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.