Cheedai - Tiny Rice flour balls

I really didn't know how to call Cheedai in English and ended up calling them as tiny rice flour balls. Cheedai is a south indian recipe made for Krishna Jeyanthi (Birthday of Lord Krishna)/Gokulashtami. It is a very famous snack made from deep frying rice flour balls.

Making of cheedai has always made be nostalgic. Every time when my mom prepares cheedai, she will prepare the dough and give it to me and my dad. We both take partnership in making tiny balls out of it. We always end up fighting that the balls are out of shape or it is bigger. My mom never gets satisfied with the shape we make.



This snack is very easy to prepare. Though first time makers must be careful, because there are a lot of chances for the balls to pop when deep fried. But I have found out a easy technique to overcome this.

Tip: Make a hole with a toothpick on each ball before deep frying. It will help the balls from popping.


Ingredients:

1 cup of rice flour
1-2 tsp of Urad dal powder (Fry Urad dal in a pan without oil & powder it using blender)
Salt to taste
1 tsp of fried seasme seeds (fried in a pan without oil)
1 tbsp of ghee/clarified butter (optional), for preparing the dough

Oil for deep frying


Method:

Prepare the dough mixing all the above ingredients in a bowl. The dough must be semi solid.

Take small amount of dough and make tiny balls like shown in below picture.



As told before, use a tooth pick and make a hole in each ball.

In a pan, heat the oil.

Now put these balls and deep fry them till they turn light brown.

Allow them to cool. Store it in an air tight container and enjoy!

Note: They become crispy only after they are cooled to room temperature so do not hurry!