If you have been following my Instagram stories, you know I am currently obsessed with my Air Fryer. I have swiftly moved on from baking to air frying everything.
On that note, here is another afternoon snack that I indulge with my family. A very popular street food as well as an overpriced item at “resorts” in Kerala — this is one of the ultimate Malayali snacks that contributes to clogged arteries. Only this time we are using the air fryer instead of deep frying it and making it HEALTHIER😉
Soak the lentils in water for 8 hours or overnight. Overnight if you are lazy to make it after 8 hours.
You need 2 sprigs of curry leaves, 2–3 dried red chilies, 2–4 green chilies, a thumb sized ginger, and 1 red onion.
Strain the lentils and let it air dry for some time.
Meanwhile finely chop up the red onions, ginger, green chilies, and red chilies. You can also use a food processor to chop the vegetables. Please avoid touching your face OR make sure you thoroughly wash your hands multiple times before touching your face. The spicINESS will sting you.
Take 1 tbsp of strained lentils and set it aside.
Use a food processor to pulse the remaining strained lentils. The final mixture should look like this.
To that, we are going to add the 1 tbsp of lentils that was not pulsed. This is to have that extra crunchiness.
Now add the finely chopped vegetables, 1 tsp of red chili powder, and 1 tsp of chickpea flour. Chickpea flour is not needed at all. The final mixture looked a little runny, hence I added some flour.
Once thoroughly mixed, take a small amount and form into these shapes. Coat the bottom of the air fryer with oil and add the lentil “patties”. Brush the top with oil. I cooked these for about 15 minutes at 350oF in the air fryer.
Crispy. Spicy. Pure Bliss. Trust me you won’t miss the extra oil.
Please have it with a cup of Masala Chai. You will thank me later.
There you have it readers. Parippuvada aka Lentil fritters or Lentil nuggets or Lentil patties — whatever you want to call it. Do let me know in the comment box if you give this a try.
Please note: You can just deep fry it if you don’t have an Air Fryer. Also, you can definitely make it less spicy by decreasing the amount of chilies. Might save you a good cry in the end.
Extra spicy food with a touch of regret,
A, Ben.
P.S. All photos are taken with Canon EOS Rebel T6i.
