Kara boondi recipe with tips and trick, stepwise photos to make this snack for Diwali festival of lights. Kara boondi is a popular snack made in south India with gram flour as main ingredient. The process of making involves unique methods and equipments making it more interesting. Let's see how to make this traditional snack.
Perfect as snack for Diwali or even as tea time snack on regular days.
Check out my other sweet boondi recipe in my website, as well as my other Diwali recipes.
Kara boondi is another recipe I used to help my mom when I was a kid. I love the process of making this. Always fascinated by the method they make this. Pouring the batter over a slotted ladle and forming boondis.
My mom also makes sweet boondi, that's another favorite of mine. Few times, we have made boondi laddoos too. Amma gave me a cookbook that has recipes very close to our way of making. Some other recipes me and my mom wrote in a note and till date, I refer it.
This particular cookbook is 'Rani Samayal' by the famous Tamil novelist Ramani Chandran. It's really very useful for me at various preparations. And I followed the kara boondi recipe also from this cookbook. Turned out perfect, crispy and flavourful.
Step by step photos
- Firstly, take a mixing bowl and add gram flour, rice flour, cooking soda, salt. Then mix well (sieve if there are lumps). After that, add water gradually to make a batter like bajji batter. Slightly thinner than that, may be one tablespoon more water.
2. Then heat oil in kadai. You will be needing two big ladles with holes as seen in the picture below (slotted). One, for making boondi and another one for draining from oil. Use another ladle to spoon the batter.
To make kara boondi, pour one spoon of batter over the ladle with hole, holding it just above the oil and spread it carefully.
3. Wipe the laddle as seen below. Fry with constant turning to ensure even cooking and drain once the bubbles ceases and shhh sounds reduces or until golden colour.
4. Drain using other big slotted ladle in kitchen towel. Repeat the process to finish the remaining batter.
5. Then, heat another pan, add ghee, when hot, add broken cashews, peanuts if using and fry till golden.
Then add curry leaves and well crushed garlic(with skin) and fry till nice aroma rises and add half of the pepper powder, give a quick stir and switch off the flame.
Add this to the boondi, add the remaining pepper powder and little more salt and toss well to get all mixed.
Store in air tight container and enjoy as a tea time snack! The garlic, pepper and curry leaves fried in ghee adds a great flavour to the kara boondi.
Top tips
- Test the consistency of the batter by dropping the batter into oil and then adjust water if needed.
- Boondi with tails means batter is slightly thick. Make it thinner by adding one tablespoon at a time to make it right.
- If the boondi falls flat, then it means either the oil temperature is too low or the batter is watery. Even if cooking soda is more, then it will be flat.
My notes
- Quality of the flour matters. I used processed rice flour, very fine in texture which gives crispy results.
- Use neutral, refined oil rather than any dense ones. This helps puffing to a perfect round.
- Please go through Top tips above for perfect results.
Substitutions & Variations
You can skip black pepper and use red chilli powder in batter for different flavour.
Skip garlic and use just pepper and asafoetida or red chilli powder and asafoetida.
Shelf life
Stays good comfortably for 2 weeks at room temperature.
Recipe card
Kara Boondi Recipe | Khara Boondi
Ingredients
- 1 cup Gram flour Besan / kadalai maavu
- ½ cup Rice flour
- 1 pinch Cooking soda See note 1
- Salt
- 2 tablespoon Black pepper powder Fresh ground
- 4 Flakes Garlic
- 8 Cashew nuts
- 2 tablespoon Roasted peanuts
- 1 sprig Curry leaves
- 1 teaspoon Ghee
- Oil - for deep frying
Instructions
- Mix gram flour, rice flour, cooking soda, salt firstly (sieve gram flour) and add water gradually to make a batter like bajji batter. Slightly thin than that. May be 1 tblsp more water.
- Heat oil in kadai. You will be needing two big ladles with holes as seen in the picture below(slotted) .
- One for making boondi and one for draining from oil.
- Use another deep ladle to spoon the batter. Pour one ladle of batter over the ladle with hole holding it just above the oil and spread it.
- Wipe the laddle as seen below.
- Fry with constant turning to ensure even cooking and drain once the bubbles ceases and shhh sound reduces or until golden colour.
- Drain using other big slotted ladle in kitchen towel. Repeat the process to finish the remaining batter.
- Heat another pan, add ghee, when hot, add broken cashews, peanuts if using and fry till golden.
- Then add curry leaves and well crushed garlic(with skin) and fry till nice aroma rises and add half of the pepper powder, give a quick stir and switch off the flame.
