Name: Kara Boondhi | Spiced Boondhi Recipe
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 1 ½ cups Kadalai Maavu /Besan; ¼ cup Arisi maavu / Rice flour; 1 ½ tsp Red chili powder (I used the Kashmiri chili powder); Salt (to taste); ½ cup Peanuts; few Curry leaves; ¼ tsp Asafetida; 0.5 cup Oil (to deep fry)

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Kara Boondhi is a mixture consisting of boondi, peanuts, cashews, curry leaves, and spices. This is one of the Fried snacks that are made during Diwali in South India.

This Kara Boondhi is yet another savory snack that I prepared for Diwali this year. My initial idea was to make Boondhi and use it to make Mixture, but due to the crazy schedule, I decided not to make a Mixture and made Kara Boondhi instead, along with the Ribbon Pakoda / Nada Thenkuzhal and Apple Halwa.

This is a very simple bakshanam/snack and could be made within an hour. We do need the special Boondhi plate, also called the Jharni, to make the boondhi. We can also use a wide ladle with holes in it to make it.

Also, having a silicon spatula really helps to push the batter through the jharni holes. I made my boondhis medium spicy. You could always increase the red chili powder quantity in the batter, or also mix some extra chili powder after frying the boondhis.

Preparation time - 5 mins
Cooking time - 40 mins
Difficulty level - easy

Ingredients to make Kara Boondhi - (makes about 8 cups of Boondhi)

Kadalai Maavu /Besan - 1 ½ cups
Arisi maavu / Rice flour - ¼ cup
Red chili powder - 1 ½ teaspoon (I used Kashmiri chili powder)
Salt - to taste
Peanuts - ½ cup
Curry leaves - few
Asafetida - ¼ tsp
Oil - to deep fry

Procedure

Heat oil in a wide and deep pan.

In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, asafoetida, and chili powder. With a whisk, mix together all the ingredients vigorously so there are no lumps in the flour.

Now, slowly add water and make it into a thick batter. Be careful when adding water. The batter should be neither too thick nor too runny to form a perfect round boondhi. To test for the perfect boondhi, after making the batter, dip the back of a spoon into the batter and let the batter drip in the hot oil. If the batter forms tails and is not round, then you know that the consistency is off. In this case, add slightly more water and check again.

Once the batter comes to the right consistency, pour a ladleful of batter onto the jharni or the boondhi ladle placed directly over the hot oil and let the batter drop into the oil as tiny drops. Using a rubber spatula, slowly rub the batter against the jharni to enable the batter to pass through it. Make sure that you do all this on a low flame.

After all the batter passes through the jharni, wipe the plate well on either side and keep it ready to make the next batch. Now increase the flame to medium and cook the boondhis well until golden brown and crispy. Once friend well, drain it on a paper towel-lined bowl and repeat the same with the rest of the batter.

Once the batter is all done, drop a handful of curry leaves in the hot oil and fry them for a couple of minutes until they are crisp. Drain. Once cooled a bit, crush slightly with your fingers and add it to the fried boondhi

Fry the peanuts as well in the hot oil until it is golden brown and drain. Now add this to the boondhi.

Mix the boondhi well to incorporate it with the rest of the ingredients. Let it cool down well and then store it in an air-tight container.

If you feel that the Kara Boondhi is less spicy, add more chili powder after all the boondhis are fried and mixed well.

Other Snack ideas

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