Pappu Chekkalu/ Thattai

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 2/ Day 1
Theme: Traditional dishes
Dish: Pappu Chekkalu/ Thattai

Today we begin the second week our month long blogging marathon. Theme for the next 7 days is going to be traditional dishes. I rarely make traditional dishes myself because I'm not comfortable making them. My mom makes excellent traditional dishes and it's sad that I have never watched her making them so I can learn to make them myself. 

My mom made us quite a few traditional dishes during her recent visit and lucky for me I clicked pictures of some of them, hoping to post them. They have been sitting in the drafts till now and what better time than now to post my mom's traditional dishes.

For the first day, I have these crispy and crunchy deep fried savory snack made with all purpose flour (maida), rice flour and soaked chana dal. These stay fresh in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

Ingredients:

Rice flour - 1cup

All purpose flour - ½cup

Chana dal (senaga pappu) - 2tbsp, soaked for at least 30minutes

Sesame seeds - 1tbsp

Green chilies - 4-5

Peanuts - 2tbsp

Ghee/ Butter - 2tbsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

• Grind green chilies and peanuts to a coarse paste.
• In a bowl, combine all the ingredients. Add enough water and mix everything to form a stiff dough similar to puri dough. Knead a couple of times.
• Heat oil for deep frying.
• Take a small lemon size piece of the dough and pat it into a disc on an oiled plastic sheet (ziploc bags are perfect for this task). 
• Fry these discs on medium flame until golden brown on both sides.
• Remove onto a paper-towel lined plate and let cool completely before enjoying them. Store completely cooled chekkalu in an air tight container.

These are perfect with a cup of tea and some cream biscuits.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 27.