Chakli is a savoury Indian snack with a spiral shape and spiked surface. It is also known as chakali, chakri or chakkuli.
Chakli is typically made from flours of rice, Bengal gram (brown chickpea) and black gram (urad daal). It has several variations, depending on the types and proportions of flours used. It is also very popular in South Africa, introduced by the Indian diaspora. Maize flour is used instead of rice flour with the addition of salt and cumin as the basic dry ingredients. It is sold by street vendors and at neighborhood shops.
Kadboli is a similar dish, which is shaped by hand instead of with an extruder. Murukku is a South Indian snack typically made with rice and black gram flour during Diwali. In Indonesia, murukku and chakli variations are known as akar kelapa and are particularly popular among Betawi.
Etymology Chakli is known by various names across India. The names of the dish include , , , , or and or .
History The earliest mention of a dish similar to chakli comes from ancient Ayurvedic texts where it is known as saskuli; it was made from spiced rice flour dough with sesame seeds and then placed in a presser to form a long thread-like design and fried in ghee or oil. Traditional Foods: Some Products and Technologies – Page 51 – Central Food Technological Research Institute (India) · 1986Traditional methods of food habits and dietary preparations in Ayurveda – the Indian system of medicine https://journalofethnicfoods.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42779-019-0016-4 – Dhanya S (2019) Journal of Ethnic Foods volume 6, Article number: 14 (2019) The word saskuli literally translates to "ear-shaped" design.Srimad-Bhagavatam, Eleventh Canto: General History Disciples of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, 1982.Feasts and Fasts: A History of Food in India, page 65, Colleen Taylor Sen · 2015 This early variation of rice flour-based chakli may have more closely resembled rice-murukku than the chakli known today.Spices in Indian Life, 6500 B.C.-1950 A.D. A Comprehensive and Critical Narration about the Role of Spices in Indian Life By Som Nath Mahindru, page 57, 1982. The recipe that closely resembles modern Chakli finds mention in the medieval period cookbook Soopa Shastra dated to 1509 AD. This recipe was made from a blend of rice flour, Bengal gram flour and urad dal flour.The sweet flavour of tradition: mithai, chakli and other tastes of Diwali – Sulekha Nair – October 21, 2014-https://www.firstpost.com/politics/sweet-flavour-tradition-mithai-chakli-tastes-diwali-1766589.html
Ingredients and preparation Chakli is made from the flours of rice, Bengal gram (chickpea) and black gram (urad dal). Other ingredients include coriander seed powder, cumin seed (jeera) powder, sesame seeds, red pepper powder, turmeric powder, salt, asafoetida powder and oil. Some variations also include green gram (moong) and pigeon pea (tuar/arhar) instead of black gram.
The flours and seed powders are mixed, and boiling water is added to make a dough. The dough is kneaded and shaped into circular forms, using a mould. In commercial food processing units, usually a chakli extruder is used for shaping the dough. The shaped dough is fried in hot oil until it becomes brown in colour. It is then removed from the oil, drained and cooled.
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See also List of snack foods from the Indian subcontinent Murukku
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