Uppu Seedai

A Deep-fried crunchy snack that has its origin in South India. Uppu seedai is made by forming a dough using rice flour, urad dal, and spices. The dough is then pinched and shaped into tiny balls and finally fried in oil. Uppu Seedai can be served along with evening tea/coffee. It is usually made during festival seasons such as Janmashtami and Deepavali.

Planning & Pre-Preparation: 15 mins

Soaking Time: 1 hour

Drying time: ½ hour

Resting time: 1/2 mins

Frying time: 4-5 mins.

Ingredients

• Urad Dal/ Uluttam Paruppu – 1 Cup

• Raw Rice – 4 Cups

• Water for soaking.

• Rice flour – 1 Cup

• Roasted Urad Dal powder - 2 Tbsp.

• Asafoetida/Kayam/Hing – 1/2 Tsp.

• Salt - per taste

• Butter - 20 Gms.

• Sesame seeds (black)/Ellu – 1/2 Tsp.

• Water to form a dough – Less than ¼ Cup

• Oil for frying.

Directions

A) Preparing Roasted Urad dal powder:

• To a Kadai add 1 cup of Urad Dal/ Uluttam Paruppu and dry Roast on a low flame till it turns golden brown.

• Once roasted, transfer it to a mixer grinder and grind it into a fine powder.

• Transfer the ground powder to a sieve. Sieve well to avoid lumps.

• Roasted Urad Dal powder is ready. Keep it aside.

• Store it in an air-tight container for future use.

B) Preparing Rice flour:

• To a bowl add 4 cups of Raw Rice and add enough water to it. Let it soak for an hour.

• After an hour, drain off the water and transfer the soaked and drained rice to a dry cloth.

• Spread the rice well and let it dry for 1/2 hour.

• After ½ hour, check whether the rice is dried, if not dry it for a few more mins.

• Once dried, transfer it to the mixer grinder and grind it into a fine powder.

• Transfer the ground rice flour to the sieve. Sieve well to avoid lumps.

• Rice flour is ready. Keep it aside. 

• Store it in an air-tight container for future use.

C) Preparing dough and Shaping Seedai:

• To a mixing bowl add Rice flour, Roasted Urad Dal powder, Asafoetida/Kayam/Hing, Salt, Butter, and Sesame seeds (black)/Ellu.

• Crumble the butter and mix well. Once the butter gets crumbled, Start adding a little quantity of water to form a smooth dough. Smooth Seedai dough will be formed.

• Grease hands with oil and take a small lemon-sized dough and start making seedai by taking a pinch of dough and shaping it into tiny balls in a dry cloth or plastic sheet.

• Let Seedai balls dry in a cloth for half an hour before frying.

D) Frying Seedai:

• To a Kadai, add sufficient oil for frying. To check whether the oil is ready, drop a pinch of dough into the oil, if it is fried and floats on top the oil is ready to use.

• After half an hour, start dropping the seedai balls gently by using a flat ladle into the oil. Fry on low flame. 

• Fry the seedai in batches. DO NOT OVERCROWD the seedai. 

• Fry until the seedai turns golden brown.

• Remove and transfer it to a plate lined with tissue paper.

• Uppu Seedai is ready!!!!

Points to be noted

• While preparing seedai dough, butter can be substituted with hot oil.

• Do not fry seedai balls immediately in Oil to avoid bursting of seedai. Let it dry in cloth for half an hour or more. Fry only after the water in seedai balls is completely absorbed or seedai balls are completely dry.

• After dropping the seedai balls in oil wait for 20 seconds before stirring the seedai. Stirring immediately may break down the seedai. 

• In order to check whether the seedai is completely fried, take a fried seedai ball and place it on a flat surface and smash that seedai ball using a palm, if the seedai completely turns into powder form, then that batch of seedais is done.

• Adding excess butter will crumble the seedai while frying. Less butter will result in hard seedai.