How to make murukku

Murukku is one of the most popular snacks in South India and it is even more popular at Deepavali (aka Diwali) festival time. It has been long been the tradition at most homes to make delicious snacks such as Murukku, Thattai, etc. along with some special Indian sweets for Deepavali.

Ingredients:

• Rice flour : 1 cup
• Urad flour : 1/4 cup
• Split chick peas : 2 tbsp
• Butter : 2 tbsp(room temperature)
• Sesame seeds : 1 tsp
• Hing/Asafoetida : 1/4 tsp
• Cumin seeds : 1 tsp
• Red chili powder : 2 tsp (optional)
• Curry Leaves : 5-6 (chopped)(optional)
• Water : as needed for consistency
• Salt : required to taste (1/2 tbsp should be good)

Method of preparation:

1. Dry roast the rice flour and urad flour separately  for 2 minutes each. Make sure both the flours are  just warm and not burnt.
2. Grind the split chick peas and make it into a smooth powder.
3. And two tbsps of water, then the salt and asafoetida.
4. Mix them well and keep it aside.
5. Fry the sesame seeds till it sputters completely and remove from heat. (be careful as they tend to sputter wildly)

6. Take a wide pan and add all the flours, butter, sesame seeds, asafoetida & salt mixture and cumin seeds.
7. Slowly add water to knead it into a tight and stiff dough.

8.    Now comes the fun part you need a Muruku mold to make this, There are different attachments  comes with a murukku maker (just like the food processor attachment). I’ve used the single star attachment to make this murukku but you can use three star to make a different shape.

9. Now take a small amount of dough and put it in the maker and close the maker.

10. Take an  aluminum foil or Ziploc bags with some oil brushed on it.

11.     Start pressing the mould and slowly rotate the maker into a circle shape till you form a medium sized        spirals as shown in pic.

12.     Now heat oil in a pan when its hot enough to deep fry it add the murukku one by one( just lift the murukku gently from the foil by using your hand and slowly drop it in the oil or you can just put it in a wide spatula and drop it in the oil).

13.     Deep fry until it becomes  golden brown and remove from heat.

14.     Let it cool for few minutes and store it in a air tight container.

Now, you can also enjoy this tasty Diwali snack right in your home and proudly announce that the chef of the house has mastered a new dish!