My 273rd post, a "Punugulu Recipe" which goes by a lot of names. Like crispy fritters | Goli Baje | Idli Maavu bonda based on the different variations from regions in India.
Famous in the coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh. A quick and easy evening snack recipe, the perfect tea time snack and a popular street food.
Do you love having guests at home ? I certainly do. While growing up, there was someone or the other who visited our house everyday. Since most of the relatives used to live nearby, it would normally be a close family member visiting during the evenings.
After a customary wish to the guests, I would move on to my stud. Sit with my book open. But all my attention will be glued on to the conversation that happened in the living room 🙂
On all such occasions when someone came home to visit us in the evening, my mom usually welcomed them with a cup of hot chai. And alongside would be a snack which she had handy or anything which she could prepare in a short time.
Among all the different evening tea time snacks my mom used to make, this punugulu is one of my favorites which she used to make in a jiffy.
Punugulu
While my mom used to make this at home, with all honesty, we never fixed a name for this dish. We used to call this as idli batter bonda or sometime just bonda.
I however got acquainted with the name punugulu when I tasted it for the first time here in a local Indian store.
And I came to know that this is a famous snack originating from my neighboring state of Andhra. However, compared to the homemade version, the store version was so oily and sour tasting.
That it was my first and last try of punugulu anywhere outside. However, the name 'Punugulu' just stuck with me.
This punugulu basically starts with a batter. A fermented batter made from rice and urad dal. Refer here for my idli dosa batter recipe. We usually have it readily available in the refrigerator.
As I have already mentioned in my earlier post, I prepare batter once every week and it serves me well during the whole week in the form of idli, dosa, kuzhi paniyaram, etc.
When your guest arrive, all you have to do is to mix some readily available pantry seasonings/ingredients to the batter and fry it in hot oil.
You can then serve a batch of hot evening snack to your guests in no time. However, the most important thing to keep in mind is that, you should serve these punugulu only to your guests.
Don't ever make the mistake of even accidentally tasting one. Then for sure your guests will have none left.
These are nicely crispy on the outside, soft n spongy inside and you will never be able to stop yourself with eating just one. It is definitely very addictive 🙂
Stepwise Instructions
Punugulu
Youtube Video
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Idli Batter
- 1 pinch Baking soda
- 1 pinch Salt
- 1 pinch Asafoetida
- 1 pinch Red chilli powder
- ½ tsp Jeera
- 4 Curry leaves (finely chopped)
- 1 Tbsp Coriander leaves (finely chopped)
- 2 Tbsp Onion (finely chopped)
- ½ Tbsp Semolina / Rava
- 1 ½ Tbsp Rice Flour (adjust as needed)
- Oil - for frying
Instructions
- Take the idli batter in a mixing bowl and add all the other listed ingredients to the bowl, except the oil. Mix well to form the batter in the right consistency.
- Heat oil in a kadai for frying. Using your fingers take a small portion of the batter, shape it into a rough ball and drop it gently in the hot oil. You can also instead drop spoonfuls of the batter
- Fry in medium flame and in batches until the punugulu is nicely golden. Transfer to a paper napkin | paper towel | clean kitchen towel to remove excess oil.
- Serve the delicious punugulu hot along with any spicy chutney, like coconut chutney or peanut chutney or tomato chutney or allam pachadi | ginger chutney
Padmini says
I am a beginner l follow your recipes
revifood says
Sure Padmini. Do let me know ho it turned out 🙂
Gaurav says
During mixing all the ingedients with idli batter; do we also need to add water?
revifood says
No Gaurav. You do not need to add any additional water. The punugulu batter should be thick enough like vada batter or else it will absorb more oil which frying.
Kaeri says
What kind of chutneys would you recommend with these?h
revifood says
Any spicy chutney will be good. https://revisfoodography.com/2015/05/south-indian-green-chutney/
https://revisfoodography.com/2015/03/onion-tomato-chutney/
https://revisfoodography.com/2015/02/coconut-chutney/