Pudachi Wadi

Hi everyone! Wish you all a very happy Navratri. Hope you have your garba shoes on and are dancing the nights away :). I have a fun snack recipe for you to munch on after all that dancing. 

I wanted to make something different this festival season. Not the typical sweets and faral - I'll be making plenty of that for diwali. My mom as always came to my rescue with this tasty snack recipe - Pudachi Wadi. Pudachi wadi is somewhere between Bakarwadi and Kothimbir wadi. It has a lot of common ingredients with kothimbir wadi and is shaped like bakarwadi. Can't go wrong with that. I guess the name comes from the way you shape these - rolling the roti into a pudi (a small packet). I was so excited about the recipe that I started going through my pantry for the ingredients before mom was done talking to me. 

This wadi has a savory coconut-cilantro filling with toasty sesame seeds and poppy seeds. For additional flavor and taste, I added some fennel seeds. The sweet bite they provide balances the spicy-savoriness perfectly. Besan in the covering makes it very crispy and light. The original recipe calls for frying but I went with shallow-pan frying using minimal oil. I don't think there was any compromise on taste. You should just make sure that the filling is roasted well since it won't cook as much while shallow frying as in deep frying. You can deep fry the rolls before cutting if you want the real thing. I didn't try baking them, but I think they'd turn out okay that way too. The recipe will make about 20-25 pieces after cutting.  

Pudachi Wadi

Ingredients:
Filling:
1 Tablespoon sesame seeds
1 Teaspoon poppy seeds
1 Teaspoon fennel seeds
2 Teaspoons oil
1 Teaspoon garlic paste
1 Teaspoon ginger paste
1 Green chili - finely chopped
1/2 Cup packed grated coconut
1 1/2 Cup loosely filled chopped cilantro
1 Teaspoon dhana-jeera powder
1 Teaspoon goda masala/garam masala
1/4 Teaspoon red chili powder for color (optional)
Salt to taste

Cover:
1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
1/4 Cup besan/chickpea flour
1/2 Teaspoon dhana-jeera powder
1/2 Teaspoon red chili powder
Salt to taste
Water as needed

• First, knead the dough by combining all the ingredients for the cover. Add just enough water to form a stiff dough you can roll out. 
• For the filling, roast the sesame and poppy seeds until slightly darker and aromatic and keep aside. 
• Heat oil in a kadhai and add ginger, garlic, green chili and roast for about a minute. Then add rest of the ingredients except the cilantro and roast, stirring constantly. 
• Add cilantro once the coconut is roasted well and let it all come together for another minute or so. 
• I pulsed this filling through the grinder quickly just to mix everything well. But you don't have to do that. 

To make the wadi:

• Divide the dough as well as the filling in 4 equal parts. 
• Roll each dough ball into a roti - not too thick. Then fill the center with the filling. Fold the small sides in so the filling doesn't come out and roll the roti into a tight roll. 
• Heat a pan and drizzle some oil. Pan-fry the wadi rolls turning on each side until the cover is crispy. 
• Once completely cooled, cut the rolls into small pieces and serve with some tamarind chutney.