Omapodi Recipe (Karapusa)

Preparation

1. Heat a small pan and keep the heat to a low. Add 1 teaspoon carom seeds.
2. Stirring often roast carom seeds for some seconds till they are aromatic. No need to brown them. Set aside and let them cool.
3. When cooled, add them in a small dry grinder jar or a spice grinder.
4. Grind to a fine powder. Set aside.

Making omapodi dough

1. In a mixing bowl or pan take gram flour and rice flour.
2. Add the ground carom seeds powder.
3. Then add asafoetida (hing), turmeric powder, red chilli powder and salt. You can add salt as per taste. Turmeric powder can be omitted. For a spicier omapodi, you can increase the quantity of red chilli powder.
4. Mix very well with a spoon or spatula. Next heat 1 tablespoon oil in a steel bowl or a steel measuring cup.
5. When the oil becomes hot, add it to the flour mixture. Instead of oil you can also use ghee or butter.
6. Mix oil with the flour mixture with a spoon or spatula.
7. Next add water in portions. First add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water. Mix well and begin to knead to a smooth dough. Overall I added 7 tablespoons of water. You can add 6 to 7 tablespoons of water depending on the quality of gram flour and rice flour.
8. Knead to a smooth dough. If the omapodi dough becomes sticky, then you can add some more besan. If the dough looks dry, then add some more water and knead again. Cover the bowl.

Frying omapodi

1. From the sev press or murukku press, take the disc that is used to make omapodi. You can even use the disc with fine holes.
2. Heat a kadai and add oil as required for deep frying omapodi.
3. Apply some water or oil in the sev press or murukku maker. Then take a portion of the omapodi dough and place it inside the sev maker. Cover with the top part and keep aside.
4. Let the oil in the kadai become medium hot. Check the oil temperature by adding a small tiny piece of the omapodi dough. 
5. If the small piece of dough comes up gradually and steadily on top, the oil is hot enough to fry. If it comes up too quickly, then oil is too hot. If it settles down at bottom of kadai or comes up very slowly, the oil is not hot enough for frying omapodi.
6. When the oil is hot enough, directly press holding the sev maker on top of the oil and let the dough strands directly fall in the oil. While pressing rotate in a concentric circle from the center to outwards similar to making a chakli. Do not over crowd the kadai with the dough strands. Add as much as needed without overcrowding the kadai. Be careful when pressing the sev in the oil.
7. After the dough strands are pressed in the oil, break the top sev strands with a spoon or knife and let the dough strands fall in the oil.
8. After adding the dough strands in the oil, do not touch them immediately with the slotted spoon as they break. Let them get fried first for a minute. They need to become crisp first and then you can turn them over with the slotted spoon.
9. Gently begin to turn with a slotted spoon. Now fry the second side.
10. You can turn over a couple of times for even frying.
11. When the oil stops sizzling, continue to fry for some more seconds till the omapodi are golden and crisp. Turn over as needed when frying.
12. Once done then remove with a slotted spoon or a strainer spoon draining off the extra oil.
13. Place them on kitchen paper towels. Fry the remaining omapodi in the same way in batches.
14. When they are cooled, then place them in an air tight container or box.
15. Serve omapodi as a diwali snack or a tea time snack.