Uppu Cheedai /Savory Seedai

Cheeda/Seedai are festive savory munchies commonly prepared during Gokulashtami (Lord Krishna's birthday) or on Diwali. It is a complement to sweet cheedais prepared with jaggery, rice flour, and cardamom.

The only word of caution while preparing savory cheedais is to exercise extra care while frying them. Cheedais are known to sometimes burst and splutter out of the hot oil because of trapped bubbles of air/moisture. So, drop the balls carefully into the oil and maintain a good distance away during the first minute of frying. Also, make sure to not neglect roasting and sieving the flours, because they are essential steps to make sure the flours are dry and smooth to minimize the risk of spluttering oil.

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups rice flour
2. 1/2 cup whole black gram / urad dal / ulundu
3. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds / jeera
4. 4 tablespoons softened butter
5. salt, as needed
6. 1/4 cup grated coconut
7. 1/4 teaspoon hing / asafoetida
8. 2-3 cups vegetable oil for deep frying

Preparation:

1.  Dry roast the rice flour on medium heat for 2 minutes, just until the rice warms through. Remove from heat and sieve. Throw away any clumps of flour. Repeat roasting and seiving the flour 2-3 more times until there are no moist clumps in the flour. Let the flour come to room temperature (do not cover the flour - we don't want any condensation)
2. Dry roast the black gram until brown. When cool, grind to a smooth powder. Sieve the ground powder 2 times or until the flour is completely smooth
3. Add the black gram flour and rice flour together and sieve both flours together
4. Mix in salt, cumin seeds, and hing to the flour mixture
5. Dry roast the coconut until it is dry. Let it cool. When cooled to room temperature, mix with the flour mixture
6. Add the softened butter and knead/mix 
7. Slowly add just a little more than 1 cup of water (or as needed) to pull together the flour into a ball of dough. Do not over-knead, and do not compress the flour too much 
8. Heat oil on medium heat. While the oil is heating, grease your hand/fingers with a little oil and roll out small balls of the prepared dough on a parchment paper. While rolling out the balls, do not tightly compact/compress the balls, do not over-roll the balls, do not be obsessed with the physical perfection of the balls. If the balls are too tight and overly rolled, there might be pockets of air/condensation that could potentially burst while frying in the hot oil
9. Slowly add about 10 balls to the hot oil and fry on low-medium heat until golden brown. Do not overcrowd the pot and reduce the heat of the oil if the outside fries faster
10. Drain on paper towels and when at room temperature, store in an air-tight container