Ribbon Pakoda

Ribbon pakoda is a popular Indian snack that is made from a mixture of chickpea flour, rice flour, and a variety of spices. The dough is then shaped into thin ribbons or strips and deep-fried until crispy. Ribbon pakoda is known for its unique texture and is often enjoyed with a cup of tea or as a crunchy accompaniment to rice dishes. It is a popular snack during festivals and special occasions in India.

Ribbon Pakoda

4.0 from 1 vote
Recipe by S Kamala
Course: SnacksCuisine: Indian, TamilDifficulty: Medium
Servings

10

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

15

minutes
Total time

25

minutes

Ribbon pakoda is a popular Indian snack prepared from chickpea flour, rice flour, and various spices. The dough is formed into thin strips and deep-fried to yield a crispy texture. Frequently enjoyed with tea or as a crunchy side to rice meals, it is particularly favored during festivals and special occasions.

Ingredients

  • Rice flour – 2 cups

  • Besan flour – 1 cup

  • Pottukadalai Powder – 1/2 cup

  • Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon

  • Asafoetida powder – 1/2 teaspoon

  • White til seeds (Ellu) – 1 teaspoon

  • Butter or Ghee or hot oil – 3 tablespoons

  • Salt – 1 and half teaspoon or as per taste

  • Oil for deep frying

Directions

  • Sift the besan and rice flour into a large mixing bowl.
  • Add pottukadalai powder, chili powder, asafoetida, til seeds, and salt to the flours. Mix well to combine all the dry ingredients.
  • Heat some oil until hot and add it to the flour mixture. Stir until the hot oil is well-incorporated into the dry ingredients.
  • Begin adding water gradually, mixing continuously until a dough forms.
  • Fill a murukku press fitted with a ribbon pakoda plate with a portion of the dough. Heat oil in a kadai over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, carefully press the murukku press in a circular motion to release the dough directly into the hot oil.
  • Fry the ribbon pakoda until it turns a golden yellow color and becomes crispy. Be careful not to overcook it; you don’t want it too brown.
  • Remove the fried pakoda from the oil and drain on paper towels. Once cool, store in an airtight container to keep them crispy. Enjoy!

Recipe Video

Notes

  • Instead of chilli powder, you can use pepper powder also. You can add ghee or butter or a ladle of hot oil in the flour and make the dough.
  • Instead of adding more rice flour, we can use 2 cups besan flour and one cup rice flour also. There is no hard and fast rule for ratio of flours for this pakoda.

37 Comments

  1. Great Recipe. It is simple and easy to make without any tedious soaking and grinding. Thanks for posting.
    Devi

  2. Hello Mam,

    You have told that we can use rice flour and pottu kadalai powder too for ribbon pakoda recipe. Do you mean that each of them is 1 cup alongwith besan 1 cup for the recipe? Kindly clarify.

    Thanks

  3. Hi,

    If you use 2 cups rice flour, add only 1 cup Pottukadalai powder OR 1 cup besan flour.

    If you add both, ribbon pakoda will be more of dhal taste than rice flour taste.

    The ratio depends upon one's own taste. But for crispy ribbon pakoda, 2 cups rice flour and one cup besan works good.

  4. Thanks a lot for the response. Will follow your ratio for Diwali and give you the FB. Earlier, tried many recipes like appam, sooji milk halwa and they all came out superb.

    Rest, can I follow the recipe like for ghee measurements?

    Also, one more clarification regarding jangiri. Tried yours yesterday and everything turned out great except for two problems.

    1. It was not that crisy after reached room temperature. How to keep the flame while deep frying ?

    2. Also, could smelt urad dal in jangiri strongly. Forgot to add cardamom powder and rose essence. Could that be the reason or anything that I can do to mask the smell?

    Thanks so much for your time.

  5. Hi Rama,

    You have to keep the stove in medium flame and cook the jangiri till it is crisp. Sugar syrup should be in right consistency. Then jangiris will be crisp.

    Urad dhal smell may be due to not frying the jangiri well and also not adding flavours like cardamom and other essence.

    Anyway, it is great you tried this recipe. It will come in practice.

  6. Hi kamala,

    I tried ur ribbon pakoda and it turned really good…. It was a quick snack… My 2 yr old son and my husband loved it… Thank u for such nice recipes ….

    Regards,
    Savitha.

  7. Thank you for your feed back Savitha.

  8. Hi Kamala Mami,
    Made ribbon pakoda for gokulashtami with pottu kadalai powder. Came out superbly. All at home liked it. Usually I add only besan flour. But, we all liked it with pottu kadalai powder more. thanks a lot for the recepie.
    Uma Ramachandran

  9. Hi,

    I buy ribbon pakoda at the Indian Market near my house. It is made in the US by a company called Janaki’s and it has only Gram flour. No rice flour. Can you make at home without the rice flour. The ingredients from the package are: Gram Flour, Corn or Canola oil, red chili, sesame, salt, spices.

