Uppu Seedai (Cheedai) Recipe

Wishing you all happy Krishna Janmashtami 2012!

Seedai (aka cheedai) is the most prominent item of the Krishna jayanthi bakshanams (snacks). There are two varieties of seedais – sweet and the salt version. Sweet seedai is called “vella seedai” (vellam refers jaggery). The salty version is called “uppu seedai” (uppu means salt). If somebody refers to the term “seedai” then most likely there are taking about uppu seedai!

Ingredients:

Rice flour: 1 cup
Urad flour: 2 tbsp
Butter: 2 tbsp
Grated coconut: 2 tbsp (use fresh coconut for better taste)
Sesame seeds (til/ellu): 1/2 tbsp
Cumin seeds (jeera/jeeragam): 1 tsp
Asafetida (hing/perungayam): 1/4 tsp
Salt: to taste
Oil: to deep fry

Seedai is little tricky to prepare. Watch out, they may burst in oil! There are a few tips that could help you avoid the burst and prepare tasty and crunchy seedais. No big secret here, am going to share the same tips that you may get from your mom/mil 😉

1. Sieve rice and urad flour.  I would definitely recommend sieving the flours. It removes all the impurities including small flour crumbs.
2. Clean sesame and cumin seeds. There may have small stones/dust particles.
3. Knead a soft dough such that you can roll small balls of it. The dough shouldn’t be watery or too tight.
4. Most importantly do not “tightly” roll the balls. Roll it as loosely as possible. What I mean is do not give importance to the perfect “spherical” shape and roll it very tightly. If rolled tightly, then seedai would burst in oil.

Preparation Method:

• Sieve the flours.
• Melt butter and add it to flour along with other ingredients.
• Mix thoroughly.
• Add water, in small quantities and knead the flour mixture into a soft dough.
• Take small amount of the dough and roll into small ball.
• Once you have rolled enough balls (say 30-35), deep fry them in oil over a medium flame.
• Do not over heat oil.
• Using spoon/griddle keep moving the balls in oil to ensure uniform frying.
• If you use small pan, then fry only 15-20 seedais at a time. Else they may stick with each other while frying.
• Drain oil and serve the yummy seedai/cheedai

Share & Enjoy! -