Thenkuzhal Murukku | Crispy Fried Rice Flour Snack
Thenkuzhal Murukku | Crispy Fried Rice Flour Snack
It’s been busy, to say the least, with everything seemingly spinning around the ten tiny little fingers and toes we have bundled up here at home. And frenzied Diwali planning with a mommy-brain did not go well. Well, lets just say I barely managed to whip up the goodies in time – thank goodness for second chances… there are 2 dates for Diwali and we just picked the 2nd one to celebrate. Conveniently enough.
Mom’s around.. which is why I still happen to have my head full of hair. And this is her recipe for the traditional murukku – nothing fancy, but perfect for snacking on anytime. This happens to be one of the traditional favorites when it comes to savory snacks for Diwali… almost every South Indian household would be churning out batches of murukku in one of their many variations. If you are like I was less than 24 hours ago – that is, completely freaking out about falling behind on Diwali prep – fret not, you can still make this in an hour or so. This is a rather large batch, so definitely consider halving or even making just a quarter batch if you’d like to experiment.
Happy Diwali to everyone out there.. keep the festivities on until the New Year rolls in and decides you need a break until summer 😛
Thenkuzhal Murukku | Crispy Fried Rice Flour Snack
Makes: 36-40 medium to large sized murukkus | Cooking Time: Approx. 1 hour (or less for smaller batches)
Ingredients:
- 4 cups rice flour
- 1 cup urad dal (or use store-bought urad flour)
- 1/4 cup butter, melted (or 4T hot oil)
- 1 tsp asafoetida (hing)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
- oil for deep frying
- salt to taste
- water as needed
Tools:
- Murukku maker, with 3-holed acchu/jali/steel plate (you can use the star-shaped ones as well)
Method:
- Sift the rice flour and set aside.
- If using the urad dal, make the urad dal flour: Dry roast the urad dal seeds until slightly golden, then grind to a fine powder and sift the flour. Grind the left over granules another time and sieve. Measure out 1C of the flour and add to the rice flour.
- Add the melted butter, asafoetida and cumin seeds to the flours and mix together until well combined.
- Add water, a little at a time, to make a stiff and smooth dough.
- Heat the oil in a heavy pan. Test the temperature by dropping a small piece of the dough, it should rise up with bubbles immediately.
- Fill the murukku maker with some dough, and press onto a kitchen towel and then transfer to the back of the ladle, or directly onto the back of the ladle to form a coil-like shape.
- Drop into oil carefully. Repeat to add a few more murukkus into the oil, without crowding the pan.
- Reduce the temperature to medium-high, and allow the murukkus to cook on one side for a minute or 2 before flipping over to the other side.
- Cook both sides until the frothing and bubbles reduce down significantly indicating the moisture in the dough has all cooked out.
- Remove with slotted ladle and set them on a paper-lined plate to absorb excess oil.
Store in air-tight container for a few weeks… if you have any left-over after sharing with friends and family for the festival 🙂
Aish Cooks 