    Thanks for the great recipes, I very much enjoy your website.

    Teresa

    • Hi Teresa,

      Adding rice flour make it crispy. Adding corn flour also for crispiness only. If you do not want to add rice flour, you can add corn flour also. You can add “Pottukadalai Powder” (Chutney dhal powder). Even without adding anything, just with only besan we can prepare this. There is no hard and fast rule for preparing this. It should be prepared according to one’s own taste.

  10. hello

    Madam daily i want your recepies in kannada language or english language please send me receipies in my email id which i sent

    Regards
    kalpana

    • Hi Kalpana,

      Thank you for visiting my blog. I do not know Kannada. I am posting recipes in English and Tamil only. You can subscribe to “Kamala’s Corner” so that you can receive my recipes in English whenever I post a new recipe.

  11. HI

    i would like t o know whether i can use pottukadalai 2 cups and rice flour 1 cup to make crispy ribbon pakoda

    Thanks

  12. HI

    i prepared the appam snacks it was amazing all enjoyed it very much and have thanked you for the easy recipe

    IN case of ribbon pakoda can i use the market rice atta and what will be the proportion it is difficult to make rice atta at home as I am at present in U.S.A.and do not have proper mixer to grind the rice powder

    THANKS

    • Hi Iyer,

      Thank you for your kind feed back on appam.

      Ribbon pakoda, you can use store bought rice flour (available in all the Indian Stores at USA). Chek my recipe for Ribbon Pakoda and follow the same.

  13. my friend Jayashree makes it with 1/2 cup pottukadalai podi instead of kadalamavu. it is superb. try you will like it.

  14. hi mam,
    can i use puttu flour instead of rice flour

  15. hi mam,

    i made ribbon pakkoda with rice flour, pottu kadalai flour, dalda, chillis and salt… when i mix all this and put in oil it has been broken into dust pieces… and it also absorb lots of oil… what else to do to rectify this… pls explain

    • Hi Mythili,

      Due to excess quantity of dalda make the murukku break into pieces. Adding more water in the dough or frying in the oil which is not heated properly will make the murukku absorb more oil.

  16. Dear Maami,
    Thanks for the wonderful receipes. Actually
    My mother’s name is also Kamala and she makes
    Yummy like this but right now she is with my
    Brother in London and timing is different. Couldn’t
    Catch her when I have doubts. But luckily
    I found you and it’s easy for me to make without
    Troubling my mom, now I can call her only to
    Find her health and her wellness
    Happy Diwali to all the members
    Thanks for the wonderful site

    • Thank you Renuka (what a co-incidence – my daughter’s name is Renuka) for your kind wishes and I wish you and your family very Happy Deepavali.

  17. Hai, I tried your ribbon bakoda.tase is very nice.but it is not crispy.why

    • The reason may be it is not fried well or the besan is too much. If you use more rice nd flour and fry it till the sizzling sound disappears from the hot oil, then it means it fried well and stay crisp for longer period.

  18. Ribbon pakoda came out well. But it turns brown (I used the flour as per your measurement ) Should I prepare it in medium flame/high flame? Pl. clarify.

  19. Ur recipes are amazing….Am new to cooking what is puttukadalai powder and flour what is the Hindi or English name? Waht is the use of this powder..
    Thanks …

    • Thank you for writing. “Pottukadalai” is also known as “Chutney dal” and it is called in English as “Fried gram” or “Roasted Gram”. It is having lots of health benefits and used in so many dishes. Also act as binding agent.

  20. Thanks mam for ans…..Fried gram ….So can I just ask for besan or is it different from that ? I’m from Mumbai so what can I or should i ask the shopkeeper for. Sorry but am confused. I tried the ragi muruku withou this powder while frying it was crisp but the next day it softend. Can u tell me why?

    • No. It is not Besan. If you are from Mumbai means, you must be knowing “Dalia”, the fried gram. You have to get the gram and powder it in a mixie. Re Ragi Murukku, I think it is not fried well. If you fry on medium flame for required time, then it will stay crisp without this flour also.

  21. Thanks for ur response will start trying many of ur recipes

  22. Jayakrishnan C R

    Dear Kamala

    I tried ribbon pakavada with pottukadalai and faced with problems. I used a teaspoon of dalda insted of butter. when I tried to fry in oil the ribbon was not contineous and it drank lot of oil. The oil came frothy and was not able to see anything for a while. what should I do to rectify the dough. I have taken one and half cup of rice powder and one cup of pottukadali powder.

  23. Jayalakshmi

    We also use the same ratio for rice to basin. We used to sieve 3 times,1 individually, 2 times mixed flours for uniform mixing.. lts our favorite diwali snack for past 15 years..

  24. Jayalakshmi

    Madam could pls specify the ratio for manoharam.

  25. But what is the use of til in this?

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*