Omapodi || Diwali Recipes

The blogosphere is full of festive recipes. I love savories over sweets. South- Indian savory list is endless. Some are very spicy and some are very subtle, yet tasty. One such less spicy savory that are kid-friendly and elderly-friendly is – Omapodi. Omapodi is made with gram flour and rice flour with the star ingredient - Omam or Ajwain seeds. My grandfather is a great fan of this Omapodi. Whenever I make this, I have thought about him. The thin and soft Omapodi just melts in your mouth. Omapodi is one savory recipe that adds up to a volumize mixture. It is also the closest cousin of North-Indian Sev - a vital ingredient in chat. Do try this Omapodi for this festive season and enjoy it. Get geared up for some more Diwali recipes that will be following up. https://youtu.be/zdmr3AJ1ZRQ
Servings: 6 yield(s)
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins
Total Time: 30 mins
Ingredients
  • 1 cup Gram flour /Besan Flour
  • 0.5 cup Rice Flour
  • 2 tsp Ajwain seeds / Omam
  • 1 tbsp Butter
  • 1 dash Salt
  • 1 cup Cooking Oil
Instructions
  1. Measure One cup of gram flour and half a cup of rice flour in a wide bowl. Mix them together and add salt to it. Set this aside.
  2. Heat a pan and dry roast the ajwain/ omam for half a minute. Switch off the stove and roast in the remaining heat. Take care not to burn them.
  3. Transfer to a small mixer jar. Add a tsp of water and grind them. Pass this through a strainer. Repeat the process two more times and extract the juice from the ajwain seeds.
  4. Melt one spoon of butter and add to the flour mixture. Heat oil in a wide Kadai. Add a tbsp of hot oil to the flour.
  5. Slowly add the ajwain water to the flour mixture and knead to a loose dough. Check the temperature of the oil. The oil should be hot and not fuming hot.
  6. Use the idiyappam mold in the murukku press and squeeze the dough to the oil directly in a circular motion. The oil will come up at first and soon will be fine.
  7. Cook for about 30 secs and flip over the other side to get it done. Use two paddles and gently transfer to a paper towel for the oil to drain.
  8. Bring it to room temperature and store in an airtight box.
Recipe Notes

  • The consistency of the dough is very important. A very tight dough will become very hard to squeeze. So if your omapodi is tight, sprinkle few drops of water and bring to a loose consistency.
  • I usually want to have only the ajwain seed flavor. You can also add red chili powder if you wish to.
  •  The reason to strain ajwain seeds is to avoid any spluttering in oil when ajwain seeds are added as a whole.
  • Add a small quantity of butter only. Too much butter can make the omapodi dissolve in oil soon after they are squeezed.