ARAlu Sandige , Seeme Akki Sandige , BALaka Menasina Kaayi – Puffed Paddy Rice Fryums , Sago Fryums , Curd Chillies

ARAlu Sandige, Seeme Akki Sandige, Balaka Menasina kaayi, these are few fryums that are prepared in our house during Summer. Dried completely in Scorching Sun for three to four days, and stored in boxes to be enjoyed during Monsoon and Winter. 

I am always fascinated how our elders, grand moms, great great grandmom’s and their great great grandmom’s came up with such amazing things and such amazing techniques of drying things in sun and storing them. If well dried in Sun the Sandige stays well for a year and more. I always love to follow techniques that our ancestors used. They are so much more logical, simple and pure.

So, Making Sandige is a huge affair. Every Summer holiday we would go to my Ajji’s house ( Grandmom’s house). All my cousins would come too. So making Sandige would be one of the Summer Holiday activities, and we kids would jump in to help. 

A day before the biiiggg Event?, all my aunts and mom would do the preparations. Clean the paddy puffed rice for all the paddy peel, Cook the Sago, grind the masala. Everything would be prepared so that before the dawn breaks they could start making them. The reason being Sandige shouldn’t miss even a minute of sun and it should dry 3/4th the first day. And also the moment the sun starts coming up, it would get harder and harder to sit and make them.The house would be filled with this amazing smell of the cooked sago and the ground masala. The mixture of cooked sago and the masala tastes so good that  we would finish half of it while spreading them.

This time me , my mom and my sister-in-law made it together. We came up with so many new methods. We started at night when everyone else was off to bed and we had so much fun listening to music and laughing at silly jokes?. 

 

Things You will Need

1. Transparent thick good quality plastic for Seemeakki Sandige. You can use the same for Aralu Sandige also.

2. Round 2inch sized spoons.
3. Huge vessel and few smaller bowls.

4.Disposable gloves to mix the mixture.

5. A new bucket to wash the puffed rice 

6. Huge steel plates for Aralu Sandige 

 

ARAlu Sandige 
Ingredients 

20 ltrs – Aralu / Paddy Puffed Rice, i buy cleaned one itself.

1/2 kgs – Green chillies 

2 bundles – Coriander leaves, big bundles 

1/4 kgs – Sago

Salt to taste

1 tbsp – Hing

4 nos – Onions, big sized (optional)

Method 

Add Seemeakki in a pressure cooker. Add enough water for it to soak. Pressure cook it till it is cooked well, not overcooked. Let it cool.

Make a paste of green chillies and coriander into a smooth paste. Add finely chopped onions (optional)

Wear the gloves.

Fill the bucket half with drinking water

Add half the puffed rice to this water.

 Give it one stir and immediately pick them up and squeeze it hard between palms and put them in a huge vessel.

Add the green chilly and coriander paste, hing and salt to this. Add the cooled seemeakki mixture ladle by ladle. 

Give the mixture a good mix. Take a small portion in your hand, squeeze it lightly (feather light) and see if the puffed ric sticks together to form a ball. It should just stick, not get slimy.

If requires add more seemeakki.

Do not handle the mixture too much. Do not let it get too soggy.

Now using the 2″ sized steel spoons, pickup the mixture very lightly. Dab it lightly and place them on the plates.

Traditionally its made with hands. Using the ladle makes it quick, easy, uniform and dries evenly. 

Traditionally the Sandige would be made early morning before sunrise on the terrace on a cane mat. But now due to lot of reasons we have come up with a simpler method. 

Make this at night, lay the plates under a fan (not AC) overnight and early morning put the plates out where the sunshines all day. 

Leave it under the Harsh Merciless Summer Sun till Noon. At noon, flip the Sandige and let it dry till evening.

Be sure to bring them indoors at night if. Temperature change puts moisture back into the Sandige which is not good for the  process.

Keep them out again the next day and for a week flipping now and then. Till they are completely dry. Store them in an airtight box. 

 

SEEmeAkki Sandige 

SeemeAkki Sandi or Sago Fryums is a crispy, light, airy, melt in the mouth fryum. Simplest to make and favourites of kids.

Ingredients 

1 kgs – SeemeAkki, Sago, Sabudana

Salt to taste

Hanful of Jeera

1 tbsp – Hing

Method

Pressure cook the sago till is cooked well. Not over cooked. The sago beads should be cooked till the centre.

Add Salt, Hing and Jeera and give it a good mix. Incase the mixture thickens add more hot water. The consistency of the mixture should be watery. Should be Runny.

Spread the plastic sheet on the terrace or wherever the sunshines all day. 

You will have to do it at the place where it is going to dry as you can not move it from there as the mixture will be runny.

Take a spoonful of the mixture and spread it into a 2″ disk.

Line them uniformly.

Let it dry in scorching sun till evening.

Get it indoors in the evening. The Sandige would have started to peel off. Peel them.

Flip them and arrange them on a plate and Sundry it the next day, all day. 

They have to be crisp and snap when you break them. 

If not, dry them for an other day.

Store in an airtight bottle.

 

 

BALaka Menasinakaayi

Balakamenasinakaayi or the Curd Chillies are these spicy, tangy, salty and crisp fried chilles that take a curd rice, sambar rice or Tovve rice to another level. 

Though it is almost a 4 day process, it is worth the effort.

Ingredients 

1/2 kg – Green chillies, small in size.

1 ltr – Curd, sour.

2 tbsp – Fenugreek seeds

2 tbsp – Jeera

Salt to taste 

Method

Wash and dry the chillies. Choose chillies that are hot and has thinner skin. 

Slit them length wise and set aside.

Roast fenugreek seeds and Jeera and powder them.

In a large mixing bowl, add curd (sour the better) and the fenugreek Jeera powder, salt (keep it a little saltier than usual as it reduces while drying) and mix it well.

Add the chillies to the curd mixture, lightly mix it well. 

Cover the bowl and leave it out in your balcony overnight.

Next day morning, take out the chillies and spread them in plates and put it in the sun full day.

Save the curd mixture.

Evening you will see that the chillies are turning white. Get them back, put them back in the same curd mixture that you had saved and mix it. Leave it out again in the balcony overnight.

Repeat this process for four days.

The chillies will dry completely and should be crisp.

The belief is that the dew drops at night makes the curd and in turn the soaked chilly more sour.

Store in an airtight bottle.

Once these are done and stored deep fry them. The process to fry them is, heat the oil in a deep pan. First fry the SeemeAkki Sandige as it is more delicate.  The moment it dives into the oil, it will bloom into a beautiful, white crisp disk.

Then the Aralu Sandige. Drop them into the hot oil, with a ladle press them into the bottom of the kadhai. This makes sure they are fried properly till the center. It should bloom completely.

At last drop the Balaka and turn off the flame. The chillies will turn black. Take them off once they are crisp.

These are best served with Rasam, Sambar, tovve or curd rice. Or serve it as an evening snack with coffee. 

This must be by far the longest post I have ever done in my blog ? Almost took me a day to write this ( not at a strech of course, i am a mother of a toddler you see ?) Hope you guys still have some sun to make these and enjoy.. 

Follow my blog MADaboutkitchen and my Facebook page MADaboutkitchen for regular updates .