Khichi papdi
I am posting this a bit late but I still want to share with you my recipe for one of the most popular food items in our household and one that is always present when I cook the full Kathiawadi meal or the Gujarati thali of dal, bhat, shak, rotli, pickles. I am talking about the papad, poppadum or papdi and more importantly the khichi ni papdi. Khichi is a rice flour based steamed dough and once steamed this dough can be eaten as is or rolled into papdi, sundried and then roasted or fried.
In Tanzania at my inlaws place, the Vithlani household, papdi making was an annual event. In the summer my MIL and my sister in law Manjubhabhi would wake up early, finish all the daily household tasks and then set up to make the khichi. This was made in vast quantities (by the 15kg measures each day). My MIL would get the water to a rolling boil on the jiko (coal fired cooker) and then add to it the various spices and the flour. Our household help would then help stir this dough for 30 or so minutes before it is put in a steamer for the final bit of cooking. Once the steamed dough is ready, it would be divided into small portions ready to roll into papdi. They would then arrange sheets of cloth on the floor onto which they would dry the rolled out papdi. Sometimes the neighbours, Anilaben Unadkat, Lataben and Manglaben Rajani who lived in the same building would join in bringing their rolling pins and boards and rolling the papad. Even children would be involved in taking the papdi onto a rolling pin then laying it flat on the sheets for drying. Those ladies worked harminuously together for several mornings in the week. Around 11am the menfolk would come to eat the fresh warm khichi with oil, salt and chilli powder. My MIL would have accounted for this in her dough measurements.
There is a knack to roll this papdi to a very thin disc and my sister in law Manju Bhabhi taught me how to do this. She has the patience of a saint and made it rather easy to learn. She used to have us roll the dough between two oiled sheets of food grade clear plastic so the papdi could be stretched real thin. Having said this, my arms would ache with all that rolling. Once the papdi are dry, my MIL would take a dry cloth, wipe them and store them in some of the biggest containers (about 4foot deep). All these papdi would be used throughout the year.
In Charleston, I don’t make an annual supply but I do make sufficient quantity to last a few months as Manu prefers Khichi papdi to the readily available urad papad. In the same way as in Mwanza, we all enjoy the khichi dough and I often steam the dough just for snacks and not for making papdi. My recipe is very simple and has been passed down to me. I think it is one of the best papdi recipe and I urge you to try it.
2 cup rice flour
5 cup water
2 tea spoon salt ( heaped)
3 tea spoon kharo
pinch baking powder
2 tablespoon sabudana ( soak over night)
1/2 tea spoon asafoetida
2 tea spoon cumin seeds
1 tea spoon sesame seeds
4 tea spoon red and green chili paste ( according to your taste)
In a large pot put water ,add all above ingredients except chilies and boil the water. Turn the heat on a low flame ,add chilies and rice flour mix well and turn the heat off. Grease the sieve ( chaini) put all the khichi in the chaini and steam the khichi for 45 minutes.When its cooked,mix khichi until nice and smooth. (Can also mix in the kitchen aid mixture.)Make small goina,cover them and roll.if the chichi gets cold can warm in a microvawe for approx. 30 sec. Let them dry in the sun.
jikoni 
