Omapodi | Gram Flour Fried Noodles flavoured with Carom Seeds | Traditional Deepavali Special Recipes by Masterchefmom

Hi Supermoms,

Indian Festival Celebrations is filled with delicious food and home made sweets and snacks makes the celebration more memorable. There are many traditional recipes that are made during Deepavali. "Omapodi' is one easy savoury snack to make. Just a handful of ingredients and minimum time, you have amazing home made snack ready. 

'Omam' in Tamil means Carom seeds ( it is called 'ajwain' in Hindi, 'Ugragandha' in Sanskrit ) . They are tiny seeds , an essential spice in Indian cooking. It has a strong flavour and also has so many digestive properties. It is often used to temper curries and sabjis ( vegetable stir fries). They are added to the batter of all deep fried snacks and also in the paratha dough. 

"Omapodi" literally translates into ' Carom seeds powder' . As the carom seeds flavoured fried noodles are so thin, it literally crumbles into powder , it is aptly named 'Omapodi'. It is so fascinating !

You will need a special instrument called the 'Murukku Press' to make this omapodi. You need to use the dice with many small holes in it to make shape them. 

Will add the stepwise pictures soon to this post. This is a fuss free , gluten free recipe and you can confidently try them . The dough for this snack needs to be slightly loose and not too hard. You can press a little on a plate to test for right consistency. If it breaks , then your dough needs more water. If it does not  hold shape then, your dough is very loose and you can fix it by adding more chickpea flour. 

Omapodi | Traditional Deepavali Recipes: 

Preparation time : 10 minutes 

Cooking time : 20 minutes

Serves : 4-6 

1 cup = 250 ml cup

Special Equipment/Vessel : Murukku Press , iron wok/kadai

Storage : It keeps good upto a week when stored in a clean , odour free and dry container 

Note : You can dry roast the carom seeds till fragrant and powder them whenever you find time. You can store them in an air tight container and use it to flavour your dishes. 

Ingredients :

2 cups besan/chickpea flour

1/4 cup rice flour 

1/2 teaspoon of ajwain/ carom seeds/omam ( dry roasted and powdered) 

2 teaspoons unsalted butter ( room temperature) ( If you are Vegan, skip butter and add 2 teaspoons of hot oil into the batter )

salt to taste

water ( adjust)

oil ( to fry)

Method :

1. In a wide bowl, add the flours, carom seeds powder, salt and mix well.

2. Add butter and incorporate it into the flour using your hands.

3. Add water little by little and make a soft pliable dough.

4. Grease the murukku press with oil. 

5. Take a portion of the dough and test the batter for right consistency. 

Chef tip : If there are too many cracks and breaks, then your dough needs more water. If it does'nt hold shape then, your dough is very loose and you can fix it by adding more chickpea flour. 

6. Heat a heavy bottom wide wok/kadai ( preferably iron kadai ) with oil over low flame.

Chef tip : Take enough oil in the kadai so that the omapodi can fry comfortably. 

7. When oil is hot, drop a small piece to check if the oil is ready to fry omapodi.

Chef tip : The dough has to instantly sizzle and float up. As they are very thin, it will hardly take any time to cook. Once the oil is hot, cook the omapodi over low flame only to avoid over browning. 

8. Now that the oil is ready, press the dough filled murukku press above the kadai ( at a distance where the heat is bearable for you ) and make one large omapodi that fits the kadai. 

Chef tip : You can make one large omapodi one per batch. 

9. When the omapodi is fried on one side gently toss and fry the other side .

10. Drain and place it in a kitchen tissue or dry leaf plate. 

11. Repeat the same process for the remaining dough. 

Your delicious Omapodi is now ready to be enjoyed immediately or can be stored and enjoyed later. This is a very tasty tea time snack too. 

Wishing you all a very Happy Festival Season 💖

Happy Cooking !

With love,

Masterchefmom