Kurdai

Step 1: Cover 9 oz whole wheat grains with plenty of fresh water and soak it for 3 days, draining and replacing the water every morning and evening. It is ready when a grain squashes to milk between your fingers.

Step 2: Drain the wheat and grind it in a blender in two batches with some of the 2 cups water to a thick, milky paste.

Step 3: Pour the paste into a fine muslin cloth over a bowl, add more of the 4 ½ cups water and squeeze out the white starch milk. Repeat twice with the husk until the water running out is nearly clear; discard the husk.

Step 4: Cover the bowl and leave the starch milk to settle overnight in a cool place. Next morning, carefully pour off the yellowish water on top, leaving the thick white starch at the bottom.

Step 5: Bring 1 ¼ cups water and 1 tsp salt to the boil in a heavy pan. Stir the starch, then pour it in slowly, stirring all the time over a low heat.

Step 6: Keep stirring for 12–15 minutes until the paste turns from white to glossy, translucent and very thick, and leaves the sides of the pan. Common mistake: stopping when it is merely thick; under-cooked starch makes kurdai that cracks and won't puff. Stir in 1 tsp white sesame seeds.

Step 7: Grease a kurdai press (sev press with the kurdai disc) with 1 tbsp sunflower oil, fill it with the hot paste and press small coiled spirals onto clean plastic sheets laid in the sun. Work quickly while the paste is hot.

Step 8: Dry for 2 days in strong sun, turning them after the first day and bringing them in at night, until they are stiff, translucent and snap cleanly.

Step 9: Store in an airtight tin for up to a year. To serve, heat 1 ¼ cups sunflower or groundnut oil in a kadai over a medium-high heat and fry 2–3 at a time for a few seconds until they puff and turn white and crisp. Drain on paper.