Ribbon Pakoda / Ola Pakoda

Ribbon Pakoda / Ola Pakoda or Pakkavada

A tasty deep fried (crispy and crunchy too) snack in South Indian cuisine. Best with tea /coffee !!!

Serves: 6

Ingredients

Please use same measuring cup to measure rice flour, gram flour and water ( 2 : 1 ratio for rice flour and gram flour (besan)).

2 cups rice flour (please measure in Indian standard measuring cup of ½ cup / 100 ml / 4 oz capacity) normal rice flour

1 cup besan (gram flour)

1 ½ teaspoon red chilli powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon asafoetida  (hing / kaayam)

2  teaspoon oil

¾ - 1 cup water

Method

In a wide bowl, mix rice flour, besan , salt, red chilli powder and oil. Mix well with fingertips until well combined and it forms like soft bread crumbs. First start with ½ cup water and later adjust with remaining  ¼ cup water + 1 – 2 tablespoon to make a medium soft dough.  Dough should not be very soft like chapatti  dough and it should not be too hard. If it is hard, it won’t come out from  the mould. 

Put this dough in a murukku / chakali mould. Use pakavada achu / ribbon pakoda plate (with 4 slits / 2 slits) to make ribbon pakoda / pakkavada.

Heat oil in a wide kadai / frying pan and reduce heat to medium and wait for 1 minute. Fry directly in hot oil on a medium heat (between medium and low heat)  until light golden color and crisp on both the sides  in 2 - 3 batches (depending upon the size of the kadai / frying pan). It won't take much time for frying. Please keep a safe distance from gas stove / hot oil when frying / pressing with mould. Drain and place on kitchen towel to absorb extra oil and store in an airtight container. Serve with tea / coffee ..