Papadi – the queen of Indian street food, most commonly available all across the country in all the Chaat Corners, papadi is nothing but round shaped savory crackers usually served with flavorful and colorful toppings. I am not a Chaat lover but once in a while I don’t mind a plate full of crispy papadi loaded with boiled potatoes, chilled yoghurt, sweet and spicy chutney, unlike my hometown at Bangalore finding a good Chaat vendor near your place is sheer case of good luck, so now to satiate my wee hour Papadi cravings I always keep a box full of it in pantry.
Few weeks before I made a batch of Papadi for Diwali and seeing my schedule of last few days I am so glad that I made it, finally little bit of Diwali preparations are getting into shape, flower vases are filled with fresh flowers, old diyas have come out of the cupboard, guest list sorted out, started thinking about the menu yet so much still pending which will eventually come into shape before Diwali like every year.
Coming back to Papadi, this papadi can be served with different types of toppings if you want to try something out of the box this Diwali than here are few topping ideas for your Papadi:
Option 1) Add boiled potatoes, yogurt, coriander chutney, sweet tamarind chutney, red chili and cumin powder and sprinkle some aloo bhujia to finish the topping.
Option 2) Mix hung curd, chopped coriander, mint and green onion along with some salt and pepper. Pipe it into a bag and dress papadis with this continental topping.
Option 3) Crush 5 – 6 papadis in a bowl, add fried noodles, tomato sauce, schezwan sauce, chopped green onion. Mix nicely and here is your Chinese Papadi Chaat ready.
Homemade Papadi Recipe (Savoury Crackers)
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
40 mins
Ingredients
- 2 Cup all purpose flour
- ¼ Cup semolina
- 3 tbsp refined oil
- 1 tsp caraway seeds Optional
- Salt as per taste
- ⅓ Cup lukewarm water to bind dough
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- In a large bowl sift flour with semolina, salt and caraway seeds.
- Add oil into the flour. Rub oil and flour between fingers to get bread crumb like consistency.
- Using 1 tbsp of lukewarm water at a time bind firm dough. Knead for 5 minutes or until smooth.
- Rest the dough for 10 minutes covered with a moist piece of cloth.
- Divide dough into 4 equal parts. Roll out each dough ball into a large sheet of chapati like thickness.
- Using cookie cutter cut rounds of equal size from the rolled dough sheet.
- Prick the papadis with fork/toothpick to avoid puffing up while deep frying.
- Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
- Slid the papadis in hot oil and fry until light golden in color on both sides. Drain over a kitchen towel.
- Once cooled, store in airtight container at room temperature. It stays fresh for more than a month.
