Cooking Pleasures: Uppu Chekkalu / Vadappalu

Uppu chekkalu is another Andhra Pradesh snack which is perfect for any evening to have with hot tea. We south Indians have apractice of having it along with any rice item too or just like a time pass one which is enjoyed while watching a movie, gup-shup(chatting) with friends or family etc. I mean here, murrukulu, uppu chakkalu kind of foods are meant to be enjoyed any time:-) This is a simple recipe yet easy one to prepare adopted from my mother. They are made using riceflour, maida, all purpose flour etc. Here I go with recipe.....

Ingredients:

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2 cups rice flour / all purpose flour( if you want more crispy just go with rice flour or else can use all purpose flour. Another option is to mix chickpea flour/ gram flour with rice flour in 2:1 ratio for little soft uppu chekkalu being crispy).

1 medium sized onion (cut into small pieces)

1tsp ajwain /carom seeds (optional)

1 tbsp split yellow peas / channa dal(thine chenaga pappu) (soak in water for 1 hr before preparation) or handfull of skinned and split peanuts(versenaga pappu)

1 tsp red chilli powder / 4 to 5 green chillies paste

Salt to taste

Oil for cooking

White sesame seeds (nuvvulu)

1 stem curry leaves

Water as required

Method:

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Step1:

Mix all the ingredients and add 1 tbsp of hot oil into the mixture and mix well with a spoon untill no lumps are left over. Then make a dough with the help of required water. Dough should not be sticky.

Step2 & Step3:

Make a small lemon size round ball out of the dough. Take any container whose base is round enough to press on the ball. Also take a soft plastic cover or ziplock cover. Clean the cover and spread over a roti maker or any flat and soft base thing. If you have roti maker then just put this ball on plastic cover on the roti maker top and press into thin flat round, using little oil to remove it . Or else press with the container as shown in above pic and spread with your fingers dipped into water.

Step4:

Heat the oil for deep frying , take this flat round from the plastic cover with the help of fingers dipped in the water and allow it to slide in the oil slowly. Start with one, once you pickup, fry 2 to 3 at a time. Remove them and drain on paper towel to observe excess oil and transfer into another container. If you are well practiced with such foods then its time for me to put the fullstop:-)) These can be stored in air tight conatiner for longer fressness. So Uppu chekkalu / vadappalu( at our mother's side in telangana we call vadappalu) are ready to have with hot tea.

Note: Instead of channa dal, peanuts can be substituted. If you are lack of sesame seeds, still you can go with this recipe with out those. Because the day I prepared this I had no peanuts and no sesame seeds in my store. Also remember always go with white sesame seeds, as black are more sweeter than white and are not suitable for such savouries.

Labels: chekkalu, pappu chekkalu, rice flour, uppu chekkalu, vadappalu

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti on Tuesday, June 05, 2007 at 2:39 PM | Permalink

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Hi Meena,
Lovely detail recipe. I like chekkalu too. Amma makes different version like pressing in between fingers. Yours sound good, me tempted to have some.

cheers
rajani

Posted by Rajani Rayudu | June 05, 2007 5:58 PM

oh my this is quite a adventure, we call it pappu-chekkalu. Looks so delicious

Posted by Sreelu | June 05, 2007 10:25 PM

I'm so punjabi that Ive never heard of Vadappalu, looks delicious.. and me being a tea and snack fan cant wait to try it out... nice pictures too...

Posted by Rachna | June 06, 2007 7:10 AM

I think these are what we call cheti chakkalu, Meena! I love tasting the green chillies in these!

Posted by sra | June 06, 2007 9:23 AM

HI Rajani!

yeah! only experts can make with only fingers.My mother does the same too.I used both pressing with plate as well as with fingers.It made my job easy:-)

Hi Sreelu!

as far as my knowledge, both pappu chekkalu and uppu chekkalu are the same. In some regions like in nellore we call them uppu chekkalu. Anyways nice to hear this from you:-)

Hi Dumela!
I think your name is rachana(hope my guess is right) since I have just visited your food fusion blog.It seems to be you have got an expert hand in cooking.Lot to learn from u too.Thanks for adding my blog:-) As far as uppu chekkalu..Ima sure u will enjoy making them eually eating them along with tea:-)

HI Sra!
thanks for info:-)
Yes you xan add green chillies also, though I did not add as far this recipe is concerned.When green chillies are deep fried they taste better than before and less spice too:-))

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti | June 06, 2007 10:26 AM

never heard of this meena and i cant wait to have a bite... looks so crisp and delicious...

Posted by Sia | June 06, 2007 12:31 PM

Meena,these are my favorite snacks.We call it Nippattu.I think Sia didn't recognize it!:D
Thanks for posting these,I will try version too.

Posted by FH | June 06, 2007 1:15 PM

HI Sia,

thanks for dropping by here:-) as Asha said, by now you must have remembered what thease are..if yes or no just go and try this any time..Iam sure u will love thease.

HI Asha,

thanks for that info. Nippattu...I remember this name now, though its a fact that I have got a very poor memory;-)

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti | June 11, 2007 7:30 AM

you have some nice recipes. I liked this one. looks nice and easy to make. thanks for visiting with your lovely comments.

Posted by Sharmi | June 13, 2007 7:42 PM

Thanks Sharmi to visit here too. By the way I enjoy seeing ur recipe photographs. Since I too like photography, but not that passionate:-)) I hope U will enjoy this recipe too.

Posted by Meena Kandlakuti | June 14, 2007 8:25 AM

Hi Meena,
Your uppu chakkalu simply super. I like this snack very much. Thank you for sharing.

Posted by Sri | November 18, 2007 5:51 PM

hi meena,
Your uppu chakkalu simply super. Thank you for sharing

Posted by Sri | November 18, 2007 5:54 PM