PUNUGULU OR CRISPY FRITTERS WITH DOSA BATTER

Ingredients:

  1 cup urad dal
  2 cups rice
  ¼ cup suji or semolina or upma rava
  Salt to taste
  750 ml oil to deep fry.Upto you.
  5 green chilies (minced or can add paste)
  2 big onion (chopped)
  1 tsp cumin

Procedure:

Soak the rice and urad dal for about 6hrs and then grind it.Let it ferment for 10 to 12hrs( but make the batter in thick consistency).It is the same procedure as we make Dosa batter, but in a thick consistency. Take 2 tbsp of oil in a pan and add onions,green chillies,salt and cumin seeds.Saute for 5 minutes and add to the above batter.Add semolina to the above,mix well and set aside for 20 minutes.If the batter is very smooth then add semoline/suji to make your batter thicker. I didnt measure how much I add, but I just added enough to make my batter thick. This will make crispy and less oily fritters. Heat oil for deep frying. Once the oil gets hot, reduce the flame to medium. Take a tablespoon and put inside the batter.Scoop the batter into the tablespoon and drop the content of the tablespoon into the hot oil. (You can use your hand instead of a spoon to drop small balls of the batter into the hot oil).Place 9-10 punugulu/fritters in the first batch.Do not crowd the vessel or else they will stick to each other.DOnt worry too much about the exact round shape of the balls.Turn the punugulu/fritters as they change color and cook till golden brown.Remove onto absorbent paper.Serve with chutney of your choice.

Note:If you dont have Semolina/suji,you can even use rice flour.Some make them sour tasting using fermented batter, while some make them with fresh batter. There is no specific way to follow while preparing batter, except that the batter must not be runny/very smooth.I like both ways. You can use fermented fresh dosa batter or 2-3 days old dosa batter which gives a nice sour flavor to the punugulu.I have added onions,chillies to give it little spice.You can even make with out any of these ingradients.This generally goes very well with Ginger chatney,tomato chutney,peanut chutney or coconut chutney.

Courtesy: my friend Akkisetti Shyam