Janthikalu

Janthikalu are one of the famous Andhra snack items , if some one are coming to home  or some festival is there or if no occasion is there and if summer holidays are coming my mom used to prepare these for us so that we can eat them while playing also. They are very crispy and once you start eating i am sure you will continue doing the same till the tin gets completed. so this the version to my knowledge. There are many variations in preparing this snack. There are many variations in the shapes of the muruku press also. I am trying to do this ever since i came to america but i don’t have that press /aachu. so i am eagerly waiting for that . Recently when we moved from LosAngeles to Atlanta and got settled here ,Luckily we have a indian family upstairs and i found this aachu in their home  and after seeing that i couldn’t resist myself to prepare it .Next day, after sending R to office, me and upstair aunty started the work, and finally they turned out  very well and  crispy. So here goes the recipe of the same: 

Ingredients:  

• Rice flour - 2cups
• Besan -1 cup
• Jeera - 11/2 tsp
• Sesame seeds - 1 tsp ( i don’t have them immediately so i have not used them)
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Ajwain(vamu) - 1 tsp
• Oil - for deep frying
• Salt - 1 tsp 

Method:

• Take a vessel and mix the rice flour ,besan ,jeera,sesame seeds,ajwain and salt and mix well .
• Pour slowly  very little amount of water  to form the dough , the dough should not be too thick nor  too loose. it should be soft enough to press gently through the janthikala gottam,chatram, muruku press.(Be very careful while mixing the water).
• Take a heavy bottomed vessel and heat the oil for deep frying ,now take the janthikala press and fill the dough to half of it and gently press in circular motion to get the shape,while your are pressing the shape and when the dough enters into the hot oil the whole vessel is filled with bubbles and hot wave will come onto your face . so be very careful while doing this and once the oil is heat enough put it into medium flame and slowly do it to avoid and spill overs.
• Once the janthikalu turns into golden brown color flip to the other side and let both sides turn it into golden brown color remove them using a slotted ladle and  place them on a absorbent paper to absorb the excess oil, Continue the same process till the dough is completely.
• Store it in air tight container after completely cool down to room temperature.