Sev (Omapodi / Ompodi) is a very popular savoury snack across India made with chickpea flour, spices and then deep fried until crispy. Served as a teatime/evening snack, they also make for a great savoury during festival times. This is a variation made with Ragi Flour (Finger Millet Flour) and is equally tasty and delicious as the original one. Sev known to be crispy, a bit of rice flour is added to Ragi to retain the crispiness.
Ragi has been a staple food for centuries in many countries. Originating from Africa, the crop easily grows in harsh weather conditions, making it a wonderful cereal for our Indian climate. Not just being ancient, Ragi is a rich source of many nutrients – primarily its high Calcium content and gluten-free characteristic. It is only of those few cereals that do not undergo processing and hence consumed whole. It has been a staple cereal in states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. With multiple health benefits, it is a wonderful grain well suited for growing kids, diabetics and normal adults too in maintaining good health.
It is a very versatile cereal and is used to make many sweet and savory dishes like Ragi Dosa, Ragi Laddu, Ragi Kanji, Ragi Thenkuzhal, Ragi Kozhukattai, Ragi Halwa, etc.
Ragi Omapodi (Ragi Sev)
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Ragi Flour
- 1/4 Cup Bengal Gram Flour
- ¼ Cup Rice Flour
- 2 tsp Carom Seeds (Omam)
- Salt to Taste
- Oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Soak the omam in water for a while and grind them.
- Filter the omam water by adding little water to it.
- Take a bowl, add all the flour, salt, omam water and knead them to a fine dough mixture. It should be supple and not very hard or dry.
- Heat a kadai under medium flame.
- Add oil for deep frying.
- Add some of the dough to an ompodi maker.
- Heat oil in a deep pan over medium flame.
- Squeeze the ompodi maker over the hot oil.
- Fry till light golden brown and remove the excess oil using kitchen tissues.
- When it is cooled down, transfer them into an air tight jar
image via Priya’s Versatile Recipes
