SHRI PRABHU, Chakali Bhajani Mix, Handmade with High-Quality Ingredients, Crispy, Flavorful, Pack of 500 gms

This is chakli flour, not ready-made chakli. Chakali bhajani is made by roasting grains and dals separately and then grinding them together — the roasting is what gives bhajani chakli its darker colour and toasted, savoury taste. This is the 500 g pack from SHRI PRABHU.

You still make the dough, pipe the spirals and fry them at home. What the mix saves you is the slow part: roasting each grain and dal to the right shade and getting it ground.

• Other size: the same mix also comes as a 250 g trial pack.
• What's in it: bhajani blends usually include rice, chana dal and urad dal, but proportions vary by maker, and the exact blend for this pack isn't listed here. Check the pack if you're cooking for someone with a grain or dal allergy.
• Dough tip: it should hold its shape without sticking to your palm. Too dry and the spirals crack in the oil; too wet and they soak up oil and stay limp.

Our plain-English guide to bhajani, tandul and sabudana chakli compares the bhajani mixes on UmedMart by price per kilo and covers what usually goes wrong in a home batch.