Super Crunchy and Delicious Omapodi

Festival season in India is synonymous with celebration, meeting family and friends and preparing delicious homemade snacks. As much as we all like keeping up with the tradition of making snacks at home, we all are hard-pressed for time! That’s when quick and easy snack recipes come to the rescue :). Today, I share the recipe for Super Crunchy and Delicious Omapodi. This snack can be made in about 30 minutes, and the process involved is less uncomplicated. Even beginners can try this recipe.

Omapodi is a crunchy fried snack in the form of strings. It is made with gram flour. The distinguishing taste and flavour come from carom seeds ( ajwain in Hindi and Omam in many South Indian languages), hence its name. Carom seeds are roasted and ground, and added to the flour. Their distinguished and unique taste shines in the snack, giving it a lovely flavour and taste.

To make Omapodi, besides other regular kitchen equipment such as a mixing bowl, pan, etc, you need a special press, which is commonly called a murukku press. It comes in various forms. It looks like this:

Put the dough inside the mould, use one of the shown plates (based on what you are making) and press it to release the dough. Then, the dough comes out in the shape corresponding to the plate used. For Omapodi, you need the plate that gives the thinnest strings.

I have already shared 6 quick, easy and delicious snacks you can prepare in your kitchen in under 30 minutes. You can check them out. They are quite handy!

Now, let’s check out the recipe for Omapodi:

Equipment Needed:

• Pan for deep frying
• Murukku Press
• Mixing bowl
• Pan for roasting carom seeds
• Mortar and Pestle/mixie jar

Read my article about all the Kitchen Equipment I use in my Indian Kitchen in Germany.

Ingredients for Omapodi:

• 2 tsp Carom Seeds (Ajwain); roasted and powdered
• ½ Cup Rice Flour
• 3 Cups Gram Flour (Besan)
• 2 tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Asafoetida
• 8 tbsp Melted Unsalted Butter
• ¾ Cups Water (Approx)
• Oil for frying

Method to make Omapodi:

• Roast the carom seeds on medium heat for about 30 seconds.
  
  
  
• Grind them to a fine powder. The powder should be fine, or else the seeds will get stuck in the tiny holes and not allow the dough to pass through smoothly.
  
  
  
• In a mixing bowl, combine gram flour, rice flour, asafoetida, salt and ground carom seeds.
  
  
  
• Mix well.
  
  
  
• Add melted butter.
  
  
  
• Rub the mixture between your palms so that the butter gets properly incorporated.
  
  
  
• Add water and mix.
  
  
  
• You will get a smooth, loose dough.
  
  
  
• Grease the murukku press from the inside. Put a portion of the mixture into it. Press it directly on medium-hot oil.
  
  
  
• Fry till they become crispy.
  
  
  
• Remove them on a kitchen towel.
  
  
  
• Once cooled, store them in an airtight jar.
  
  

Information about Ingredient Sourcing in Germany:

• Carom Seeds: Available in Indian shops
• Rice Flour: Available in Indian shops as well as some supermarkets. It is called Reismehl in German.
• Gram Flour (Besan): Available in Indian shops
• Salt: Available in supermarkets. Called Salz in German. Read my article about Salt varieties in supermarkets in Germany.
• Asafoetida: Available in Indian shops
• Melted Unsalted Butter: Available in supermarkets. Called Butter in German. Read my article about Butter varieties in supermarkets in Germany.
• Oil: Frying oil is available in supermarkets. Called Bratöl in German. Read my article about oil varieties in supermarkets in Germany.

Here is the recipe in printable format:

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