Diwali Faral - Bakarwadi

I had never in my wildest imaginations ever thought that I'd make bakarwadis. These crispy and savory spring rolls are a specialty of Chitale's. Others make it  well too, but Chitale are the masters of bakarwadi. I have always loved these lovely Indian spring rolls, but I thought that making them would be completely out of my ability.

And then I made them. On a whim. I thought, what the hell! What's the most that could go wrong? That they will turn out bad, and nobody will want to eat them. Fear of failure should never be a criterion for not trying something new. That's what my husband tells me all the time. Never fear failure.

So I let go of my inhibitions, and decided to find some good recipes on the net. The best one I found was on the blogspot called chakali. There are some things that I omitted and some things that I added.

I also bought chitale's bakarwadi and incorporated whatever ingredients were listed (and some more of course!)

The only problem was having to fry them in the sweltering heat. I had to close the window because one  crow was audacious enough to dip into my fried bakarwadis and sample one of them. Ugh!

Try it.. Really! Do not be afraid of failure..

Ingredients

• 2 cups plain flour (maida)
• 3 tbsp gram flour (besan)
• 1/2 tsp carom seeds (ajwain / owa)
• salt to taste
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp oil
• water

for the filling

• 1/2 cup gram flour (besan)
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds (saunf)
• 1 tsp sesame seeds (til)
• 1/2 tsp poppy seeds (khus khus)
• 3 tbsp grated dry coconut (sukka khobra)
• 2 tsp cumin powder (jeera powder)
• 3 tsp coriander powder (dhana powder)
• 1/2 tsp dry ginger powder (sunth powder)
• 2 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1 pinch hing (asafoetida)
• 3 tsp powdered sugar
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp oil
• a little water

1. First make the dough. Mix the plain flour and gram flour with carom seeds and salt. Make a heap of the flours and make a deep well in the center. Add hot oil in the center and mix it all up. Now add water slowly to make a firm dough.
2. Next, heat a wok and dry roast the fennel seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds and dry coconut together for two to three minutes. Grind to a course mixture.
3. Dry roast  the gram flour till you get a distinct aroma. Now add cumin powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder, garam masala, sunth powder, hing, and the above mixture. Add 2 tsp of oil to the mixture, salt and sugar and bring it off the heat.
4. Now add the sugar to the mixture and cool it for some time.
5. Make five balls of the dough and roll each ball into a thin chapati. Spread some of the above mixture on to the chapati.
6. Roll the chapati starting from one edge. Roll it completely into a tight roll. If the roll is loose, the filling will come out during  frying.
7. Apply a little water to the other edge of the dough and seal it shut. Seal the two ends shut. Press the roll a little so it becomes a little flat and ovoid in shape rather than round.
8. Cut the roll into one inch pieces.
9. Heat the oil for deep frying, and fry the bakarwadis on low heat. You have to fry on low heat for about five to ten minutes, till they are nice and golden brown.
10. Drain them on kitchen towels.
11. Keep away from crows and other similarly audacious birds!
12. Store them in an airtight container.

 Happy Cooking!