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Kurdai
Sun-dried wheat starch spirals
कुरडई: fermented wheat-starch spirals pressed and sun-dried, then fried into puffy, crackly curls (plus 3 days soaking and 2 days in the sun)
Kurdai is one of the great Marathi summer projects, the kind that takes the whole family and most of the week. In Marathwada and Khandesh, whole wheat grains are soaked for three days, ground, and strained to collect the fine starch (chik), which settles and slightly ferments. That starch is cooked into a glossy paste and pressed through a kurdai press into flat spirals that dry hard and translucent in the April sun. Fried, they swell into airy, rippled curls, crisp and almost melting, with a faint tang from the fermentation. Kurdai turns up on the side of a Maharashtrian thali with varan-bhaat, at festivals, and as a tea-time crunch. Note that it is made from wheat, so it is not gluten-free. Chef's tip: change the soaking water morning and evening without fail. Skip it and the wheat starts to smell sour and musty instead of clean and yeasty, and the kurdai will taste of it.
- Total time
- 120 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 12
Ingredients
For the starch
- 9 oz whole wheat grainssoaked 3 days
- 6 ¼ cups waterfor grinding and straining, plus soaking water
For the dough
- 1 ¼ cups water
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp white sesame seeds (optional)
- 1 tbsp sunflower oilfor greasing the press
To fry
- 1 ¼ cups sunflower or groundnut oilfor frying
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Method
0/9 doneStep 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.
10 minStep 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.
15 minStep 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.
5 minStep 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.
3 minStep 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.
15 minStep 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.
30 minStep 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.
5 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 90 kcal
- Protein
- 0 g
- Carbs
- 15 g
- Fat
- 3 g
- Fibre
- 0 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does kurdai take?
- About 120 minutes in total: 90 minutes to prepare and 30 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 12 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
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