South Indian Oma Podi ( Crispy Spiced gram flour noodles)
This is another one among the recipes that my mother made during her visit to my place. I have always been a "savory" kinda girl with not too much interest in sweets. So was my father (note the "was". My father has gone over the other side thanks to my mom now!) My mom has a sweet tooth ( and 32 of them!) but since there weren't any takers, she made lots of savory stuff and used to fill a big carton with the idea of it lasting a month. Needless to say her calculations always fell short by at least 15 days :). When she was here, she was very surprised that I had not blogged these goodies till now owing to the fact that I always loved them to death.
South Indian Oma Podi ( Crispy Spiced gram flour noodles)
But only after her arrival, I realized that I had for some reason kept myself away from such snacks. May be I was practicing "will power" (my husband calls it "laziness") or may be the lack of time/interest - I wouldn't know. Agreed, she made it for her son-in-law and not for me, but for such things I do not see my husband and me as separate individuals and in all generosity I might have hogged his share too ;) This is among my favorites right from my childhood and remains so until today
South Indian Oma Podi ( Crispy Spiced gram flour noodles)
These spiced fried "noodles" are made from Gram flour (goes by the name "besan" in Indian stores) with a little rice flour to make it crispy. Its enjoyed all over India where its referred to as "Sev" in the North and "Oma podi" in the South. The word "Oma" is in fact "Omam" referring to the essential spice (which is not used in the North Indian version) - Carom Seeds. It imparts a dominating flavor to these snacks which makes them addictive. You need a special equipment, a kind of noodle maker that you would find in almost all the South Indian kitchens. It has various attachments ( similar to Deluxe Cookie Press) among which is one that has small holes in it. That is used to make these noodles. So if you don't have the traditional one, you can use the Cookie press to make these (probably not as thin, but you might come close depending on the attachment). This is a classic recipe and is made for festivals in Southern India, especially Diwali, although many households enjoy it all year round for snacks.
  • Cook time:
  • Prep time:
  • Serves: 2 people
  • Yields: About 2-3 generous cups
Ingredients
  • 1 cup Gram Flour (besan)
  • 1/4 cup Rice Flour
  • 1 tbsp hot oil
  • 1/2 tsp Carom Seeds (ajwain,omam)
  • Salt to taste
Method
1.

Heat oil for deep frying in a wide heavy bottomed vessel.Take 1/4 cup water, salt and carom seeds in a blender.

2. Grind until it gets a smooth consistency.
3. Take the rest of ingredients in a bowl. You can add the hot oil from the deep fryer.
4. Strain the carom seed mixture and pour it along with the other ingredients.
5. Knead until smooth and comes together into a pliable dough. Shouldn't be too tight nor too loose. If tight, then use tablespoon of water at a time and add it until it reaches a pliable consistency. Better err on the side of less water than more.
6. Use the Om podi maker - this one has tiny holes in it like in the pictures.
7. Add some of the mixture to the maker.
8.

Reduce the heat in the oil from hot to med-high. Place the top over the mixture and press it over hot oil in a circular motion.

9.

You will find that there is lot of bubble action in the oil while the noodles/sev gets cooked. Let it fry for few minutes. The minute the bubbles subside (that is it stops sizzling) and noodle becomes yellowish red, its done. Turn it over the other side for few seconds.

10. Remove and place it on a paper towel.
You can keep it as it is or break into smaller pieces like small vermicelli. Store in air tight containers and enjoy. South Indian Oma Podi ( Crispy Spiced gram flour noodles)

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5 Member Reviews

By nathi on Sep 15, 2012

i made this omapodi its really good.its enough for us family snacks time.....

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By RK on Jul 31, 2012


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15 Comments

By Jyothsna on Aug 31, 2015

This has come out fantastic, thanks for the recipe, method

Thank you :) –DK

By Veena Aravind on Jan 25, 2012

Just noted down the recipe..would be trying today for the boys who are at home and my husband's favorite.. I messaged this after reading the first comment..she has mistaken for 1/4 cup of rice flour..:)

By Thamarai on Oct 25, 2011

Hi DK, I tried this for Deepavali today. Would like to share my experience. When you said add 1/4th cup of oil to the flour mixture, I didn't know how to measure that out. Quite stupidly I scooped out some hot oil in a spoon and poured into the 1/4th cup I have. By the time the measuring cup was full, the plastic cup had melted due to the hot oil. after I poured this oil into the flour mixture I realized that I would be eating plastic and therefore threw away the flour mixture and used fresh flour. Second time just roughly took one karandi of hot oil to pout into flour. By this time the frying oil had become so hot that the first batch came out looking pitch black. I had to switch off the heat, let it cool down for a while and then proceeded to make the rest, which turned out good overall but some batches were a bit soggy inside. All in all a learning experience for me :) My thala deepavali this time and also first time am frying something in oil! Thanks for the recipe!

By Uma on Oct 20, 2011

Tried this recipe today. Came out well. Thank you for sharing your recipe. Happy Diwali.

By Mythreyyee on Oct 14, 2011

Yummy!!!My husband's favorite snack...Thanks for Clear pictures.Will it try it out :-P

By bhuvaneshwari on Aug 17, 2011

i am making it today .... thanks for the recipe... you know there is some kind of telepathy working between us... i was thinking of trying to find the perfect recipe for omapodi and there... u come up with it... love u for this... ur omapodi looks absolutely stunning :)

By Sarah on Aug 10, 2011

aah.... i love these crispy delights.. hard to stop after a bite!

By La @ FoodSlice on Aug 4, 2011

Hey D, my favourite snack too and my mom makes it very often too. Next time i go to my parents house, i am going to make her cook it for me. Too lazy to do it myself. Or maybe i should make a try since you have pictures of all the steps. Still trying to decide, will let you know when i do :)

By APPAVOO S on Aug 3, 2011

is the name of the herb correct,isn't it called by another name? elakai/chi is cardamon isn't chef APPAVOO S

I am not referring to "cardamom seeds" but "carom seeds" which is different.

By Sia on Aug 3, 2011

not fair girl! I'm trying to stay 'lil' away fm deep fried goodies and here u come and post such fav snack of mine!

By kiran singh on Aug 2, 2011

looks yummy.. :wink:

By Poornima on Aug 2, 2011

Looks amazing...one of the best snacks!!

By Divya Vikram on Aug 2, 2011

Lovely Sev DK. Looks delicious!

By Divya on Aug 2, 2011

This is my favorite of all...would love to try oma podi in spare time. Thanks for the detailed yet simple recipe!

By Vidhya on Aug 2, 2011

yummy oma podi... looks really great.