Odappalu, are a classic deep-fried Telangana bread recipe. The recipe of odappalu calls for rice flour, sesame seeds, and pretty basic Indian spices. The dough used for Odappalu and chegodilu are pretty much the same, but the shape and texture are quite distinctive.
My hubby loves deep-fried food, and this dish ODAPPALU is one of his favorite. This deep-fried soft odappalu (Deep Fried Mini Breads) is dreamy and delicious. I am pretty sure most of the Telanganites would relate this dish with nostalgia. These are soft, flaky, and almost melt in your mouth, these don’t need any accompanying dish as it’s a star on their own. But, when you pair Odappalu with homemade Indian-style yogurt or cultured butter and raw onion, it is a comforting and hearty treat.
Difference between Poori and Odappalu?
The difference between poori and odappalu is that poori uses whole wheat flour and odappalu uses rice flour. And not just the flour, the technique of making the dough is different too. Unlike the regular whole wheat poori, these fried bread are spicy and loaded with sesame seeds.
In Telangana, we make chegodilu during Deepavali, Sankranthi, and Tholi Ekadashi. So this is roughly my theory of how this dish would have been born. Chegodilu is a crispy bangle or ring-like snack made with rice flour, sesame seeds, and basic spices. As these chegodilu are crispy and hard, it might be difficult for the younger kids and old-aged in chewing. So the womenfolk at home started making this Odappalu using the chegodilu dough into soft pooris, which has the same flavor as chegodilu.
So now what makes the Odappalu distinctive to regular pooris is the shape. These are shaped and pressed by hand into mini thick pooris and a small hole is made in the center for even cooking. The texture of Odappalu is soft and flaky like poori and tastes like chegodilu, that is what makes this dish more interesting.
What all ingredients do we need for this recipe?
- Rice flour
- Sesame seeds
- Red chili powder
- Salt
- Carom seeds
- Cumin seeds
- Garlic (optional)
- Onion (optional)
- Water
Odappalu pairs best with perugu/homemade Indian-style yogurt or cultured butter, and a cup of piping hot masala chai! I don’t even mind munching these with some raw onion, pickle, and tea on the side. It’s delicious and so easy to make. Just follow the steps as I shared in the recipe card below and you will get perfectly puffed crispy Odappalu.
What rice flour can we use for this recipe?
Any rice flour, store-bought, or homemade anything will work for this recipe. You can also make rice flour at home, just grind some rice in a blender and use a fine sieve to get smooth rice flour. And usually, back at home, my Amma used to get our rice flour milled locally, and we use DODDU BIYYAM for this kind of rice flour-based snacks.
Doddu biyyam or coarse whole rice are distributed as part of PDS or ration rice in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. The snacks made using this rice flour yield utterly crispy and delicious snacks. And now if you are using brown rice or red rice flour, feel free to substitute the white rice flour with it. It will work just fine.
Check out more festive food treats from my blog.
Palm jaggery whole wheat biscuits
ODAPPALU
Ingredients
- 1½ cups Rice flour
- 3 tbsp Sesame seeds
- ¼ tsp Carom seeds
- ¼ tsp Cumin seeds
- 2 tsp Red chilli powder
- Salt to taste
- ¾ cup Filtered water
- 2 cloves Garlic optional
Instructions
Prepping and steaming the flour
- Wash the sesame seeds, drain excess water and keep aside.
- Heat a saucepan, add water, and bring the water to a rolling boil.
- Add red chili powder, salt, to the boiling water and give it a good mix.
- Now add crushed garlic, rice flour to the boiling water, turn off the heat, give it a good mix and cover the pot. Let it sit for 5 mins, this helps in steaming the flour.
kneading the dough
- Take the steamed flour into a mixing bowl, add washed sesame seeds, carom seeds, cumin seeds, and give everything a good mix.Note: Onion and garlic is optional
- Taste and adjust the seasoning at this stage.
- Sprinkle some cold filtered water and bring the dough together and knead until it is soft, smooth, and pliable.Note: For flaky Odappalu knead until dough is crack free.
Frying the odappalu
- Heat a wok or kadai for deep frying and add cooking oil.Note: Use neutral oil or light oil for deep frying.
- Take a silicon pad or even kitchen counter is fine too, grease the surface with little bit of oil.
- Take a lemon-sized dough, roll into a ball, press, and shape into mini thick pooris(4 in wide).
- Make a hole in the center. Now gently lift the pressed odappa into your hand and slowly slide it into hot oil.
- Turn the heat to medium flame and let the odappa rise to the top and flip it. Fry the odappa until it is light brown and cooked all through evenly.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the odappa from oil and place it on a paper towel to remove excess oil.
- Repeat the process for the remaining dough.
Serving suggestions
- These fried odappalu stay good for 2 days, store in an airtight container and enjoy whenever you like to eat.
- Serve warm odappalu with some freshly churned butter or curd and smashed shallot/chopped raw onion. They taste best on their own with piping hot chai.
If you’ve tried this recipe and loved it, I’d love to hear your feedback by tagging your photo and sharing it with #mycurryveda on Instagram @mycurryveda or on Facebook. Also follow @taste.of.telangana on Instagram for more traditional recipes, culture, and stories.
I came here just wanting your website link and got lost in these recipes. These look wonderful. What type of rice flour would you need to make them? Can it be a red rice flour for example? Wondering how to adapt for heritage rices, basically!
Thank you so much deepa 😊 at home we basically get the doddu biyyam/rice(coarse whole rice we get through PDS) milled locally and use it for any rice flour based snacks and tiffins. But any rice flour should work for this recipe.