- Add this to the boondi, add the remaining pepper powder and little more salt and toss well to get all mixed.
Notes
- Do not add more than a tiny pinch of cooking soda (Mustard size) otherwise turns deep reddish fast.
- Since I add crushed garlic, I do not add asafoetida. If you want you can add a little.
- Batter is too thick? you will get boondis with tail. So add more water and try.
- If the batter is too watery then the boondis may fall flat. So add more gram flour and try.
- Cooking soda is added for crispiness. Since I use more rice flour, use very very tiny pinch of cooking soda.
- We personally don't like groundnuts, so I have not added here.
Mahi says
Nice boondhi Raji!
நெய்யில முந்திரி,மிளகுத்தூள் தாளிச்சு போடுவது புதுசா இருக்கு! நான் அரிசிமாவும் சேர்த்ததில்லை பூந்திக்கு! அடுத்த தீபாவளிக்கு செய்து பார்க்கிறேன்! 🙂
sowmya(creative saga) says
Am going to bring the slotted ladle from India this time..the savoury version looks delicious..
Divya Kudua says
Hats off to you for making this on your own and taking pics too during the steps.Have a wonderful Diwali!
Akila says
Very yummy n love it
Event: Dish name starts with P
jeyashrisuresh says
super tempting karaboondhis with peppery flavor.Beautifully presented
srividhya Ravikumar says
peppery flavour is a nice variation Raji...
Nagalakshmi V says
one of my favourites with tea. a bakery in kottayam sells the best boondi but they stopped making it recently 🙁 i love adding peanuts too!
RAKS KITCHEN says
Divya, you are right, it was difficult :):)
Nivedhanams Sowmya says
so cute boondis!! how do u take pictures and also cook in hot oil - how do u do it? amazing!!
Sowmya
Ongoing Event - CWF - Whole Wheat Flour
GeethuSathiyaN says
Lovely,i dont hav 'Boondhi karandi',can i use the normal jalli karandi for making tis?will it come out well??
RAKS KITCHEN says
Hi Geethu, mine also not the traditional boondhi karandi, just bought this broad karandi and used it. You can sure try the small one we use in day to day cooking. I did try last one with that and saw, came out perfect. Only that you have to pour less batter, at a time to prevent overflowing. But you can do it twice acting quickly. Note that spreading also has to be done carefully,otherwise it may flow in the sides.
GeethuSathiyaN says
Thanks a lot for the quick reply...will let u knw the results by tonite 🙂
Sangeetha Nambi says
Perfect.. Love this crispy, yummy bhoondi anytime...
http://recipe-excavator.blogspot.com
suhaina aji says
yummy and tempting clicks Raji. these are my Dhs fav. Nicely prepared..
Hari Chandana P says
Looks absolutely perfect and tempting.. very nice presentation too.. love it 🙂
Indian Cuisine
Reshmi Mahesh says
Love this yummy snack with hot tea..beautiful presentation..
prathibha Garre says
Boondi looks perfect Raks..I love the cashews in it,yumm
Aruna Manikandan says
looks perfect raji 🙂
love the addition of pepper powder.
Kavitha says
Hai Raks,
The pics were so tempting that i tried it immediately. In the beginning it was taily. Si i added little bit water.. Then it was perfect.. Thanx for the wonderful recipe...
Pinku says
lovely!!!
I am going to cheat by using ready made boondis that are sold as raita boondis...but will surely use ur idea of the ghee and masala .. 🙂
RAKS KITCHEN says
Wow, Kavitha, hats off to your enthusiasm and thanks for taking time to write the feedback as well here promptly 🙂
Sharmilee! :) says
Looks perfect...loved the 2nd pic with the bg bokeh...lovely!
Shanthi says
aaha arumai
GeethuSathiyaN says
Hey Raji,Geethu again,tried kara bhoondhi for the first time and the result is 50-50 :)) i did with normal jalladi karandi only,at first it came out well,but later on the boondis turned out like corn flakes!! then i added lil besan and finally finished it...over all the result is 'passed my bhoondhi exam' thanks again..cheers 🙂
Kaveri Venkatesh says
Looks delicious...Nice pics
Ramya says
Raks..this one is a winner..Looks even better than the store bought ones..Loving it:-)I have bookmarked ur Murukku and planning to make it this weekend:-)
Swarnamuky says
Hi, boondi looks yummy...mine is not crispy..why???
