Sago Pops for the Indian Cooking Challenge

You don't need to remind me that Srivalli had chosen Murukus as the challenge recipe this month. That was my intention too when I soaked sago in buttermilk this morning. Srivalli said to soak it for 3 hours; I figured I would leave it in the fridge and deal with it when I come back in the evening. Bad decision! The sago never got too soft; a condition our host had warned us against. She said sago will splutter and it wont be a pretty sight.

Now I had kept this to the last minute and today being the deadline, I went ahead anyway. Ground the bhuna chana dal to a powder, mixed it with rice flour, besan, salt and chilli powder. Poured over some oil, then added the sago and buttermilk. The sago wasn't soft enough; I should have stopped then. But I plodded on.

I don't have a muruku maker so I tried pushing the dough through my pastry bag. It was too stiff to agree with my ideas, so I decided to hand roll the dough into sticks. See, I can be pretty crafty sometime. Then I dropped a handful of these sticks into hot oil. Nothing happened for a minute, then the sago started to burst and there was hot oil flying all over the kitchen. When the popping stopped, I stepped out of my hiding place and took the sago sticks out. They were sooooo delicious!

So popping or not, I was going ahead with this. By the third batch, I had it down to a fine art. Drop the sticks in enough oil to drown them so there's no need to turn anything, then run for dear life. Once the dreary popping sounds stop, go collect your heavenly sago pops.

The only flip side is; my kitchen looks like a battlefield and I think I will never get the oil off the stove. But that's something for my maid to deal with tomorrow!