Uppu Cheedai/Seedai

Hearing or even thinking about Cheedais may scare many people. I too was very scared of making them. Many a times, when my mother made cheedais, they have exploded, with the oil splattering all over the kitchen. Such experiences can’t be forgotten and so, venturing into making cheedais was never on my list. But even after many episodes of bursting, my mother never gave up on making them and now she is an expert in making them.

So with all her help and encouragement, I also decided to try my hand at taming these monsters. And voila, I got them perfect, the very first time itself. And have been making it this way for some time now.

Cheedais are small fried balls of rice flour and urad flour. They can be either savory or sweet. These are prepared specially on the festival of Janmashtami.

I have given some tips on how to avoid the cheedais from bursting. Do read them very carefully and give them a try.

What you'll need

1. Rice Flour – 1 cup (see notes)
2. Urad Dal Powder – ½ tbsp (see notes)
3. Grated Coconut – 2 tbsp
4. Butter – ½ tbsp
5. Whole Black Pepper – ½ tsp
6. Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp
7. Salt to taste
8. Oil to deep fry

Method

1. Grind the coconut, cumin seeds, and black pepper without adding any water. It is enough if they are crushed coarsely. It need not be ground to a smooth paste.
2. Dry roast the rice flour 3 to 4 minutes without changing the color of the flour.
3. Sieve the rice flour twice.
4. Also sieve the urad dal flour twice.
5. In a wide bowl, add the sieved rice flour, urad dal flour, crushed coconut – cumin – black pepper, butter and salt.
6. Mix everything well with hands, now add water little at a time and gather into a dough like chapathi dough. You should be able to form balls easily.
7. Now, pinch out tiny balls and form balls. Don’t make very smooth and tight balls. Just pinch out dough and form a rough ball.
8. Place the rice flour balls on a news paper and leave it for minimum 15 minutes, so that all excess moisture is absorbed.
9. Heat oil for deep frying in a Kadai, once the oil is hot, lower the flame completely, then add the prepared rice flour balls carefully.
10. After adding the balls, keep the flame in medium and fry until golden brown.
11. Drain on a tissue paper and cool.
12. Transfer into an air tight container.

Notes

To make Rice Flour

1. Wash a cup of rice and soak it for 2 to 3 hours. Drain it well and spread on a dry it shade for 10 minutes, so that all the excess moisture is absorbed, but the rice should still retain some moisture. It should not be completely dry. If the rice is completely dry, then when you powder, you will not get a fine powder.
2. Powder the rice in a mixie or get in powdered in the mill.
3. Sieve this rice flour. Now the flour is ready to use.
4. If storing the flour for long periods, then spread the flour on a newspaper and leave it to dry for a day or two.

To make Urad Dal Flour

1. Dry roast 2 tbsp of Urad dal until a nice smell comes, take care not to change the color.
2. Powder in a mixie, sieve and store.

Tips to avoid bursting of cheedai.

1. Make sure to sieve the rice flour and urad dal flour very well.
2. While making balls, do not make very tight and smooth balls.
3. Make sure to leave the prepared rice flour balls on the newspaper for at least 15 minutes, leaving it a little longer will do no harm.
4. Don’t add more than the mentioned amount of Urad dal flour and coconut. If added more, it will not result in crispy and crunchy cheedais.