MIXTURE

South Indian ‘mixture’ and Maharashtrian ‘chivda’ and North Indian ‘farsan’ are all similar yet a little different. And as the name suggests, it is a mixture of several items.

Agreed it takes time to prepare it but the taste makes the efforts worthwhile!

Ingredients

Groundnuts – ¾ cup

Pottukadalai (Futana dal) – ¾ cup

Aval (thick poha) – 1 cup

Curry leaves – 3-4 tbsp

Besan (gram flour) – 2 cups

Rice flour – 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder – 2-3 tsp

Asafetida – ¼ tsp

Cashew nuts (optional) – 2-3 tbsp

Oil for frying

Method

Microwave the groundnuts for 2 minutes. After 5 minutes, stir them and again microwave them for another 2 minutes. Set aside.

Microwave the ‘pottukadalai’ for 2-3 minutes – till it is crisp. Set aside.

Use 1 cup besan for making ‘omappodi’ and the other cup for ‘boondi’.

Omappodi (sev) – To one cup of besan, add 1 tsp of rice flour, ½ tsp red chilli powder and salt and mix well. Add water little by little and make a dough which is a bit loose so that it falls through the ‘omappodi naazhi’ easily.

Heat oil in a kadhai.

Fill the dough in ‘nazhi’ (chakli maker) using the ‘omappodi’ plate.

Squeeze it in circular motion into the hot oil. Lower the heat.

After a minute, flip the omappodi. After another minute, when both sides are uniformly golden brown, drain off from the oil.

Prepare omappodi with the entire dough. Set aside.

Boondi – To one cup of besan, add ½ tsp of rice flour, and salt and mix well. Add water to make a smooth, thick batter.

Use boondi-maker to make boondis in hot oil and drain off. Set aside.

Use a big steel strainer to fry ‘aval’ (poha) in batches – take 1 tbsp aval in the strainer and dip it in the hot oil in a kadhai and drain off onto a tissue when done. Repeat with the entire ‘aval’. Sprinkle required salt and mix well.

Next take a tbsp of curry leaves in the strainer and dip in hot oil till they turn crisp. Drain off onto a tissue.

Fry cashew nuts till light brown.

Now all items are ready to be mixed.

Heat 2-3 tsp oil in a big kadhai. Add 2-3 tsp red chilli powder, asafetida and salt (required for the micro waved groundnuts and ‘pottukadalai’) and mix well. First add groundnuts and pottukadalai and curry leaves. Mix well.

Next add the boondi, omappodi, aval and cashew nuts and mix well. Check the taste.

If you feel it needs to be more spicy, heat 1 tsp of oil, add red chilli powder and add it to the mixture and mix well.

Tips
Use of strainer for frying 'aval' and curry leaves makes the job easier and saves time as well.

By the time you are done with the frying, you will be tired! To save some of the hard work, I do a bit of cheating – I use ‘boondi’ available at the store. The rest are home-made!

If you want to increase the quantity, you can ‘adulterate’ the mixture with 1 cup of ‘murmura’ micro-waved for a minute – it will taste as good but won’t look like the authentic South Indian ‘mixture’.
                                                
© Copyright 2011. Brinda Balasubramonian.