Crispy and Hot Gathia (Tikha Gathiya)

I made some crispy and hot gathias for my son as he loves munching them when he comes home from school.  Gathias can be made and stored for a couple of weeks.  I love them in my lunch box and they also make a handy snack when you are travelling.

Gathias are shaped slightly thicker than sev and made a bit hotter by adding chilly powder to the recipe. It makes a great snack and quite easy to make at home.   Apart from the ingredients you will need the following gadget. I call it the sev gathia machine which has different discs to make various sizes of sev, gathia and chakri. . This gadget is sold in most Indian shops selling utensils.

Ingredients:

2 heaped cups of chick pea flour

2 tablespoons of rice flour

1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
1 tablespoon chillypowder ( you can add more if you like hot food)

 pinch or turmeric

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 litre oil for frying

1 cup warm water for mixing the dough  - to use as required

Method:

1.  Sieve the chick pea flour, rice flour, chillypowder and salt in a mixing bowl. 

2.   Add the turmeric and lemon juice.

3.   Add warm water and mix the dough using a fork for as long as you can.  Chick pea flour can get very sticky.   Once you get the dough mixed, grease your hands and check that  the dough is of  a fairly soft consistancy.  Transfer this to a clean plate, cover  and allow the dough to rest for half an hour.  I tend to divide the dough into managable pieces so that it is easy to refill the sev gathia machine.

4.   In the mean time, heat the oil to medium heat. 5.   Grease the gathia maker cylinder lightly with oil, choose the appropriate  disc and fill it with the dough. 6.   Check that the oil is hot - by dropping a small piece of dough in the oil. If it rises quickly - the oil is hot and ready.  Now lower the heat whilst you are dropping the gathia into the oil. Turn the handle of the gathia makes and  drop the gathia directly into the oil - if possible- in a circular fashion, spreading it evenly in the oil, so it does not stick together. Only use half the mixture in the gathia mixture at each stage. ( Note to self: remember t  lower the heat whilst you are making the gathia over the oil and then raising the heat once the mixture is all in the oil.) 7.  Turn the gathia once and allow to cook.  The gathia is best cooked at medium heat or it will burn.

8.  Remove the gathia  with a  metal skimmer and place it  in a colander to allow any excess oil to drain off.

9.  Once cooled, the gathia needs to be stored in an airtight container.

My recipe was sev is posted here.  

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