Uppu Seedai(Savory Rice Crisps)
My mom makes a lot of items for Krishna Jayanthi fasting the entire day till pooja.As a kid we used to help her in making thattais and rolling out seedais.But I never knew what went in to the dough for these things and how it is fried.After marriage ,I used to make mullu murrukku,thattai,therattupal,vadai and payasam for Krishna jayanthi because I was scared of the fact that the Seedais will burst when frying if you don't prepare it correctly(actually I was a bit lazy too as preparing these seedais meant a lot of work).After about 5 years of marriage and after starting this blog,I had no option but to try Seedais this time for Krishna Jayanthi.I got this recipe from my mom and I also read a lot of stuff on internet about why seedai bursts.
My inferences are:
1.All the dry ingredients used in seedai should not contain any moisture at all.So dry roast all the flours or coconut(used in vella seedai) till the moisture is gone.
2.Both the rice flour as well as the urad dal flour should not contain any lumps I mean they should be a real fine powder.So sieve them really well.
3.Roll the seedais with less pressure and not too firmly.If you roll them very firmly then the seedais will burst when deep frying when the hot vapour tries to escape out of it.If you are sure when rolling then don't worry prick each seedai with a safety pin or a needle so it doesn't burst.
4.Oil temperature must be consistent.Medium flame for Uppu seedai and low flame for Vella seedai.
If you ensure the above points then your seedai won't burst.My seedais didn't burst even though I made it for the first time.I followed the traditional method by soaking the rice and drying it and then powdered it.But you can also use the readymade store brought rice flours( use the rice flours specially made for
kuzhakattais or puttu flour.but sieving and dry roasting is must even for store brought flours).I made everything in less quantities . You can double the ingredients ratio to get more quantity .
Preparation time :1 hour 30 minutes
Cooking time:30 minutes
Ingredients:
Raw Rice flour-1 cup( I used the cup given for the electric rice cooker) approximately 150 gms
Urad dal flour -1 1/2 tbsp
Butter-1 tbsp to 1 1/2 tbsp
White sesame seeds-1 tbsp
Hing-1 tsp
Salt-to taste
Oil- for deep frying
Procedure:
To make rice flour at home:
1.soak the raw rice for 1 hour.drain the water and spread them on a thin towel for drying.it takes about 15 mins for the grains to dry.
2.After it is dry put it in the mixer and grind it to a fine powder .if you are making in large quantities then you can giving it in a commercial grinding store to make it to a fine powder.
3.Sieve the flour and remove grainy particles.grind the grainy particles with the next batch and sieve again .The flour grounded in a machine from commercial grinding store must also be sieved.
4.Dry roast the flour to remove moisture completely.
5.Your rice flour for uppu seedai and Vella seedai is ready.
For ready made store brought rice flour:
Follow step3 and step 4 from above method.
To prepare urad flour:
1.Dry roast urad dal in a pan till they turn light pink and nice aroma arises.Do not roast till golden brown.
2.Grind the urad dal in a mixer and sieve it to remove grainy particles.
3 .If you buy store brought urad dal flour then take the specified amount of flour for recipe and dry roast It in pan till nice aroma comes and sieve it.
Preparing uppu seedai :
1.Mix all the ingredients and add water little by little to make it a soft dough from which you can roll out tiny seedais.Do not knead hard like how you make it for chappathi.Use mild pressure and knead it to a dough.
2.Roll them in to balls.make sure you don't roll them too firmly.otherwise it will burst.If required after rolling prick each seedai with a needle or safety pin to avoid bursting.
3.Heat oil in a medium flame and when the oil is hot drop the seedais in the oil by reciting a small prayer to Lord Ganesh.
4.When they turn golden yellow ,take them out and put the next batch into the oil .
5.Store them in a air tight jar after they cool down to ensure freshness.
Vella Seedai(sweet rice crisps)
Ingredients:
Raw rice flour-1 cup(I used electric rice cooker cup)approx 150 gms
Urad dal flour-1 tbsp
Jaggery-1 cup
Scrapped coconut -2 tbsp
White sesame seeds-1 tbsp
Butter-1 tbsp
Oil-for deep frying
Procedure:
1.Prepare rice flour and urad dal flour as given for uppu seedai above(sieve and roast).
2.Dissolve jaggery in little water(1/4 cup water) on heat.once it is dissolved switch off the flame.
3.After it cools down,strain the jaggery water to remove impurities.
4.Dry roast scrapped coconut till the moisture is gone.
5.Mix the rice flour,urad flour,jaggery water,roasted coconut,butter and white sesame seeds and make it to a dough which can be rolled in to Seedais.let it stand for half an hour.
6.Roll them into balls(slightly bigger than uppu seedai).Make sure you don't roll them too firmly or tightly ,otherwise they will burst.You can prick them using a needle to avoid bursting.
7.Heat oil in a low flame and once it is hot ,drop the seedais and let it turn nice dark brown on all sides.Don't overheat the oil ,otherwise the seedais will break because it has jaggery which will break in high temperatures.
8.Store them in air tight jar after it cools down.
