Cooking Pleasures

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