Homemade Fryums Series - Rice Fryums

As soon the winter goes off, women in rural Tamilnadu will have two major tasks to start. One is buying groceries like all the dhal, spices, Red chillies and tamaraind, for the whole year, process it and store it in big containers. Why they do is like, when you buy it in this season you will get them at cheaper rates as they order it every year from the direct vendors. The prices of the same commodities will go high in the upcoming days. Women in metros wont even be knowing it, either they will buy it every month or they will have somebody in rural to do it. 

Ok the next task is the preparation of Rice Fryums (Arisi Vathal), Veg Fryums(Pavakkai, Kovakkai vathal)  and More Milagai. They prepare it at home and store it for the entire year. Every summer I used to goto my granny's place and there she is used to prepare all these. 

As the winter has gone, me and mom decided to do some fryums at home. I have given the name as Homemade Fryums Series as I am going to post all the vathal's one by one as we prepare. Hope you all will enjoy this series. 

This is the recipe for Rice Fryums. 

Ingredients:

Par Boiled Rice - 4 cups

Green Chillies - 10

Cumin Seeds - 2 tsp

Method:

Soak the rice in water for four hours and grind it to a smooth paste. This has to be done the previous  day night. This is done for fermentation. 

The next day, take a big bowl and boil some water in it. Grind the green chillies in a mixer to a smooth paste. 

Once the water starts boiling, add this chilly paste and salt. Slowly pour the rice batter into it, with constant stirring. You should be stirring it continuously as it may stick to the bottom of the vessel. Once the rice is cooked, add the cumin seeds and stir well. 

Switch off the stove and allow it to cool. When it gets cooled the porridge will become thick enough. The batter should not be too thick like we prepare for murukku but also not so watery. 

Take a big towel, usually a dhoti or a white saree. Wash it and keep it wet. Spread it in on the floor. Take a portion of the batter, put it in a murukku press and press it with your desired shapes over the saree. 

This should be dried up in hot sun for about 2 days. After each day, fold the saree in the night and keep it inside. The next day you again dry it. After the second day of drying, sprinkle some water over the saree which you have folded. Once the water is absorbed, peel out each vathal from the saree. 

From the next day onwards, you can dry it in a paper or a plate. This drying has to happen for 2 more days at least. Moreover it depends on the temperature in your place. Once it is dried up fully, store it in a air tight container. 

I couldn't manage to get the pictures of the entire process. Will do it for the next vathal, which I will post shortly. 

After frying this can be served as a very good side dish for sambar rice and rasam. 

I am republishing it for the Festive Food: Summer Treat event hosted by Priti