Fafda

Fafda is the weekend breakfast of Gujarat. Sunday morning means fafda-jalebi — the savoury fafda alongside the sweet spiral jalebi. But fafda stands on its own without the jalebi too. It's a long flat strip of gram flour dough, pressed thin and fried until it blisters and crisps.

The dough is made with gram flour (besan), ajwain seeds, turmeric, baking soda and a little oil. The baking soda creates the slight puffiness and blister texture on the surface. The ajwain gives that distinctive faint fragrance. Fafda has a much lighter texture than sev or gathiya — thinner, more delicate, and with a surface texture that's almost hollow.

Serve with raw papaya chutney (the traditional pairing) or green chutney. It also works as a side snack during meals, broken into pieces alongside dal and rice. The crunch is excellent and the gram flour flavour is clean.

Fafda doesn't keep as long as harder snacks — best within 10 days of the batch date.