Ottu Pakoda/Diamond Pakoda/Aaram Number

Ottu Pakoda or Diamond cuts is a frequent snack in my mom's place. My sister used to make this whenever we go to my brother's place for any occasion. I have seen her making, but haven't tried myself. This time when we had plans for visiting VJ's sister during the weekend I wanted to give this a try and the outcome was too good. I got the recipe from my sister, but after that while googling for more information I came to know that this is one of the famous kerala snacks popularly known as Aaram Number. The actual recipe uses Maida as the main ingredient, since my lil one loves fried snacks I wanted to reduce the amount of maida in it. So I combined maida and whole wheat flour in the ratio 2:1, still the crispies tasted yumm.. Now to the recipe..

Ingredients

Maida - 1 cup
Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Refined oil - 1 tbsp (to add to the flour)
Small onions - 6 to 8, very finely chopped
Green chilli - 2 or 3, very finely chopped
Curry leaves - one strand, very finely chopped
Salt and hing as per taste
Water for making dough  (less than 1/2 cup is what I used)
Oil for deep frying

Method

Chop the onions, green chillies and curry leaves to very fine pieces. Else it will be hard while rolling the dough. Take a mixing bowl, add the maida and whole wheat flour. 

 Heat 1 tbsp of oil until smoky and add it to the flour mixture. Use a spoon to mix it well. Add the chopped onion, g.chilli, curry leaves, salt and hing. Mix them well.

Add water little by little and make a smooth dough as we make for chapathi's. The dough should not be too loose or too tight. Do not allow the dough to sit too long as the onions will start making the dough still watery.

Make medium sized balls, take a ball and roll into thin circles like chapathi. Using a knife draw firm lines horizontally and then vertically so that they form diamond shapes. Run the knife under the diamonds just like lifting them upwards and remove them to a separate plate. Do not worry if they tend to stick together. They will return back to their shapes while frying. Roll and cut the other balls in the same manner and transfer to the plate.

Heat the oil for frying, test if it is really hot by dropping a tiny piece of dough. If it immediately sizzles and comes up that's the correct temperature. Drop a handful of diamond cuts in the oil very carefully (adjust the quantity as per the amount of oil in your wok).

Using a slotted ladle gently mix the diamond cuts so that they evenly gets browned on all sides. Make sure the heat is in medium flame at all times. Remove when they turn golden brown, drain and transfer to any container. Repeat the process for all the diamond cuts. Crispy and crunchy ottu pakodas are ready to be munched on. Allow to cool and store in an air tight container.