My Food memory is called a “Chakli Yantra”, and it goes back to my early childhood days.
Festivals were always a great occasion for all the family and friends to come together and celebrate with lot of sweets of course, but savoury snacks were the highlight for me. Quite a few different cooking gadgets were used to make these snacks and sweets, however this one in particular (as pictured below) was always one of my favourite gadgets.
We have a bigger version of this back home in India which you clamp on the ground and needs a lot of elbow grease, my Grandmother (who is 80+) and Mum still use it even today.
This one, on the other hand, is a smaller version and is what I brought with me when I moved here 14 years ago. The beauty is also in the fun shaped plate moulds that fit in the bottom. You put in the dough one end, close it and rotate it, either directly over hot oil or on a grease proof paper and drop it in oil. A bit of skill and precision is needed!
At Diwali time (Hindu “Festival of Lights”), this snack, the “chakli”, is the most well known and is made all over India.
Chakli is a savoury snack originating in India. It is a spiral shaped, pretzel-like snack with a spiked surface.”
Crispy and crunchy, it is a great snack with tea or on its own. There are different versions with rice flour, ground lentil or plain wheat flour. There are well over a 100 different variations and recipes, and I have had the pleasure of having a lot of versions over the years.
You could call them a savoury version of churros, but more crispy all the way through.
Every so often we use this at home to make “chaklis”, and it always brings back all my childhood memories, especially when my 5 year old son plays with it, he loves it. I think he feels pretty confident in getting great shapes, almost like he’s playing with his playdooh.
Good fun and a lot of happy memories.
Chetan Pangam.
How cool! Great read thanks for sharing !