Spice up the Curry says
Hey hats off to you for making it. i always scare to make boondi at home, I will try some time.
VineelaSiva says
The boondhi is so tempting.Today i will amke and have it dear.
Faseela Noushad says
yummy snack....
divya says
Lip smacking ...lovely clicks too
Geetha says
I tired this recipe but the boondi sticks together. What can be the problem?
Sushma Madhuchandra says
Was planning to make them for this Deepavali, but ended making something else 🙂
RAKS KITCHEN says
Hi geetha, oil might not be hot enough and when u drop boondi in oil, do it in spreaded way, donot over lap. Try again, sure will turn out gud.
runnergirlinthekitchen.blogspot.com says
Perfectly made!
Priya says
Send me some,i'll happily have it anytime,wonderfully done.
Sujatha Arun says
Tried this today and it turned out perfect. Thanks for that wonderful recipe.
M D says
I always wondered how people managed to make such complex dishes at home. But you've made that task seem so simple. Nice step by step.
Vaanisree says
Hi raks.... i did made this today noon and for the first time i am really amazed.... it came out very well..... but few things i just wnt to clear with u .. do we hav to hold the big laddle (with holes) close to hot oil while droping the batter or just little above or more of distance makes better round boondhis ??? because mine came out with 80% perfect rounds and 20% with tails... and some may be around 10 pieces came out flat.. so i wonder is there any methodology to be followed while dropping the batter into oil..?? another thing is, it was very crispier when i prepared and after i tempered with cashews, garlic and curryleaves i found it lost the crispiness which it had before.. is there anyway we can maintain the crispiness throughout for longer period?? kindly answer... and i really thank u for the wonderful recipes u r posting here. i am doing most of ur recipes at home and everything is dooper hit!!! thanks once again.. HAPPY DIWALI to u and ur family 🙂
divya says
Hi Raks,
i tried this one. it came out very well. It had some tails too. but that was ok. It was my first time i'm preparing kara boondhi. Everyday you keep on posting some recipes. i don't know what to make or what to leave. All are tempting.Soon i'll send you my tried recipes
Veena Theagarajan says
this is my favourite from my childhood.. I love the pics
great-secret-of-life.blogspot.com
RAKS KITCHEN says
Hi Vanisree, Thank you for your feedback. Yes you are right, for each batter consistency, the distance also plays a role for perfect shape. For that we have to estimate ourselves and adjust as we make it. No other go. But generally, roughly about 8-10 cm from oil it should work fine. You should leave some space for the batter to drop and get the shape,so not too close to oil.
And regarding the crispiness, for me till last day I finished it was crisp as I ate in the beginning. There could be 3 reasons why yours went that way. One could be the tadka you did, you should fry the items well without moist. If you want to make sure 100% then you can deep fry in the hot oil that we used to make boondi, after finishing the boondi. Deep frying gives a better result.
Two - may be any one of your batches was not crispy.
Three, you might not have stored in airtight container?
Hope this helps you next time 🙂
Divya, thanks for your feedback as well 🙂 If you get tails, you can add a tblsp of water and try.
Happy Diwali to you all
Vaanisree says
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vaanisree says
Thanks for ur reply raji.... will try out once again and post the pic and comment.... happy diwali to u and ur family...
Anuradha says
Hi Raks..wonderful recipe..lovely clicks..!hope u had a great Diwali..
notyet100 says
U r tempting me now to try this,,,
moonbim says
I love your recipes!
revathi venkat says
can v do dis without using cooking soda
Raks anand says
Sorry you cant.
revathi venkat says
K...tnks....
vin rocks says
Wonderful, I directed my with iPad... And she made it for me... Picture directions here is too good. நன்றி
savitha says
tried this now....superb outcome raji...thanks a lot for sharing such wonderful recipes
Mahalakshmi Rajkumar says
I tried this recipe today and it came out well
Mahalakshmi Rajkumar says
I have tried this today and it was good
saranya.v says
It is too crispy.. any idea to modify??
Kavitha says
Hi recipe is nice..sure going to try..one ddoubt.where to add ghee..
Raks Anand says
Hi Kavitha, use it for frying cashews, curry leaves at the end 🙂
Rads says
Thank you for the recipe. I usually follow all your recipes esp the savory ones and love them. For karaboondi and omapodi can I use idiyappam powder. I made this last time with normal store bought rice flour but realized this time I am running short of it. Thanks as always for your inspiring recipes
Raks Anand says
Thank you so much! Yes, you can use idiyappam flour sure, I always use idiyappam flour.