Meena's Taste Mantra

Appa loves South Indian Mixture, that too the way that Amma makes. There are various ways this is made with the addition of varied ingredients. Some add fried Poha | Flattened Rice flakes to this! Some add Copra | Dried Coconut. We do not prefer both and so our mixture is really different and we just love it!

As a child I used to be curious as to so many forms and textures in our mixture, each tasting a bit different but when we have a perfect bite, really smashing taste - in spite of the fact that the batter | dough is the same for all the forms! That;s when Appa enlightened me that since some are flat, some are thin, though basically just the same ingredients, depending on the time they to get fried in the oil as well as their thickness, the taste gets differentiated! On a spiritual note...all of us are the same flesh and bones...but still different thanks to the external situation furnace that bakes us and molds our thoughts our perception and thus giving us our unique identity! Hmmm....

Coming back to this lovely crunchy delight, this time we made it a bit visually delightful by making some coloured version as well as a hint of sweetness by adding the sugar coated fennel mouth freshner which we call as arisi mittai. Arisi Mittai is my favourite and the name is since it resembles tiny grains of rice, hence arisi and since it is sweet, hence Mittai!

INGREDIENTS

125 gms Groundnut

100 gms Chutney Dal | Fried Gram Dal

1 cup Fresh Kadhi Patta | Curry Leaves, loosely packed

100 gms Arisi Mittai | Sugar Coated Fennel

Oil, for deep frying

For Spice Mix

1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder | To taste

2 pinch Hing | Asafoetida Powder

To taste Salt

For Boondi

1/2 cup Besan | Chick Pea Flour

1 tblsp Rice Flour
A pinch Cooking Soda
A pinch Hing | Asafoetida Powder
1/4 tsp Red Chilli Powder
To taste Salt

A drop Green Food Colour | Optional

A drop Tomato Red Food Colour | Optional

Water, as required

For Other Farsan

2 cup Besan | Chick Pea Flour
1 cup Rice Flour

1 tsp Red Chilli Powder

a small pea size Hing | Asafoetida Compounded

3 tblsp Homemade Butter, unsalted
To taste Salt

A drop Green Food Colour | Optional

A drop Tomato Red Food Colour | Optional

Water, as required

METHOD

Preparing Spice Mix

In a small bowl mix red chilli powder, hing powder and salt. Keep aside.

Preparing Boondi

In a mixing bowl add both flours, salt, red chilli powder, hing powder and cooking soda. Gently combine.
Add water little by little and whisk to make a thick batter. The batter consistency is just like Bajji Batter.
Portion the batter to three bowls - 1/2 of the batter in one bowl and 1/4 of the batter in the other bowls.
Combine the food colours in the bowls that contains 1/4th of the batter, respectively. Making coloured boondis is optional!
Heat oil in a thick bottomed kadhai.
As the oil becomes hot, using the Boondi slotted ladle, make boondis, First the plain batter thereafter the coloured batter.
Ensure the boondis are fried well and are crisp. Remove on to an absorbent paper.

Preparing Other Farsan

Soak compounded hing in 1 tsp hot water for 1 hour. This has to dissolve in water.
In a mixing bowl, add rice flour, besan, hing water, red chilli powder, butter and salt. Mix well by rubbing with your fingers.
Add water in stages to knead a soft dough.
In a deep kadhai, heat oil for frying.
Knead the dough gently for a minute. Portion them to 4 equal parts.
To test the oil temperature, add a little bit of dough and if bubbles appear as soon as the dough drops in the oil, the oil is perfect temperature. The flame has to be on high throughout.
In a murrukku press, add a portion of this soft dough and when the oil is hot, press in concentric circles, Take care you do not press the layers too much one on top of the other, as they will not become crisp.
Turn the farsan to the other side after 1 minute and yet again after another minute. Once the bubbles in the oil almost subside, the farsan can be transferred onto a plate.
Prepare the rest in similar manner, by changing the Murrukku Press paltes. The dough is the same for all, just that we use different plates of the Murrukku Press as per our desire. We have made Ribbon Pakoda, Karasev, Thenkuzhal and Omapodi. The former is the widest, and the latter is the thinnest! While making Thenkuzhal, after one round of plain coloured, we mixed the food colour to get green and tomato red coloured ones. This is optional!

In the same kadhai, reduce the flame to low and fry peanuts, till they become crisp. Remove on to an absorbent paper. Keep aside.
Next fry the chutney dal and when they become crisp transfer to an absorbent paper. Take care the chutney dal does not get burnt. Keep aside.
We need to fry Kadhi Patta to crisp. Take care while frying these. ensure there is absolutely no water on the leaves. Keep your face away from the kadhai as sometimes these make the oil splutter. Keep aside.
Assembling South Indian Mixture

Break all the farsans to about an inch long piece.
In a large mixing bowl, add the broken farsan, fried boondi, fried peanuts, fried chutney dal and fried kadhi patta.
Sprinkle the spice mix powder and arisi mittai.
Toss well so that the spice mix gets coated uniformly.
Once the mixture comes to room temperature, store in air tight container.
Serve as Tea time Snack!

South Indian Mixture stays fresh for more than a month when kept in air tight container. This tastes really delicious and is crunchy in every bite! A must during Diwali!

Note:

a. Instead of butter you can add hot oil.

b. You can use ready made Rice Flour instead of Homemade Rice Flour.

We have used:

1. Sundrop Heart Oil

2. LG Hing Compounded | Powder

3. Tata Salt Lite

4. Everest Tikhalal Red Chilli Powder

About C R Meena

(c) 2014 - 2016, Meena's Taste Mantra is the result of my ardent desire to share my recipes, with all who appreciate and celebrate food. These recipes are as a result of 60 years of cooking experience, influenced by tradition and exposure to various concepts, new recipes/ingredients and a passion for cooking - adapting to healthier alternatives.