Chakri or Chakli (Spiral Shaped Crispy Indian Snacks)

Chakri's or chakli's as some people call them are crispy a spiral shaped Gujarati snack usually made from Rice flour (although I have seen recipes with wheat flour too -I have always used rice flour). I usually make them as a snack during school holidays and make them specially for Diwali.  I have been making chakris for years and have created a taste  my family and I enjoy.  I like my chakris to be crispy as well as spicy. If you use my recipe - you'll certainly enjoy the unique taste I have created using various ingredients in my recipe.

Ingredients for about 40 chakris

2 cups rice flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup chick pea flour
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 cup melted butter NOT GHEE please (Try and use salted butter)
2 cups of lassi (mixture of plain yogurt and water)
1 tablespoon lemonjuice
4 green chillies
1 teaspoon grated ginger
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1 litre oil for deep-frying

Method:

1. Sieve the three flours in a mixing bowl.

2. Add the salt, turmeric, chili powder, melted butter, lemon juice and sesame seeds.

3. Transfer the yogurt (home made and slightly sour is best) and water to a blender. Add the green chillies and ginger to this mixture and blend well so that the chillies and ginger get blended in the lassi.

4. Use the lassi to bind the dough for the chakri.

5. The dough should be soft. Leave this covered for 20 minutes.

6. Place the dough in chakri maker using the disc with the star -  or you can use an an icing bag.

7. Place a plastic sheet on top of your work top and try pressing the dough out of the chakri maker or the icing bag and make small spirals of dough on the plastic sheet.

8.   Make sure, you stick the end of the spiral to the middle of the chakri to ensure, it doesn’t unwind when frying.  Please see the photograph below:

9. Heat the oil as the chakris are now ready for frying.

10. Lift the plastic sheet and transfer the chakri to a flat spoon or skimmer and transfer the chakri to the hot oil.

11. As soon as you transfer 3-4 chakris to the oil, reduce the oil to the lowest temperature possible and let it cook as slowly as possible. Resist the temptation touch the chakris for a minute or two as you don’t want them to break or unwind any of the spirals.  Turn over the chakris slowly to cook on the second side.

12. Fry the chakris until they are crisp and brown.  Drain them on a kitchen paper.

13. These chakris can be saved in an airtight container for a week to 10 days to enjoy whenever you like with a cup of tea. In my opinion, they taste better cold.

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