Growing up in Minnesota, I didn’t have a lot of access to Indian grocers. I remember driving 8 hours to a grocery store in Chicago every few months to get the supplies we needed for meals. Papdi is something that is eaten very often with a meal. This dough is rolled out into a tortilla basically and then it is dried on sheets in the sun until it is very hard like plastic. You eat it by microwaving it, roasting it on an open flame, or frying it! They puff up and become very crunchy, its a great snack, kind of like a chip. We would wait until August and then all the women who lived nearby would come over and make their supply for the year. We would make 40-50 pounds a day and split it between everyone. Because it is a dried product it keeps for the whole year. When I was a kid my job was to lay out all of the tortillas in the sun to dry. If the wind blew, and the tortilla folded over and broke while it was still soft I got to eat it! Because you can eat it as a dough, we would make extra for lunch and roll out the rest to dry. It is a great tradition and memory of cooking with all the women in my family. Even though the fully dried product is now readily available near me, I still like making the dough for a midday snack in the summertime!
Ingredients:
- 8 c. of water
- 4 c. rice flour
- 2 tbsp. green chili paste
- 2 tbsp. whole cumin (jeera)
- 2 tbsp. ajwain (ajmo)
- 2 tbsp. sesame seeds
- 2 tbsp. papad kharo
- 2 tbsp. neutral oil
- 2 tbsp. salt
Method:
- Boil water with all spices and stir until salt dissolves. Note: I used roasted cumin because I didn’t have the raw cumin on hand. I don’t really taste the difference but I know there are people that are very strict about their choice in cumin! If you’re serving this to your grandmother USE THE RAW CUMIN!
- Slowly mix in your rice flour while stirring vigorously. Turn off the heat once you’ve poured in the last of the flour. Don’t worry if you have dry spots as you knead it, the dough will hydrate. It should be fairly dry once you’re done mixing all the flour in. Trust me on this one you’ll need all 4 cups!
- Keep a bowl of ice water nearby. Empty the hot dough into a separate bowl and start kneading. The dough will be very hot so feel free to dunk your hands in the ice water from time to time. Keep kneading until all the dry spots get absorbed and you the dough is very soft and sticky, and there are no clumps. You can eat the dough at this stage if you want, but I definitely recommend going the extra mile to steam them, it makes a world of difference!
- Oil your hands with roughly a 1/2 tsp. of oil and make little balls with your hands. Once the dough starts sticking to your hands again just oil them again. You’ll have to oil them once every 3-4 pieces.
- Put all the pieces in a steamer basket or steamer stand and steam them for 15 minutes. If you don’t have a steamer you can pour in about an inch of water at the bottom of the pan, add in the balls a single layer at a time and close the lid for 15 minutes. If you are steaming it in the pan you’ll have to do it in batches because the pan method can only steam a single layer at a time. They should be still super soft and moist when it comes out. Eat it piping hot with achar masala, sesame seeds, peanut oil, coriander chutney, or lemon juice!
Papdi no Lot
Ingredients
- 4 c. of water
- 2 c. rice flour
- 1 tbsp. green chili paste
- 1 tbsp. whole cumin jeera
- 1 tbsp. ajwain ajmo
- 1 tbsp. sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp. papad kharo
- 1 tbsp. neutral oil
- 1 tbsp. salt
Instructions
- Boil water with all spices and stir until salt dissolves. Note: I used roasted cumin because I didn’t have the raw cumin on hand. I don’t really taste the difference but I know there are people that are very strict about their choice in cumin! If you’re serving this to your grandmother USE THE RAW CUMIN!
- Slowly mix in your rice flour while stirring vigorously. Turn off the heat once you've poured in the last of the flour. Don't worry if you have dry spots as you knead it, the dough will hydrate. It should be fairly dry once you're done mixing all the flour in. Trust me on this one you'll need all 2 cups!
- Keep a bowl of ice water nearby. Empty the hot dough into a separate bowl and start kneading. The dough will be very hot so feel free to dunk your hands in the ice water from time to time. Keep kneading until all the dry spots get absorbed and you the dough is very soft and sticky, and there are no clumps. You can eat the dough at this stage if you want, but I definitely recommend going the extra mile to steam them, it makes a world of difference!
- Oil your hands with roughly a 1/2 tsp. of oil and make little balls with your hands. Once the dough starts sticking to your hands again just oil them again. You’ll have to oil them once every 3-4 pieces.
- Put all the pieces in a steamer basket or steamer stand and steam them for 15 minutes. If you don’t have a steamer you can pour in about an inch of water at the bottom of the pan, add in the balls a single layer at a time and close the lid for 15 minutes. If you are steaming it in the pan you’ll have to do it in batches because the pan method can only steam a single layer at a time. They should be still super soft and moist when it comes out. Eat it piping hot with achar masala, sesame seeds, peanut oil, coriander chutney, or lemon juice!
