Urad Dal ~ Rice Nippattu / Crackers / Nippat.

“Urad Dal ~ Rice Nippattu / Crackers / Nippat” … Nippat is crispy snack prepared during festive season … You can prepare this both bland and spicy … The spicy one’s can be relished as it is (karum kurum) and the bland one’s are used while preparing chaat’s … I have prepared these spicy this time to enjoy them as it is … Very easy to prepare … Go ahead and Enjoy this one this Diwali with family and friends … Yummy Yumz ….. 

Nippattu or Nippat (In Konkani) and Crispy Crackers in English are small poori / round shaped disc deep fried snacks that can be relished any time of the day. These can be prepared both bland and spicy. Again they can be deep fried or baked. But then for baking you will need ovens with larger capacity, which is a little bit difficult for those staying in India. As in India we usually use OTG and baking in them will not only take up lots of time, but will also be not economical as it will consume lot of electricity. We GSB Konkani Saraswats prepare this in many varieties during festive seasons. We can also add in many ingredients like onion, jackfruit seeds, putani (roasted gram) etc. to these. So also can this be prepared using different dals, but the basic ingredient is rice flour for crisp textured nippats. Without running much into details about nippattu I am going straight into the method of preparation / recipe as it is festive time and I am sure all of you want to learn to prepare this and enjoy with your family. I will be posting many combinations soon, so keep an eye on my Blog for more yummy recipes / savories / sweets and dishes too.

Ingredients :

Urad Dal / Black Gram Dal (without skin) : 1 cup

Rice Flour : 4 heaped cups

Hing / Asafoetida Powder : 1 heaped tsp

Red Chilly Powder : 1 tblsp

Haldi / Turmeric Powder : ½ - ¾ tsp

Green Chillies : 8-10

Curry Leaves : About 15-20 fresh one’s

Hot Oil : ½ cup

Salt to taste 

Oil for Deep frying

** Wash and soak urad dal for 2-3 hrs. Drain in a colander for 15-20 mins. The excess water should all be drained off. Put this in a mixer grinder and grind to a coarse texture for 2 mins. Do not add in water. The ground dal should be coarse and not like paste. Sort of thick lapsi texture. Put the ground dal in a wide bowl. Add in rice flour, hing powder, chilly powder, haldi powder, salt to taste and curry leaves cut into fine pieces. Mix all the ingredients loosely to a crumbled mixture.

** Now keep sprinkling water and kneading the mixture till you get a stiff dough. Do not at any point pour water in one go. The amount of water depends on the moisture content in the ingredients. You may need about approximately 1-1.5 cups of water or more too. 

** Once the dough is kneaded into a balling consistency add in the hot oil and further knead till all the oil has been absorbed and you get a stiff smooth kneaded ball out of the mixture. Divide the dough into large sized 3-4 balls and keep ready.

** Heat oil for deep frying in a thick bottomed kadai. Meanwhile, apply little bit of oil to plastic sheet and place in between on large sized ball of the mixture. Do not dust the mixture. Roll with a rolling pin the dough into a large sized roti. Do not worry if the shape is not right. Just make sure that you roll it evenly with the same thickness through out. 

** Remove the top plastic sheet and with the help of any round shaped cutter press down do get disc cuts in the rolled roti. I used the lid of a plastic dabba / box. You can use any round shaped or any other shaped cutter too. I once prepared these in star shaped before I started blogging and it was beautiful. This method ensures that you get evenly shaped crackers / nippattus. Plz. check on the the step by step pictures posted. Gently remove the excess mixture round the discs and keep it aside to use again to shape into disc. Prepare all the dough balls into similar sized discs. Also mix the excess dough removed into a ball and roll and prepare the same.

** By now the oil must have reach smoking hot consistency. Add in a small pinch of the dough to check the heat consistency. If the dough turns brown immediately wait for a few minutes so that the oil cools a bit. The small piece of dough when added to the oil should sink down and bounce back sizzling and float on top with bubbles round it. Now it has reached the correct heat consistency. Maintain this temperature of oil through out deep frying of the nippattus.

** Gently remove the nippattus from plastic sheets and add into the oil. Do not overcrowd the kadai as there should be enough space for the nippattus to get evenly cooked and turn to crispy brown. Wait for a few minutes and then stir and over turn them. Fry till they are evenly browned flipping often to get evenly done. Remove on an absorbent paper and proceed with the remaining dough till all are fried and done.

“Urad Dal ~ Rice Nippattu / Crackers / Nippat” is done and ready to be stored / served. Store them in air tight containers once they have cooled down completely. They will turn crisp once they cool down, so do not overfry them. Enjoy this Diwali by serving your family and friends this yummy savory spicy snack and stay blessed. Have a prosperous Diwali.