1teaspoonBlack peppercornscrushed once or twice in mortar and pestle
Instructions
Take all purpose flour, sooji, ajwain and salt in a bowl. Mix well.
Then add oil. Mix it by rubbing between your thumb and fingers till everything is incorporated well. It should be look like bread crumbs and if you press it into your palm, it will come together like a crumbly dough.
Make tight and stiff dough by adding very little water at a time. I have used only 4 ½ tablespoons of water.
Cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.
While the dough is resting, take peppercorns in mortar and pestle. Crush them only once or twice. They should be crushed into half. We need big pieces, not powder.
After resting time knead it once again.
Divide it into 15 equal portions. Make smooth balls and flatten it slightly between your palm.
Now roll it into 2 to 2 ½ inch diameter circle. It should be thick
Now take 3 pieces of peppercorns and arrange them on mathri.
Now using rolling pin roll one more time, so it pressed inside the mathri. So it will not fall out while frying.
Now using fork, prick all over the surface, flip it and prick other side as well.
Do same with rest of the balls.
Once you have enough mathris rolled for one batch, heat the oil for deep frying in pan on low-medium heat. So while first batch is frying, roll the second batch. so do both jobs simultaneously.
The temperature of the oil should be low to medium.
Slide few mathris in the hot oil. During the frying process maintain the oil temperature by adjust the gas heat.
You need to flip them in order to cook from both sides. As they are fried and cooked they will start to float on top. And they will get light golden color.
One batch takes around 7-8 minutes for frying. So be patient and fry on low-medium hot oil. Drain the excess oil and remove them using slotted spatula.
Keep them in the paper towel lined plate.
As it cools, it gets more crispy and will become slightly darker in color.
Fry rest of them. Let them cool down completely.
Notes
During the frying process maintain the oil temperature by adjust the gas heat. If the temperature of oil drops then it will soak up more oil becomes crispy. If temperature of oil increases then they will get golden color fast and inside stays raw.