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
Notes | FAQ
- The punugulu will taste best when the batter is a few days old and tastes slightly sour. Hence prefer using leftover idli batter or leftover dosa batter.- Always fry in small portions. If you drop too many while deep frying, it will quickly reduce the temperature of oil and the punugulu will not come out good.- Quantity of the rice flour added would purely depend on how thick your idli batter is. So add a little initially and then add more if needed. You may also use less if your batter is already thick.- If the batter ends up thick, the bonda will turn out hard instead of getting a soft punugulu.- If the batter ends up thin, the bonda will absorb a lot of oil while frying and you will not get a crispy punugulu. So adjust the consistency of batter accordingly.- Instead of red chilli powder, you can also add finely chopped green chilies (green chillies)