Quick No Fail Crisp Chakli Recipe

Crisp, Easy Instant Chakli 

It’s time to share another popular Diwali treat – Crisp, Easy Instant Chakli. So here’s my quick no fail crisp chakli recipe, and it comes to you loaded with useful tips for getting this savoury treat right. In this recipe, there’s no hassle of grinding anything or roasting lentils and flours. My crisp easy instant chakli recipe has just a few ingredients and can be completed in minutes from start to finish.

There are many versions of chakli recipes across India with different combinations of flours, grains, and lentils, and variations in putting the dough together as well. But this version of crisp instant chaklis is closer to the Murukku of South India. Yes, it involves following the right techniques, but my video has clear instructions, explanations, and tips. Just follow these and you can’t go wrong.

Crisp chaklis are a crunchy, savoury snack you could enjoy any time of the year and not just during Diwali. So do give this recipe a shot and soon you could be enjoying your own homemade crisp instant chaklis. And if you want to try making another tasty Diwali treat, you simply must check out my quicker and easier recipe for soft rava besan ladoos.

Ingredients

2 ¼ cup rice flour

¾ cup besan

4 tbsp butter

2 tsp oil

1 tsp jeera (cumin) powder

1 tsp ohwa or ajwain (carrom seeds)

¾ tsp turmeric powder

3 tsp chilli powder

3 tsp sesame seeds

¾ tsp hing (asafoetida)

1 ½ tsp salt

Around 2 cups boiling hot water

Could make around 32 chaklis.

Procedure

1. Sift the rice flour and the besan. Then mix the two flours in a mixing bowl.
2. To this, add the jeera (cumin) powder, ajwain (carom seeds), turmeric powder, chilli powder, sesame seeds, hing (asafoetida), and salt. Mix all of this well.
3. To 2 cups of boiling hot water, add the butter and oil, and give it a quick stir.
4. Carefully add this very hot water to the flour mix, adding just a little at a time, mixing everything with a spoon to start with. Although you’ll have a shaggy dough at this stage, add just enough water to be able to knead it later into a medium firm but pliable dough. (You can adjust the dough consistency with more water or rice flour later on.) The quantity of water required will depend on the variety of rice the rice flour was made from. I ended up adding around 1 ⅔ cups of water to make the dough and had around 6 tbsp of water left over. (You might need a little more or a little less than this.) Any extra water that’s left over can be used to adjust the dough consistency later or else used up in your day’s cooking.
5. Cover the dough and let it rest for around 10 minutes.
6. Now wet your hand and start kneading the dough till it’s smooth and pliable. It should be neither too firm and crumbly nor too soft and sticky. If your dough is too sticky, add more rice flour to it. If it’s too dry and you need to add more water, add plain hot water.
7. Oil the inside of the chakli press including the inside surface of the star disc through which you’ll be pressing out the chakli dough to make chaklis.
8. Break off some dough, mould it into a cylindrical shape and insert it into the hollow cylinder of the chakli press. Press the dough down to remove any air gaps in it.
9. Lightly oil a few pieces of parchment paper and press out a chakli on each one.
10. Start heating the oil for deep frying the chaklis. Heat it on a medium flame.
11. The oil should be neither overheated or underheated. Drop a tiny bit of dough into it. If the dough piece rises to the top of the oil in 3 to 6 seconds, it indicates the temperature of the oil is just right.
12. Gently transfer a chakli from a parchment paper piece to your palm and carefully slide it into the oil. Don’t fry too many chaklis at one time because they need enough room to fry properly.
13. Fry the chaklis on medium heat for 2-3 minutes on one side and after flipping them, for another minute or so on the other side. Remove the fried chaklis to a paper towel-lined tray or bowl.
14. While one batch is frying, press out the next batch of chaklis.
15. Once all the chaklis have been fried, let them cool completely and then store them in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Important Tips for Making Crisp Chaklis

1. There cannot be a fixed quantity of water for this recipe because that depends upon the variety of rice the flour was made from. So add it very carefully, when you make the dough.
2. The dough should be neither soft and sticky nor too firm and crumbly. If it’s too firm, the dough strand will keep breaking as you press out the chaklis. In that case, add a little more water to it. If it’s too soft, the chaklis you press out will not have a proper shape and won’t have distinct spikes, In that case, add a little more rice flour to the dough.
3. The temperature of the oil is important. If it’s too hot, the chaklis will quickly turn brown from the outside but not cook properly inside. If it’s not hot enough, the chaklis will take longer to fry, absorb more oil, and not become crisp.
4. Fry just one chakli first and check its texture after it cools a little. If it’s too dense and not crunchy, then make the dough a little firmer by adding some more rice flour to it.
5. And don’t fry too many chaklis in one batch. They need enough room to fry properly.

Hope this helps!