Urad Papad/Poppadoms (Udida happolu/uddina happala)

Urad Papad/Poppadoms (Udida happolu/uddina happala)

Come February-March, the scorching sun and heat is unbearable in coastal Karnataka. That's the time when my mom, aunties, and granny used to gather up and set out to our terraces and backyards to make a type of fritters(vodis) and papad everyday. These vadis and papad were then stored for year longs use and were also distributed to our relatives. 

While the elders were busy, working hard, we kids & the men of the house were all into enjoying the urad dal papad dough. We eat urad dal papad dough in many ways.

Watch all of it here:

 

 

1. Make a small papad by rolling out a tiny ball of dough. These tiny papads are called hapli in Konkani. Then place a tablespoon of oil in the middle of the tiny papad like in the picture below and gulp it down. The moment you bite into these, you get a nice mixture of spicy papad dough & a big hit of aromatic coconut oil in your mouth. As you chew on it, the dough gets mixed with the coconut oil & the combo is amazing!! My mouth's literally salivating as I write down this. :)

2. Roll out a tiny papad using a small ball of dough. Then place a teaspoon full of urad dal powder in the centre, make a well of sorts in the middle of urad dal powder, add in coconut oil in the centre. Fold the papad & gulp it down. As you chew into it, you get a heavenly goodness of spicy dough, coconut oil & urad dal powder in your mouth. That mixture is absolutely delicious.

 

3. While you fold the above tiny papads, you can fold them like these below:

4. Or make nevris and have them. :) Nevri in Konkani refers to the shape in the pic below. Fold the above tiny papads containing urad dal powder & oil onto one side, then seal its ends throughout like in the pic below. But leave out a small hole at one end without sealing it close. Then blow out air into this pocket, secure the end. In goes this into your mouth and as you bite into it, the air gushes out, spreading out urad dal powder and coconut oil present inside. Then as you mix up these using your saliva, aah, heaven! Look how they look like here - https://youtube.com/shorts/IvX5l5XJrBk?feature=share

5. We at home also enjoy tiny balls of dough dipped in coconut oil. Make tiny balls of dough, dip them into coconut oil, enjoy them. Dip, eat, repeat. And goes on for a long time.. :) 


Over the last few years we make urad dal papad dough at home, just to enjoy the dough with urad dal powder and lots of coconut oil. They're so delish!!! Little guilty pleasures of life. :-) If any dough remains after we devour on them, they're then rolled out & sun dried to make papads/poppadams. :-)

Do you still make papads at home? What kind of papads do you make?
Raw jackfruit papad dough (ponsa hapolu in Konkani) & urad dal papad (udha hapolu in Konkani) dough are ones I enjoy eating the most. Even potato papad (batate hapolu in Konkani) dough is delicious.


Urad dal papads are made 2 ways, spicy ones using red chilli powder (teek hapol in Konkani) & plain urad dal papads without using red chilli powder (papod in Konkani). A dry dough is made by mixing together urad dal powder, salt, crystal asafoetida & oil. Red chilli powder is added to spicy papads only. Papad khar is used as the seasoning that contributes to the crispness and expansion of fried papads. Then the dough is made into balls & is rolled out into papads.

Here's the recipe to make spicy urad dal papads.


Ingredients:

  • 1.5 cups of urad dal powder (if you can't find them in stores, then look for instructions on how to make them at home below)
  • 2 tablespoons of red chilli powder
  • A dried green pea sized crystal asafoetida
  • Salt to taste
  • 3-4 tablespoons of oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon of papad khar

Makes: 25 papads


Preparation Method:

Preparing the papad dough:

1. Sieve urad dal powder. Add in sieved urad dal powder into a mixing bowl. 

2. Add in salt and papad khar dissolved in 1/2 cup of water to the urad dal powder. Add crystal asafoetida dissolved in 1/4 cup of water. 

3. Mix them together to form a dry, pliable dough. A hard dough like that of puri. 

4. Add coconut oil on top and mix in well by kneading the dough.

5. Beat the dough hard a few times, from a distance into the bowl, so that it gains elasticity. Hit the dough hard into the bowl atleast 15-20 times. 

6. Close the dough, let it rest overnight. Then again beat the dough until it becomes smooth & is of pliable consistency. The dough that looked rough the previous night should get a shiny look after all the beating. Only then is it suitable to make papads. Or else they could tend to break on rolling out.

7. Then make tiny balls of the dough. A little small in size than lemon size.

Traditionally, the dough was rolled into a thick rope, it was then cut into tiny balls of equal size using a thread. These tiny balls were then rolled out into tiny papads called hapli using urad dal powder to dust. They were then rolled out into papads and were sun dried immediately.

6. Roll them out using urad dal powder to dust them.

7. Sun dry rolled out papads for 4-6 days. The papads should dry out well. 

8. Then store them in air tight containers & deep fry them whenever needed. 

You can also fry them on a stove top on a high flame using tongs. Then enjoy them with coconut oil on top.


Could not find urad dal powder? Then make it at home like this:

1. Powder urad dal in a dry mixer for few minutes few times. Sieve to collect fine urad dal powder.

2. Put back pieces of urad dal left out on the sieve into the mixer.

3. Grind them again until you get a fine powder. Sieve them.

4. Repeat the process untill you have enough of fine powder of urad dal.


Do not have space to sun dry these papads? Then microwave them until they're completely dried.


Tags: udha happol, urad papad, poppadoms, uddina happala, urad papad, udida happolu