic sheet (such as a ziploc bag) or a wax paper. Flatten the ball with your fingers and press it to form a disc of about 3 inches in diameter. Take the plastic sheet with the disc on and reverse it on to your right hand. Gently peel away the sheet from the disc so that the disc is in your hand.

* Gently drop the flattened dough disc into the hot oil and deep fry on low flame till it turns light golden in color bothsides. Remove them with a slotted spoon onto absorbent towels. Depending upon the size of the kadai, at least 4 nippattus can be fried at the same time. However do not overcrowd the pan. Repeat the procedure until all the dough is finished. Also remember to grease the plastic sheet every time with a drop of oil before making a disc.
Cool and store the fried nippattu in an airtight container. They stay fresh for weeks and are good accompaniment for coffee / tea.

Kids and adults alike enjoy nippattus and hence these are going to be a part of my CFK - Festive Foods, an event originally started by Sharmi.