Churuttappam

Churuttappam, Kuzhalappam or rice flour cannoli happened to be a common item in Christian households  when I was a kid. My mami living in Kottayam used to make it and I was just crazy for this mildly flavored savory item. Later it was available in bakeries and during many visits to Kerala we used to buy.

Yesterday I thought of trying to prepare it at home. Checked for the recipe on the net and I chose one from them. It turned out to be a success and my husband has approved the taste.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups rice flour (for 40 pieces)

1 ¼ cups water

½ cup Grated coconut

7 shallots

5 flakes of garlic

½ tsp cumin

½ tbsp. of black sesame

Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Instruction:

-       -   Grind the coconut, shallots, garlic and cumin to a fine paste with very little water. I use my grinding stone instead of blender to get a real fine paste.

-          - Take a thick bottomed kadai and roast the rice flour on low fire for about 4 minutes. Meanwhile keep the water with the salt to boil.

-          - Add the ground paste and sesame seeds to the rice flour, mix well, keeping the flame low, for two minutes.

-          - By this time the water must have come to boil, add it to the rice flour slowly and keep mixing with a ladle. Switch off the flame.

-          -  Wait till the flour cools down a bit, knead it into a smooth dough and cover it with a cling film or wet cloth. Keep aside for twenty minutes.

-         -  Knead the dough and divide it into 40 small portions. Take each portion, roll it into a ball with pressure between the palms. Flatten it into round on a puri press, wrap it around your left index finger. Let the edges overlap and press them together to join.

-          - Heat oil in a karahi and reduce the flame to medium. Slide the pieces into the hot oil, deep fry till light brown and drain.