It doesn’t matter how filling my breakfast was; as soon as the clock strikes 11, I have to take a tour of my kitchen pantry to see if there are some titbits that I can tuck into. More often than not, my search ends on a random packet of namkeen, you know, the Indian trail mix that can comprise anything from puffed rice to raisins, sev, mathri, and even corn flakes. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, so I am instinctively drawn towards namkeen. I won't deny, I am biased towards specific variants. For instance, I am never in favour of anything remotely sweet in my namkeen. I like it spicy and crunchy.
I recently came across an Instagram story of a friend who tried making makhana namkeen at home. “There are umpteen kinds of namkeen that you can gorge into every day, so why stick to the same old aloo bhujia?” she wrote. First of all, the attack on aloo bhujia was uncalled for. I mean, who can ever find it banal? But however, she did seem to have a point. Namkeen is essentially a combination of various sweet, salty, crunchy elements, and who enjoys combining bizarre things more than us Indians, right?
Homemade namkeens are easy to make, and more importantly, you can customise them as per your liking and even make them healthier if you please. Since one can never be sure of the quality of ingredients used in the store-bought namkeens, or be sure of the oil they use, or how fresh all the ingredients are when you are making namkeen at home, you don’t have to worry about these factors at all.
Making Papad Namkeen
Papad is an Indian crisp or a cracker that is made with lentil flour. They are rolled out super thin and sun-dried. They can be stored in air-tight containers for months and fried fresh when you need something crunchy and flavourful to give your everyday meals a facelift. Besides being an excellent side dish, papad can really hold its own anywhere. Have you ever tried the delicious masala papad? Papad served with a layer of chopped onions, tomatoes, chutney and drizzle of lemon. It is one of the best desi entrees you can serve at your house party.
Chef Saransh Goila recently went viral for giving us the “delishaas” recipe of papad pasta and papad samosa? So, there is no denying the fact that there are very few items in your kitchen as versatile as the humble papad.
This papad namkeen recipe posted on the Slurrp community is an eclectic mix of urad dal papad crushed in small pieces. Don’t crush them too hard, and else you would be left with papad ka choora. Nobody likes that. An alternative way could be to grab a scissor and cut thin papad strips and fry those strips. Keep these strips aside as you assemble the rest of the namkeen, which comprises puffed rice or murmura, sev, sugar, red chilli powder, salt, hing and citric acid.
Mix them all, and you are done. Now isn't that something?
Here’s the step-by-step recipe. Enjoy.