Nippattu (deep fried cracker)

I don't watch too much TV, but I do watch couple of shows religiously. One of them is 'Chopped' competition on food network. Don't ask me why I watch since there is meat involved in every dish over there. Well, almost.

Ted Allen who hosts that show once said  "If you deep fry your tennis shoes, they'll taste great too". I don't mean to take him literally, but he is right. Deep fried foods taste way better than other foods that were cooked by other method. No wonder none of the chips making companies have gone bankrupt. At least yet or maybe I don't know about them.

What I have today is a common fried snack from the southern part of India. Some people call it Nippattu some Thattai and some thattai murukku. My mother never made these, so this is the first time I made them using some old book's photocopy. I don't even know who the author of that book is. But, that book had all measurements in big measuring vessels that my grandmother used to use. I came up with the proportion and the result was awesome. Don't forget to read the notes at the end of this post.

Ingredients:
Rice flour - 2 cups (Measured in standard measuring cup)
All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup
Chick pea flour / besan - 1 cup
Salt - to taste
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 2 tsp or more to taste (I made them not at all spicy for kids)
Roasted gram / Hurigadale /dalia - 1/4 cup
Peanuts - skin removed and halved - 1/4 cup (I used already roasted peanuts)
Vegetable Shortening or ghee - 1/4 cup (I used crisco)
Coconut - grated and measured  1 1/2 cup
Oil for deep frying (I used peanut oil)
Water - to make the dough

Method:
In a bowl, take all the flours, salt, chilli powder, baking soda. Add shortening and mix well till it is distributed uniformly. Add the roasted gram and slightly crushed peanuts (See Notes). Add coconut and slowly start adding water to make a smooth dough.
Heat the oil for deep frying in a deep skillet / banale. Take a wax paper and spray with vegetable oil spray. Make small lemon sized balls of the dough and pat into a disc on the wax paper. Oil your hands if they are sticky (they aren't). Make a hole in the center for even cooking. Repeat the same with all the discs. Meanwhile, when the oil is hot (medium hot), slip 6 - 8 discs (depending on how big your skillet is) at a time and deep fry them in medium low heat till they are nice and golden. You will have to flip them couple of times for even cooking. Do not crowd the skillet with too many discs or nippattu. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towel. When completely cool, store in air tight container.

Notes:
I did not crush the peanuts. Big mistake. They separate from the discs while deep frying. So, next time I will crush them so that they stay put. This recipe varies very much just like a sambar recipe or a dal recipe from house to house. Modify as per your taste. Some people put curry leaves in the dough. I didn't since I don't like them popping and splattering oil all over. You could definitely use some hing. I forgot to do so.
You can actually use just 2 TBSP of vegetable shortening. Mine were very nice and flaky and I think it is because of 4 TBSP (1/4 cup) of vegetable shortening. I have eaten these before which are really hard to bite. So, I played safe and added enough shortening. 

Enjoy!!