Wheat Fryums: Spruce Up Your Meal With This Crunchy Snack
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Reviving and reliving the good old cuisine is always worthy, more so in an era of unhindered processed food. Remember the culture of sun-drying salty wet mixtures to get an absolutely nature-kissed and thoughtfully homemade snack? Wheat Fryums or Godhi Sandige of Karnataka is one of those no-frills snacks made by sun drying for 2 days and involving hardly any time in cooking. A plain fermented wheat flour batter goes a long way to become a lively, super crunchy and crispy snack. Wheat fryums also use the water from the batter by lightly seasoning it with just cumin, asafoetida, and salt. 

It’s well known that Sandige is a popular snack throughout South India, particularly Karnataka where it's called Sandige. It's also called Vadagam and Vadam. Sandige is an integral part of Kannada and Konkani cuisine. Traditionally, it's made with rice, and wheat and flavoured with spices like cumin, asafoetida and chilli. When it comes to Karnataka, Sandige is an age-old tradition, and large batches of Sandige are prepared and stored to last for a year. The most common sandige prepared in Karnataka is Sabudana Sandige. Other popular varieties are Akki Peni Sandige made of rice flour and powdered sago, and Aralu Sandige made of puffed paddy. 

The process of overnight fermentation of batter allows the rapid growth of the naturally occurring microorganisms which divide and produce lactic acid and carbon dioxide that makes the batter anaerobic and lightens it overall. These wheat fryums are simple but have the potential to instantly enliven a meal of plain dal, rice and sabzi. They can be used as a snack with evening tea as well. These sundried fryums become a thorough snack and side dish and beautifully puff up when deep fried in oil.

Ingredients:

  • ½ cup wheat flour
  • 2½ cups water
  • 4 green chillies
  • ½ tsp cumin seeds
  • ½ tsp salt

Method:

  • In a bowl, take wheat flour and add water to it. 
  • Mix both well and remove lumps while stirring. 
  • Stir it well until it becomes a smooth batter.
  • Cover and leave it to ferment overnight for 6 hours.
  • After 6 hours, the water of the wheat batter will come floating on the surface. 
  • Transfer this water to a bowl. 
  • Transfer the batter into a blender jar, add green chillies to it and grind it into a fine paste. Keep it aside to use later in the cooking.
  • In a pan, heat water, add cumin seeds, salt and asafoetida and let it come to a boil.
  • Then add the water from the wheat flour batter and stir it for a minute.
  • Then transfer the wheat batter into it and stir well
  • Keep stirring and cooking it for 5-6 minutes on medium heat, until the batter thickens and becomes glossy. Turn off the flame.
  • Spread a cotton cloth, and pour one spoon of the batter over it, with some distance between each spoon of fryum poured on the cloth.
  • Let these dry in the sun for a day.
  • Peel them off from the cloth slowly after a day by sprinkling little water on the backside of the cloth.
  • Place all the peeled fryums on a plate and dry them in the sun for 1 more day.
  • After they have sun-dried completely, deep fry them in hot oil and serve.