Boondi | Khara | Fried Chickpea Flour Snack

Boondi, according to Wikipedia, is a Rajasthani Sweet Snack. And the savory version of it is called Khara!! Well, I don't know about Khara, but for years, we have been making the savory and we call it Boondi! :~) We usually make it around Diwali time to use it in our Mixture (about which I'll be posting soon) It is easily available in all Indian Stores (I don't know about other countries. If you may do a little detective work, you should be able to find these. If not, then just make them at home. They are simple and delicious!) You can eat the Boondis as a mixed snack, by itself, or as Raita (mixed with curd & spices).

Boondis look like tiny balls. Mom has this large Boondi making spoon with holes in it. But you can use any large slotted spoon. The idea is to get mini balls. So you can pour the batter through any spoon / vessel/ utensil that has small round openings. 

Chickpea flour is high in protein! So I guess that is a consolation for this dish's high fat content! :-D

Ingredients (makes around 3 cups of boondi)

Chickpea flour / Gram flour / Besan - 2 cups

Rice flour - 1 cup

Salt - to taste - 2 teaspoons

Water - to make the Boondi Batter

Oil - for deep frying

Method

STEP 1: Sieve both the flours to get a fine flour.

STEP 2: Heat oil in a deep pan. 

STEP 3: In a large mixing bowl, mix the flours & salt well. Keep pouring the water little by little & mixing the flour. You need to pour enough water to make the batter into pouring consistency (like pancakes). First, mix with hand to ensure there are no lumps. Then, using a spoon or a whisk, beat fast to get a smooth batter

 

STEP 4: In the Boondi-Spoon, drop some batter you prepared before. Don't pour a lot. You have to be patient. And you can see tiny drops of batter falling into the hot oil. Do as much as your oil in the pan can take.

STEP 5: Fry well on all sides. If the oil is hot, it takes about 3-5 minutes.

NOTES:  

1. If your oil is hot enough, the Boondis will puff up beautifully instantly. If not>> Aaahh!! :D They will stick together & totally beat the purpose of a Boondi. My 1st batch was a flop!

2. You can add Spices to the batter to make it even more tasty. Since I was going to add it to a mixed snack, I didn't add any spice.

3. The amount of boondi / batter etc in the pictures don't correspond with what I've actually written. This is coz we made it on a large scale! I don't think you need that much unless you plan on distributing it to 50-70 people! :)

Happy Diwali!!!!!! ☺ ☻