Ribbon Pakoda
Ribbon Pakoda is a Classic Traditional Tea Time Snack and a very popular Diwali Snack Recipe from the South Indian Cuisine. Also known as Ola Pakoda or Nada Pakoda, Thenguzal, this snack is spicy, crunch and very hard to resist.
Servings 750 gms
Ingredients
- 2 cups Besan, Kadala Maavu or Chickpea flour 1 cup is 250 ml measurement
- 1 cup Rice Flour or Arisi Maavu
- 2 tsp White Sesame Seeds or Ellu
- 1/2 tsp Hing or Asafoetida
- 3 tbsp Hot Sesame Oil
- 1 tbsp Red Chilli powder Use Kashmiri Red Chillies for the colour
- Salt to taste
- Oil as required for deep frying
- Water as required to knead the dough
Instructions
- In a big wide bowl, Sieve the Rice flour, chickpea flour / besan together and discard impurities to ensure smooth dough. For best results - Sieve twice.
- Now add sesame seeds, salt, red chilli powder, hing and the hot oil.
- Crumble this dry mixture with your hands until the oil spreads evenly. Recommend doing this for atleast 5 minutes which results in crispy and crunchy ribbon pakodas
- Once the crumbs are ready, slowly incorporate water and knead the dough. The dough should be soft to touch.
- In the meanwhile, heat some oil in a kadhai.
- Grease the ribbon pakoda mould or press with some oil and fit the ribbon pakoda plate
- Fill the mould with a small portion of dough and close it. Now press this over the hot oil in a circular motion.
- Allow it to cook on medium to low heat. If your dough is of the right consistency, the pakodas will be light and float on top within 5 seconds of dropping it in the oil
- While making ribbon pakodas ensure the oil is just hot and does not smoke else it the pakodas will turn brown too fast and stay uncooked and lumpy.
- Drain the excess oil on a kitchen towel and transfer it to an airtight container, once cooled slightly.
Notes
- Don’t overcrowd the oil when making ribbon pakodas. Do a small batch and wait for it to cook completely. Else it wont result in crispy pakodas and it will also be under cooked in most parts.
- Ensure you add the 3 tblsp of oil in the rice flour and besan mixture. It leads to crispy pakodas. You may add melted butter too but I prefer adding oil.
- Never make a big batch of pakoda batter. It tends to get dry which will lead to breaking of the pakodas in the oil.
- If your batter for some reason has turned a bit dry, sprinkle some water, knead the dough again for some 2 minutes and then start again. PS – Go easy with the sprinkling of water as excess water will damage the consistency.
- Shelf life is 1 month. However, I guarantee it won't last until then.
- I have used vegetable oil for frying and Sesame oil for adding in the dough (hot oil).
- Use any cup, bowl or glass for this recipe.
- I usually use a steel glass and then use the same for measuring both flours. The quantity or ribbon pakoda would vary depending on the glass used for measuring the flours.