Ribbon Pakoda/ Pakku vada/Ola pakoda/ Nada pakoda

Praying for the innocent lives lost during earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Hope God gives courage and strength to rebuild the life of the survivors who lost everything in that natural disaster. Japan is very close to my heart as I have spent a couple of years doing research and being the first country that I had left India for. Every help that we can do will add up like small droplets of water in big well. 

Ribon Pakoda is one of the famous tea time snacks all over south India. In my mother tongue, Malayalam there is even a movie song written on it. You can imagine how much it has influence on the people. A few weeks ago I bought a packet of ribbon pakavada from the Indian store, but it lacked the freshness. As my little one wants to do a taste test on everything under the sun, I want to give her some fresh ones rather than giving the lackluster one. She tries to bites on everything, most favorite being the tissue paper, when she is out of my sight, sneak in some tissue paper, and it doesn’t matter whether it is kitchen tissue or toilet tissue paper. I used to say your dad needs to buy stock on Kleenex tissue company otherwise he is big trouble. I think if the company knows this, they will take her as spokesperson. 

Last week my husband’s colleague from Mumbai brought a famous snack bakarwadi from there. Hubby was blown over by the taste of that, and asked me whether we can make it at home. He got a warning from his colleague that the homemade ones won’t taste as great the famous Chitale Bandu store  in Pune from where it is bought. This Thursday I decide to make some omapodi/Sev for the bakarwadi, I thought, if I am making omapodi, why don’t make some ribbon pakoda, my favorite after school snack. That was very bad idea; I should only make one thing in a day, because after pressing the dough for both dishes, my two hands started pain and even got some blisters. My smart idea of conserving the oil by doing both dishes on same day turned out to a bad one. In spite of all these setbacks, ribbon pakoda came really good. It tastes great, even became a perfect snack for our beach trip yesterday. 

There is no way you can spoil this dish. We can make this dish with rice flour alone or with rice flour and besan/chickpea flour combo. I prefer the second one; I used the ratio 1:2. Make a dough using rice and chickpea flour, spice them with red chili powder and asafetodia and add some ghee and salt. Fry them in medium heat until golden brown color and enjoy these crisp goodies with your favorite tea or coffee. I can’t assure them as healthy treat as they are deep fried, but taste better than cheerios, Lay’s potato chips and Riz cracker’s. I don’t think baked version won’t taste good, so didn’t try that. Gather some muscle power, especially if you ready for some hand exercise, go for it. Here goes the recipe.

One year ago: Athirasam/ Sweetened fried rice flour patties

Print recipe from here

What you need

Chickpea flour/Besan: 2cups
Rice flour: 1 cup
Red chili powder: 2 tablespoon
Clarified butter/Ghee: 1 tablespoon
Curry leaves: 10 sprig ( around 1/4 cup)
Asafetodia/Hing: ½ teaspoon
Salt ; 1 ½ teaspoon or to taste
Warm Water: 1 cup+ ¼ cup
Canola oil: 4 cups for frying.







How I made

In a bowl, mix Besan, rice flour, salt, red chili powder, ghee and asafetodia. Slowly add warm water to the mixture and make soft dough. It will be sticky and soft. 

Heat a pan with oil in a thick bottom pan, when it becomes very hot around 365 F, simmer the flame. Take two tablespoon of dough into Murruku presser lined with flat holes and press and directly press over hot oil in a circular movement for about 3 -4 circles.

Cook over medium flame and turn over to ensure both sides are cooked to golden color. It took about 3 minutes . Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain it into a kitchen towel to remove excess oil.

Once ribbon pakoda is cooked. Switch off the flame and add curry leaves into the hot oil and cover which will prevent water from curry leaves splattering. 

When curry leaves are crispy, remove them from oil and drain in paper towel to remove excess oil and garnish ribbon pakoda with curry leaves. 

Enjoy with tea or coffee.

Preparation time: 35 minutes
Yield: 15 serving
Verdict: Crispy, addictive
Will you make it again: Yes I will



Linking this  delicious snack to Hearth and Soul Hop-# 39
Maniac Meatless Mondays hosted by Rebecca Jean of Midnight Maniac #24
Meatless Mondays hosted by Chaya of My Sweet and Savory


Tuesday night supper club #32hosted by  Christy