Khara Boondi

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Gram flour (besan)
• 1 tsp Rice flour
• 1/2 cup water adjusted as needed 
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 tsp Red chilly powder
• A pinch of Asafatida
• Curry leaves few
• 4-5 Cashew nuts
• Oil to deep fry
• Perforated Spoon (utensil)

Method: 

1. In a bowl mix the gram flour, little salt, little red chili powder, asafatida and water to make a smooth batter.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium high heat.
3. The frying pan should have enough of space as the oil will raise when batter is poured.
4. Test if the oil is the right temperature, drop a pinch of batter into the oil, if it rises immediately without changing color then the oil is ready to start frying.
5. Hold the perforated spoon above the oil and center of pan in one hand and with the other hand pour some of the batter on to the perforated spoon to cover all the holes with spilling towards the edge of the spoon.
6. The batter will start dropping through the holes into the oil.
7. If the batter doesn’t drop right away through the holes, pour the batter back to the batter bowl, mix a little more water to the batter and start again.
8. Drop enough boondi into the oil so they just cover the surface of the oil in frying pan in a single layer
9. Fry them until the sound of sizzling stops and boondis are light gold in color and crispy.
10. Lift the boondi out of the oil with a slotted spoon (this allows excess oil to drip back into the frying pan) and put them in a bowl with paper towel at bottom.
11. Before making the next batch of boondi, wipe clean the perforated spoon. This helps to keep the boondi round.
12. When finished with all the boondi's.
13. Fry the curry leaf in oil, remove and crush them and add to the boondi bowl.
14. Fry Cashew nuts in the oil until golden brown, remove and add to the boondi bowl.
15. Sprinkle little salt and red chili powder on the boondi and mix them all together without breaking the boondi's
16. Cool it and store in airtight container.
17. Great for snacks