As I write this post…. I drift back to those memorable days when me and my brother come back from school hungry and demand mom to give us something to eat. Mom always cooked the best snacks we’ve ever tasted and one among them was “Chitti Chegodilu”. A delectable tea-time snack from Andhra that is a little time consuming but you would agree with me that it is worth the effort when you sit relaxed with a cup of chai on the side, munching these delicious goodies. Now don’t back off because I told you, it is a little time consuming. I meant the time taken to roll the ring shaped chegodilu but, not that the recipe itself is tough. Its a pretty easy one and trust me you will not fail making them. Have no patience rolling them into those cute little rings? then roll them up to larger ones. Whatever the size, you will still love them and you have my word on that. Coming to the recipe, this is one of the many variations of chegodilu amma makes at home. For those who do not know telugu our regional language, “chitti” means “Small/Little”. These are made into small rings and hence the name. Here’s how…

Ingredients:

2 cups All Purpose Flour (Maida)

½ cup Rice Flour (Biyyam Pindi)

3 tsps Ghee (Neyyi)

2 tsps Ajwain/Vamu

pinch of hing

1 tsp salt

3 tsps chilli powder (Adjust if you want the chegodilu to be more spicy)

little less than 1 cup Warm Water

Oil for deep frying

How To:

• Sift the flours in a wide bowl, add ghee, vamu, hing, salt and mix it with warm water to form a dough.
• Cover it with a damp cloth and leave it for about 15 mts.
• At this point the dough should feel smooth to touch and elastic.
• Make small lime sized balls and roll into a rope. Cut this rope into 2-3 inch pieces and press the ends together to form a ring. Make tiny little rings with the rest of the dough in the same manner as shown in the picture and set them aside covered so they do not dry.
• Heat oil in a wide heavy bottomed vessel. To check to see if the oil has reached the right temparature, drop in a very tiny pinch of the dough in oil. If the dough touches the bottom and floats up on the top the oil is said to be the right temparature.
• Now reduce the flame, and slowly drop in the earlier prepared rings in oil keeping the flame on medium low. You will see bubbles forming in the oil as you drop them. When the rings start floating on top these should reduce.
• Do not fry them on high as they change the color outside but remain uncooked inside.
• Fry them till a golden shade, and remove them on to an absorbent paper.
• Allow to cool completely and store them in air-tight containers. Stays fresh upto 3 weeks.
• Serve with a hot cup of tea or coffee as an evening time snack.