Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Kuzhalappam

Making of Kuzhalappam has some fond memories from childhood. During X'mas, we used to host X'mas party for our family friends at our house. Mummy would make variety of Palaharam/snacks to be served. Kuzhalappam would be one among the snacks.



Making of it would be a combined effort of all at home. Mummy would make the dough. Then the rolling and shaping would be done by Papa, chetan (brother) and me, while Mummy would fry these. I used to love that team work.







Kuzhalappam can be had coated with sugar. I like the way they are and so never sugar coat it. Here is the recipe to the Kuzhalappam that I made. I hope you enjoy it.










Ingredients

  1. 2 cup of finely ground and roasted rice flour
  2. 1 tsp of black sesame seeds
  3. 1/3 cup of freshly grated coconut
  4. 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
  5. 1/2 tsp of garlic paste
  6. 3-4 shallots finely sliced
  7. Salt to taste
  8. Boiling water as required
  9. Oil for frying

Method
  • In a blender, add ingredients 3-6 and 2-3 tbsp of water. Grind it to a paste. Remove it into a bowl and keep it aside.
  • In a heavy bottom skillet, drop in the rice flour and the ground mixture. Mix it well , so that it gets distributed evenly. Now on medium heat, roast the rice flour mixture. Keep stirring continuously and adjusting the heat so that the rice flour does not burn. Once it is roasted, remove it from the heat and keep stirring it at intervals untill it cools down a little. This mixture would be fine but with little crumbs in it due to the coconut that do not ground into a paste. 
  • Add the sesame seeds and salt as required. Give it a mix.
  • Now add boiling water little by little while you stir it with a spoon untill you get a dough consistency. Let it cool down a little. Then knead it with your hands to form a soft but non sticky dough. 
  • Take a plate and cover it with a damp kitchen towel. 
  • Apply oil on your palms and roll out small balls of dough (3/4" in diameter). Place it on the plate, under the damp cloth. 
  • Once you have done making the balls out of the dough, its time to roll it out into thin discs. Take two banana leaves of about 20" X 20". Wash it and pat it dry. Place a leaf on the kitchen top and apply oil in its center. Now keep a ball of dough on it. Apply oil on the center of the other banana leaf and place it on top of the ball of dough. Now that you have a ball of dough in between two greased banana leaves, take a flat bottom plate or bowl and keep it on top of the banana leaf and press it with just enough pressure to form thin disc of dough. Gently peel off the disc of dough from the banana leaf and roll it into a kuzhalappam (refer tips).
  • Place it onto a tray. Once you have done working on a batch of kuzhalappams, heat up the oil for frying in a pan. Once hot, turn the heat to medium high heat and fry the kuzhalappams in it, tossing it in the oil to fry them evenly. Do not over fry it. They would be done once they stop bubbling and attain a golden brown colour.
  • Drain off excess oil and remove it on to a plate lined with paper towel. 
  • Let them cool down completely before you store it in an air tight container. 

Tips
  1. You have to be really generous with oil while making kuzhalappam. Applying oil while rolling out the dough helps them to prevent drying out as well as to help them roll out smoothly. Applying the oil on the banana leaves helps to peel them off with much ease.
  2. If you are making a big batch of kuzhalappams, I would recommend working in batches (batches of rolling out the dough into kuzhalappam) to prevent them from drying out.
  3. At home, my mom uses papaya stems to help get the kuzhalappams in shape. I used a thin straight plastic pipe to form the kuzhalappams. Do not forget to oil the pipe/papaya stem while you roll the disc of dough on it to give them the shape. It would help the kuzhalappam to slide out with ease rather than stick on to it.
  4. It is easier to make these if you have some one to help you out with. So that while a batch of it is being fried and new batch of kuzhalappams are being shaped into.
  5. Some people like the kuzhalappam sweet and go for sugar coating it. However, I just love it this way. If you wish, you could sugar coat it to make it a sweet treat.





16 comments:

  1. Caught my attention on FB, Anupa. My favorite treat. I don't know if I could go through the process of roasting the rice, but if I do, this is the recipe I will use ;-D Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Crispy and crunchy....... Wanna grab them right now, like the way you made it!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Seriously Anupa!!!!! When do you get time for making this traditional time consuming snack with the lil guy????? I love kuzhalappam, but never made it by myself. I remember helping my Mom like you mentioned. Since its my all time favorite salty snack, I always make sure to get the home made when I go to India. I have to remind my Mom, may be we can make it together.
    Arizona aduthalla, allenkil onnu visit cheyyamayirunnu hehe :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ehhh... this is not something that I made recently...I made it when my brother and sis-in-law visited us last August...Post that they visited us thrice but this post made it only now on my blog...he he :D..because for the first time in last 3 weeks Jordan decided to take a 1.5 hr nap :)

      Delete
    2. Pinne...do visit Arizona keto...love to meet u guys...oru kuzhalappam samelanam akki kalayam :D

      Delete
  4. Ugran kuzhalappam ...Shoo ee kochu enne kodipichu ready akum alloo... cinnamon rolls inde sheenam mariyillaaa.. :))

    Achappam , kozhalappam and mixture used to be the regular parcel from kalyana veedukal. So many happy memories attached to that. I am pretty sure the Italian cannoli got adapted to Kerala cuisine ( it was a symbol of fertility and served during festive season among the Catholics in 1900 ) When u read everything together it makes sense alle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Meena...I didn't know that fact about it... interesting...:)

      Delete
  5. wow love the snack and perfect dear

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kuzhalapam looks delicious Anupa :-) I used to help mom making these too :-)

    Oh Meena didn't know that...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Looks crisp......Is this regular store bought rice flour roasted?

    ReplyDelete
  8. looks crispy and delicious...very addictive snack..

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dangerously addictive kuzhalappams..Even i prepared some, now u r tempting me to make some soon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anupa ... super kuzhalappam.. kothippikalle..

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for paying us a visit :). If you happen to have tried any of the recipes posted here, please do leave a comment that could serve as a review for other fellow visitors of Palaharam.

Also, do feel free to send in your suggestions that could help us improve and serve you better using the 'Contact Us' form.

Blogging tips