Sakinalu, are a traditional deep-fried, round concentric shaped snack from Telangana, prepared with freshly ground rice flour, sesame seeds and carom seeds. These are specially made for Makara Sankranti a harvest festival, and for the Odibiyyam/saare ceremony. Making this snack is an art indeed as they are shaped by hand into concentric circles.
What are Sakinalu?
Sakinalu are a traditional snack from Telangana, India. They are prepared with freshly ground rice flour and sesame seeds. Rice is soaked for a few hours or overnight and then ground to fine flour. Later a wet dough is made with sesame seeds, rice flour, salt, and carom seeds. There are 5 variations of sakinalu made in Telangana. Tella sakinalu, Karam, Pachi mirchi, pandu mirchi and Nethi sakinalu.
Some pictures to depict how Sakinalu are made by Hand?
Why these are a traditional snack of Telangana?
Sakinalu, which has been a regional recipe in Telangana from centuries, is not just limited for just snacking. We revere Gowri devi in every work we start, we pray for Lord Ganesha and then maa Gowri Devi. Initially we make a small idol of Maa Gowri and Pilla Gowramma(I.e., Lord Ganesha) and adorn these same idols with Pasupu and Kumkuma(Haldi, Kumkum) and pray for the well being of family. Then we prepare first sakinam around the idol and then later made for everyone. The idol of Gowri devi and Lord Ganesha, the sakinam rolled around this idol aren’t cooked traditionally, instead these dough idols and the sakinam around the idol, are placed near the tulsi plant/ any tree after cooking remaining sakinalu.
More about Saare or Odibiyyam ceremony
Sakinalu are prepared for the harvest festival Makara Sankranti and for the Saare ceremony. It is a tradition to prepare sakinalu for Sankranti and during weddings. Saare/Odibiyyam is another traditional ceremony followed in Telangana, conducted for every 3-5 years for married couple. The couple are gifted with sakinalu, garijelu, pindi vantalu, sweets, new clothes, rice, lentils and many more. The ceremony starts with the marriage and after marriage, the ceremony is performed at least once in three years. Wherein the parents or the brother of the married woman invite all the relatives for the ceremony celebration.
A good quantity of rice is mixed with turmeric. Five married women (not widowed) come one after another and put rice in a cloth wrapped around the neck and spread out in the front. The groom’s family or couple are gifted with various sweets and snacks. And later these snacks are distributed it among relatives, friends and neighbors. During my marriage, amma has made 1000 sakinalu for Saare ceremony, among them 5 of them are made in large size. These large size sakinalu are usually around 35-40 cm with 21 concentric circles.
Sakinalu Variations
- Tella sakinalu(plain variety) – are made with freshly ground rice flour, sesame seeds, carom seeds, and salt.
- Karam sakinalu – We just add freshly grounded ellipaya karam(mixture of garlic and chili powder) to the plain variety dough.
- Pandu mirchi sakinalu – In this variation, fresh ripe red chillies and garlic paste is added to the plain dough.
- Pachi mirchi sakinalu – We add freshly ground green chili and garlic paste is added to the plain dough to make this variation.
- Nethi sakinalu – These are mainly designed for kids, who cannot crisp sakinalu. Nethi sakinalu are made in ghee rubbed into dry roasted rice flour, powdered roasted gram dal, carom seeds and salt. These are so buttery and delicious that kids would love it.
What rice flour to use?
Sakinalu can be only made with wet rice flour i.e., rice soaked for few hours and then ground to fine flour. The store bought rice flour will not work as there is no moisture left in the packed ones. Do not worry if you’re in India, making this flour is quite easy when you follow below steps.
- Wash and soak rice for 6 hours or overnight.
- Drain the water and put the rice in a strainer and keep aside for 10-15 minutes to get rid of any remaining water.
- Spread the strained rice on a cotton bedsheet or cloth until they’re semi dry.
- Get the rice grind to fine consistency in a nearby flour mill. We can also powder it at home, but make sure to sieve the flour 3-4 times(use a fine sieve) to remove any coarse bits. The flour should be very fine and smooth when rubbed between fingers, there shouldn’t be any coarse bits.
I have tried using the Asian store wet rice flour, although they resulted a perfect sakinalu we didn’t like the taste of it. The plain variety were not tasty or delightful, but the karam sakinalu turned out good as the spicy garlic flavor masked the original taste of rice flour. Hence this year we decided to make it from scratch at home and to my surprise they turned out so good just like the ones made back at home by Amma or my MIL. Please follow the recipe as directed to achieve the authentic taste and texture of Sakinalu.
Checkout more festive treats from my blog.
