Recipe : Ribbon Pakoda

Ribbon Pakoda has been an all time favorite and a must for Diwali in most Tamil households for a long time.  It is called ribbon Pakoda as the snack looks like a ribbon.

There are different recipes for this and they all come out equally tasty. My dear sister has this mouth watering combination of ingredients:

Raw rice  : 5 cups
Fried dal  : 1 cup

Wash and dry the rice. Dry roast the dal until a nice aroma arises. Get the rice and dal milled together. This is the basic flour.

The other combinations are:

1)  Besan        : 2 cups
     Rice flour  : 2 cups

2)  Besan        : 1 cup
      Rice flour : 2 cups

3)  Besan              : 1.5 cups
     Fried dal flour : 0.5 cup
     Rice flour        : 2 cups

I have tried all the above combinations with good results.

On to the recipe:

Flour as per any one of the combinations above
Red chilli powder    : 1 or 2 tsp as per taste
Hing                         : 1 tsp
Salt                           :  to taste
Butter                       : 2 tbsp
Black sesame seeds  : 2 tsp
Oil                            : for frying

Method:

Beat the butter and salt together until fluffy. Soak the hing powder in a little water. Mix the flour and red chilli powder in a wide mouthed pan or plate. Add the butter-salt mixture, soaked hing, and sesame seeds. Add water as required and knead to a soft and stiff dough.

Heat the oil. When the oil starts smoking, press the dough into it using the 2 slits plate. Remove from oil when done.
 
Enjoy!