Preparations:

Take tapioca into a bowl and add water. Wash the tapioca well and drain the water. Grind cumin seeds and salt using a mortar & pestle. Take the cumin-salt powder into a plate.

Method:

Boil the water. When the water reaches a full boil add salt-cumin powder and washed tapioca. Cook on medium heat stirring frequently. As there is lot of water, one need not stir the mixture continuously. However, stirring frequently ensures that the tapioca is not sticking and getting burnt at the bottom of the vessel. Cook the mixture till white tapioca grains turn translucent. If we do not stir the mixture continuously, scum forms as seen in the movie clip. The dirt colored substance or the scum - is the cumin powder—do not mistake that for dirt and get worried. Continuous stirring will not form the scum. When tapioca turns translucent, test whether the tapioca is cooked or not by pressing between fingers or by pressing with a spoon. If the grain crushes softly then tapioca is cooked fully. See that all the tapioca grains are fully cooked. By the time the tapioca is fully cooked the mixture appears starchy. Observe the color of the grains. When all the tapioca grains turn translucent, stop cooking by switching off the flame. It took 30 minutes to cook the above mixture on medium flame. Cover the bowl to avoid a layer forming above. Do not cool the mixture for long as the mixture thickens on cooling.

Spread a plastic sheet in an open place under sun. Use a big spoonful of mixture to make APPADALU or PAPADS or use a teaspoonful of mixture to make vadiyalu.

First let us learn to make APPADALU.  Stir the mixture well. Take sufficient quantity of mixture with a big spoon and pour on the plastic sheet starting from one corner. As the mixture is hot & thin, it will spread to form a big and thin disc. Like this using a big spoon pour spoonful of mixture on the plastic sheet giving sufficient gaps and prepare APPADALU.When the mixture is thin it spreads by itself

To make VADIYALU, use a teaspoon. Take a teaspoonful of the mixture and pour on a plastic sheet starting from one corner. As the mixture is hot and thin, it will spread to form a small and thin disc. While spreading the mixture, stir the mixture in between to maintain the consistency.

Prepare and spread the vadiyalu/appadalu while the mixture is still hot. The hot mixture will be thin and the mixture when put on the plastic sheet spreads thinly to form thin discs. The thinner the vadiyalu/appadalu the tastier they would be when fried.

However, if the quantity is more and the mixture thickens, do not worry. Take a spoonful of the mixture and pour on the plastic sheet. With the back of the spoon, spread the mixture quickly into a thin disc. Use the thickened mixture following this method and prepare vadiyalu/appadalu.

Dry the vadiyalu & appadalu on the plastic sheet in sun till they are crisp and dry. By evening, the vadiyalu/appadalu will be dried and shrunk on the plastic sheet. Carefully remove the vadiyalu/appadalu from the plastic sheet and spread them in a plate—inverted. Observe that the inner portion of the vadiyalu/appadalu is not fully dried—so place them inverted in a plate and dry under sun the next day till crisp. During summer season, sun-drying the vadiyalu/appadalu for one day will be sufficient. Store the fully dried vadiyalu/appadalu in an airtight container and fry as & when required.

Frying:

Take some vadiyalu/appadalu for frying. Heat a pan and add sufficient oil to fry the vadiyalu/appadalu. Spread a paper napkin in a plate and keep it near. After frying the vadiyalu/appadalu place them on this paper napkin to soak excess oil. Drop few vadiyalu/appadalu into the oil, when the oil is sufficiently hot. When fried in hot oil the vadiyalu/appadalu puffs up and float on the oil. Take them into a deep slotted ladle to drain oil. Place the crispy fried vadiyalu/appadalu on the paper napkin to soak excess oil. Cool the fried vadiyalu/appadalu to room temperature and store in airtight containers lined with paper napkin to keep them crisp till use.

Serve the vadiyalu/appadalu with rice and sambar, charu, pulusu, kootu etc..