Diwali Special: AF Crunchy Rice Sticks – a pictoblog!

This snack brings back memories of a time when my little one could not have wheat. So, I would shape the dough used for this snack in the form of little pretzels and deep fry them. A labor of love – just so that he had a snack that looked like the snack other kids in the class were having 🙂

This is a slight twist on yet another festival favorite from my mom’s kitchen. So here is to spreading the light of good will and the aroma of Allergy Friendly festivities from our kitchen to yours…

Making this snack requires the use of a Crunchie maker or mould/strainer (self-named in lieu of a better word!!!). The mould essentially works as shown below though it could be made of different metals and designed slightly differently than that demonstrated.

A Crunchie Maker is available in ethnic Indian grocery stores. Or, you could buy an exclusive Allergy Foodie Crunchie maker/mould with engraving, directly shipped to you. Email me at AllergyFoodie@gmail.com for further enquiries. The Allergy Foodie mould will come with a recipe booklet to make many more snacks and savories 🙂

Now that we are geared up with the technology part of the snack, here is how this yummy snack is churned out…

Ingredients:

1. Rice Flour: 3 cups
2. Matpe Bean flour/ Urad daal flour: heaped 1/3rd cup
3. Butter substitute or oil: 2-3 tablespoons
4. Cumin seeds powder – 1/2 teaspoon (optional)
5. Salt to taste
6. Oil to deep fry (Use oil with high smoking point like corn oil)

Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine rice flour, matpe bean flour, cumin seed powder, butter substitute and salt.

   

2. To the dry mixture add water a little at a time to make a slightly wet dough similar to cookie dough consistency -approvimately 2 cups of water to get the right consistency. Ensure that there are no lumps in the dough. Cover and set aside.

   

3. Heat oil in a wide, deep, thick-bottomed vessel on medium heat. Pour enough oil so it is atleast 3 inches deep. A quick test to assess if the oil has reached the temperature right for deep frying – dip the holding end of a wooden ladle in the oil. If bubbles quickly form around the edges of the ladle, the oil has reached deep frying temperature.
4. To get the desired shape use the plate in the crunchie maker that has the desired shape. Crunchy Rice Sticks traditionally uses the plate with small holes. Grease the insides of the mold with a little oil to make squeezing out the dough easier.

   

5. As a good luck charm, shape 1/2 inch diameter ball of dough into a cone. This is fried first as the auspicious start to a great batch of crunchy rice sticks 🙂

   

6.  Take a small amount of dough and make a ball a little bigger than a golf ball and press it inside the mold. You will get about 10 balls this size from the dough.

   

   Place dough in the hollow part fitted with the plate underneath!

    

   

7. Now press the mold down over the oil moving it in a slow circular motion as you press down till the entire dough has come out in the form of thick twine. Do a practice round on a plate and then do it directly in the hot oil.

   Festival fervor peaks 🙂  

   

8. Cook it on low to medium heat for a minute.

   

   Careful – the oil will rise the moment the dough gets squeezed into it.

   Using a ladle with with holes in them gently spread the rice sticks just a little.Gently turn it over and cook till it is golden brown on the other side too. It takes approximately 3 minutes of cooking on each side to get a light golden brown color. If you like – cook them a minute longer on each side to get reddish golden brown rice sticks. 

   

9. Remove it from the oil and gently put it on a paper towel lined plate. Repeat the process till the dough is over.
10. Store it in an air-tight container once completely cooled down.

    

    Crunchy Rice Sticks!

    Crunchy Rice Sticks can be eaten as an anytime snack. They can also be used instead of croutons in soups and salads.  Enjoy crunching…