Papdi or Papri are deep fried and crispy flour crackers laced with either carom or cumin seeds or both. They are an essential element in many chaat recipes. My homemade Papdi Recipe has both the fried and baked versions.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 40 minutes
  • Cook time: 30 minutes
  • Total time: 70 minutes
  • Yield: 75 · 75 Papdi
  • Category: Snacks
  • Cuisine: North Indian

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole wheat flour ((atta) * check notes)
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour ((maida))
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds ((jeera))
  • 1 teaspoon carom seeds ((ajwain)
  • 2 or 2.5 tablespoons ghee (or 2 tablespoons oil)
  • 5.5 to 6 tablespoons water (or add as required)
  • salt (as required)
  • oil (for deep frying, as required)

Method

Making papdi dough

  1. Mix the whole wheat flour (atta), all purpose flour (maida), carom seeds (ajwain), cumin seeds (jeera) and salt in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Rub or mix ghee in the dough with your finger tips, till you get a bread crumb like texture in the mixture.
  3. Add water bit by bit and knead to a firm and tight dough. Keep covered for 30 minutes.
  4. Knead again and divide the dough into 4 equal balls.

Rolling papri

  1. Roll each dough ball thin with a rolling pin. Don't roll very thin.
  2. Using a cookie cutter, cut round or different shapes from the rolled dough.
  3. Remove the extra rolled dough and use it to make the rest of the papdis.
  4. You can also make tiny balls and then roll each into a small round puri.
  5. Prick the cut out papdis or small puris with fork, so that they don't puff while frying and become crisp.

Frying papdi

  1. Heat oil for deep frying in a kadai.
  2. Slid the papdi in medium hot oil and with the help of a slotted spoon, fry them till golden.
  3. The sizzling in the oil stops when the papdi are fried.
  4. Drain the papdi on paper towels to remove excess oil.

For baking papdi

  1. Place the papdi in a lightly greased tray.
  2. Bake them in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 to 25 mins or till golden.
  3. Keep an eye while baking, as sometimes papdi bake very quickly, especially if rolled too thin.
  4. Once both the fried papdi and the baked papdi are cooled, transfer them in an air tight box or jar.
  5. Use papdi whenever you want to make papdi chaat, sev puri, dahi papdi chaat or bhel puri.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.