Chaklis

Ah...Reading Smi's post has put me back into those days. Thinking of those times is like taking a sip of something exquisite, it just relaxes your mind and soothes every sense. There are so many memories to share, so many people to talk about...all in good time. Diwali for me, was a time to wear new clothes, get your stash of fireworks (I remember the phataki mam coming every year, getting a bunch of phulzhadis and what not and then making exactly 3 parts for Dada, Akka and myself, and then judiciously using it so they would last all 4 days !!), waking up at some un-earthly hour so you could be the first one in the building to light a fire-cracker. Aai's mandes,ladoos and chivda were a treat then and now a far-away luxury.

Thanks to San for the Rava Wadi recipe. Sounds very delicious, got to try it soon. That reminds me of Sharu mami's boondi ladoos...oooh delicious and Shaila mami's phenoris and Shamala mami's chaklis and ...the list goes on. Hopefully we can get our hands on all those recipes. Are you reading this Mami's?

Back to the reason for the post, My attempt at chaklis. They turned out pretty good unfortunately do not have my digital camera handy to take a picture before they are all gone. So, here we go....


3 cups rice flour
1 handful of udad dal
1 cup besan
2 spoonfulls of Chilli powder
1 spoon sugar
1 spoon til
1 stick of butter
a dash of hing
salt to taste

Dry roast the udad dal and make a pitti of it. Make sure you run it through the seive before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.

Mix all of the above ingredients well enough so that the butter is thoroughly mixed into the flour. Add water to make a fairly stiff dough. Chakli should be fried on medium high to a golden brown color...