Chegodilu for Indian Cooking challenge

The recipe given by Srivalli for the December 2009's Indian Cooking Challenge was something I had never tasted before. So you might well imagine that I was confused as to how they might be to look at, leave alone knowing the texture or taste! When I googled them in, I found wonderful clicks in Sailu's Food blog.

Armed with recipes from Srivalli and pictures to guide from this blog, I set out to try them. I had no patience to soak rice and pound. I made them using the first of the two recipe variations given with store bought rice flour. Being dry flour the quantity of water seemed insufficient. But as I proceeded, I sprinkled some warm water and that solved the dryness.

The chegodis were so good that I wanted to try the second recipe the next day only. This recipe worked out very well even with store bought rice flour.

Later I pounded the rice and tried both the recipes after about a fortnight of the first attempt. Needless to say they were a big hit too. I found that making chegodi dough while the flour is moist resulted in tiny lumps that had to be broken and kneaded to get a uniform, smooth dough. But if you allow the flour to dry for a day or two, it was very good.

Now you may read both the recipes below and choose to try either.

Recipe 1:

Ingredients:

Rice flour 1 cup

Water 1 cup

Split yellow dhal (moong dhal) 2 table spoons

Cumin seeds 1 teaspoon

Sesame seeds 1 teaspoon

Chilli powder 1 teaspoon

Ghee/ oil 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

How to proceed:

For the dough:

Soak moong dhal in water for half an hour.Drain after soaking, just before adding to the water.

In a deep bottom pan, boil water. Add the salt, ghee and the drained moong dhal.

Bring to a boil, allow to simmer and stir in the rice flour gradually. Keep stirring to achieve lump- free dough.

When the dough looks cooked (as in outer dough for kozhukkattais), switch the stove off.

Mix well and cover. Keep this aside until the dough cools down, say for about 15- 20 minutes.

Add to the dough the chilli powder, sesame seeds and cumin seeds.

Mix them well.

Frying the chegodis:

Make small balls of the dough and roll them in ropes of about an inch and a half. Bring together the two ends of the rope and seal well.

Heat oil in a pan and once the oil is of optimum temperature, slide the prepared rope-rings into very hot oil. Fry only very few at a time.

Reduce the heat to low and fry the chegodis on both side until the sizzling of the oil subsides.

Remove from the oil with slotted ladle and place them on absorbent tissues.

Allow to cool and store in airtight containers.

While moulding the chegodis, keep the rest of the dough covered. Let the dough not dry in the air. Take out just as much of the dough to prepare enough number of chegodis that will fry in the oil.

Keep oil on high heat when you are sliding the rings in and reduce the heat to low as soon as the chegodis bounce back to the surface of the oil. They have to be fried really well or you might end up with oily, soggy chegodis.

Proceed thus with the entire dough.

Recipe 2:

Ingredients:

Rice flour 3/4 of a cup

All purpose flour 1/4 of a cup

Water 1 cup

Turmeric powder a tiny pinch

Oregano seeds 1 teaspoon

Red chilli powder 1 teaspoon

Ghee 1 table spoon

Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying

How to proceed:

Boil the water in a deep pan. Add the salt. When the water starts boiling, remove the pan from the fire.

Add the oregano seeds, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and the flours. Mix them briskly to ensure that they mix thoroughly.

Pour the ghee over it and cover with a tight lid. leave aside for a few minutes.

Heat oil in a heavy pan. Take small portions of the dough and roll out ropes. Seal the two ends of the rope to form a ring. Repeat this process with a few more.

When oil is hot, slide the prepared chegodis into it. When they bounce back to surface, reduce heat to minimum and deep fry until well done.

Remove from the oil and drain on absorbent tissues.

Allow to cool and store in airtight containers.

Repeat till entire dough is used up.

Remember to keep the dough covered to retain the moisture. If allowed to dry, they may crack and not retain shape.

This was a very interesting challenge. A new savoury snack learnt, thanks to Srivalli.