Palm jaggery whole wheat biscuits
SAKINALU
Equipment
- Wok / Kadai/ Deep frying pan
- Flat spatula
- Pure cotton cloth - length of 4*4 feet
- 2 Fine colanders
Ingredients
Rice flour
- 1 kg Rice prefer aged rice
Tella Sakinalu
- 2 cups Rice flour
- ¾ cup Sesame seeds
- 2 tsp Carom seeds
- Salt to taste
Karam Sakinalu
- 2 cups Rice flour
- 10 cloves Garlic
- 2 tbsp Red chilli powder
- Salt to taste
- ¾ cup Sesame seeds
- 2 tsp Carom seeds
Instructions
Prep and Making rice flour
- Soak the rice overnight or upto 6 hours.
- Strain the water and put the rice in a strainer for 10-15 minutes to drain excess water. Later spread the strained rice on cotton cloth until they are semi dry. (15 mins would suffice)
- Meanwhile wash the sesame seeds, drain the water and place them in a separate fine colander to get rid of excess water.
- Get the rice grind to fine consistency in local flour mill. Or blend the rice in blender in small quantities until fine powder and sieve the powdered rice flour to get rid of any coarse bits.
- Note : The flour should be smooth when rubbed between two fingers, there should not be any coarse bits.
- Rice flour for Sakinalu is ready now.
Making the sakinalu dough
- In a mixing bowl add freshly ground rice flour, sesame seeds, crushed carom seeds, salt to taste and give everything a good mix.
- Using filtered cold water, add gradually into the mixing bowl with above ingredients and mix to make a soft dough.Note : When the dough is touched it should not stick to the fingers.
- Keep this bowl covered until we spread the Cotton cloth for shaping the sakinalu.
Shaping the sakinalu
- Spread a thick cotton bedsheet or cloth on floor, on which we make the sakinalu.
- Take a handful of dough at a time, using your three fingers(thumb, forefinger and middle finger) twist and roll the dough and shape on the cotton cloth in a circular fashion.
- Make two concentric circular sakinalu for ease.
- Repeat for the remaining sakinalu dough.
- Sakinalu should be dried before frying them, this may take around 30-45 mins depending on the humid and temperature.
Frying the sakinalu
- Heat a kadai, add oil enough for deep frying. Drop a piece of dough to check the temperature.
- Once the sakinalu are dry, use a flat spatula and gently slide the spatula under the sakinam and lift it gently and place it on a plate.
- Take 10 sakinalu at a time for ease, and drop these gently into the hot oil for frying.Note : Use medium heat for uniform cooking
- After dropping the sakinalu in oil, wait for them to float in oil and then turn them around. Fry the sakinalu until they are evenly fried on both sides.
- Using a garela pulla (a metal skewer used to remove any deep fried food like garelu, chegodi or sakinam), catch all the sakinalu from oil into this skewer. Remove them from oil.
- Place this garela pulla or metal skewer on a colander to get rid of any excess oil.Note : If you do not have a garela pulla/metal skewer, use a slotted spoon and take out sakinalu using it.
- Once the oil stops dripping from the sakinalu, place them in a bowl lined with paper towel to get rid of any excess oil.
- Repeat the above steps for remaining shaped Sakinalu.
Storing the sakinalu
- When the fried sakinalu are completely cooled down, transfer them to an airtight container.
- Serve the sakinalu as a teatime snack or just to munch on.
Notes
- Rice Flour – Here in the US, we can use the rice flour sold in Chinese stores. There are two varieties sold in Chinese store and pick the packet that has rice and water on the ingredient list. This rice flour works for sakinalu and some of my aunts use it to make sakinalu here. This rice flour also works for ariselu.
- Sesame Seeds – Use 1:3 sesame seeds to rice flour if you are making sakinalu for the first time and are not a seasoned sakinalu maker. Use 1:2 ½ ratio for more sesame seeds. More seeds in the dough, challenging it is to shape sakinalu.
- Dough – If the dough becomes very sticky due to excess water in plain sakinalu dough, cover it with a dry cloth or roll it on dry cloth. The cloth will absorb excess water. If this happens with karam sakinalu or green chilies sakinalu dough, the only option is adding more flour. Usually cloth can not absorb as much moisture from spicy sakinalu dough.
- Salty Dough - Cloth absorbs salt. If the dough is salty, roll it on the cloth and mind you, this also make the dough dry. Add some water to bring the dough to the right consistency before shaping sakinalu.
- Time to Prepare Sakinalu – Cousin A says, seasoned sakinalu maker can shape 20 sakinalu in 10 - 15 minutes, about 30 - 45 minutes to dry and 10 - 20 minutes to fry, depending on the size of the frying pan.
If you’ve tried this recipe and loved it, I’d love to hear your feedback by tagging your photo and share it with #mycurryveda on Instagram @mycurryveda or on Facebook . Also follow @taste.of.telangana on Instagram for more traditional recipes, culture and stories.
