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Murukku – Crispy South Indian Snack (Gluten Free)

Crispiness, crunchiness and yumminess…

Murukku is a popular snack in South India. This snack always came along with my grandma when she visited us. Without a doubt, grandmas fried murukku tastes delicious. This is also available at almost all snack stores in South India, however home made murukku tastes better than the store bought ones.

This was the first time I made murukku from scratch and it turned out great. My mom had shared the recipe for making murukku sometime back and I’d been wanting to try this for so long. It was yesterday, finally I had the nerve to try this out. It wasn’t hard at all, I had so much fun making this. Making anything for the first time excites me.

If you have idiyappam mould, making this is a breeze. You can use the disc with star shaped hole in it to make this. If you don’t have the mould, then you have to make it with your hands, it’s a lil time consuming process.

My jaw got stiff of snacking this, my hubby and I snacked till it’s finished. Apparently, snacks have very short life in my house, I mean very very short: may be micro minutes 🙂

Want to make chukkappam? I have the recipe for that as well, check it out!

Murukku

Ingredients

  • Rice flour- 2 cups
  • Urad dal- 3/4 cup
  • Baking soda- 1/8 tsp
  • Asafetida- 3 pinches
  • Sesame seeds, black or white- 3 tbsp
  • Water- 1 1/8 cups
  • Salt- to taste
  • Oil- enough for deep frying

Instruction

  • Roast the urad dal in a pan over medium heat till it turns slight golden in color, let it cool down and grind it into fine powder in a blender or coffee grinder.
  • In a large bowl, combine rice flour, urad flour, sesame seeds, baking soda, asafetida and salt.
  • Add water little by little and combine using your hand.
  • I added 1 1/8 cups of water, it could vary depending on the kind of rice flour you are using, so add the water slowly till you get a soft dough.
  • Don’t make the dough too hard or watery. Add more rice flour or water accordingly to get the constituency. When rolled the dough shouldn’t break apart.
  • Knead the dough well for 5 minutes.
  • Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
  • I used a rotating sevai or mould.
  • Use the disc with star shaped hole in it to make this murukku.
  • Add a handful of dough to the mould, close the lid and rotate the handle till it presses the dough.
  • Make the murukku on a greased slotted spoon, this way it’s easy to add into the frying pan and prevents breaking of the dough while transferring to the frying pan.
  • Rotate the handle, when the dough falls on the spoon make coils or rounds on the slotted spoon.
  • Dip the slotted spoon into the oil and slide the coiled  dough into the oil.
  • Fry till it turns light golden in color. The dough should be dipped completely in the oil.
  • You can see that when it has completely fried the oil will stop making the bubbling sound, transfer to a kitchen paper towel.
  • Keep aside the murukku for sometime as it gets more crispy as it sits.
  • Taste the first murkku and if more salt is needed add it to the dough and knead it well.

If you don’t have a mould, make the rounds manually:

  • On a clean counter top or wooden board, place a medium ball sized dough.
  • Grease your hands with oil and roll the dough to thin long rope shape.
  • Make sure the rope is of even width. You have to be very gentle while doing this else the rope will break.
  • Place any bottle lid on the wooden board, rotate the dough rope around the lid till you have 3 or 4 layers. Make sure the layers are close to each other else it will separate while frying.
  • Gently take the coiled dough and put into the oil and fry it.
  • This can be made into different shapes by using different shaped discs: noodle shape, ribbon shape etc.
  • Store it in an air tight container.

Tips:

  • If you want you could some seasonings to the flour, make it spicy by adding chili powder or add other dried herbs or spices.
  • This mould is available at Indian stores.

 

Murukku - Crispy South Indian Snack (Gluten Free)
 
Ingredients
  • Rice flour- 2 cups
  • Urad dal- ¾ cup
  • Baking soda- ⅛ tsp
  • Asafetida- 3 pinches
  • Sesame seeds, black or white- 3 tbsp
  • Water- 1⅛ cups
  • Salt- to taste
  • Oil- enough for deep frying
Instructions
  1. Roast the urad dal in a pan over medium heat till it turns slight golden in color, let it cool down and grind it into fine powder in a blender or coffee grinder.
  2. In a large bowl, combine rice flour, urad flour, sesame seeds, baking soda, asafetida and salt.
  3. Add water little by little and combine using your hand.
  4. I added 1⅛ cups of water, it could vary depending on the kind of rice flour you are using, so add the water slowly till you get a soft dough.
  5. Don't make the dough too hard or watery. Add more rice flour or water accordingly to get the constituency. When rolled the dough shouldn't break apart.
  6. Knead the dough well for 5 minutes.
  7. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat.
  8. I used a rotating sevai or mould.
  9. Use the disc with star shaped hole in it to make this murukku.
  10. Add a handful of dough to the mould, close the lid and rotate the handle till it presses the dough.
  11. Make the murukku on a greased slotted spoon, this way it's easy to add into the frying pan and prevents breaking of the dough while transferring to the frying pan.
  12. Rotate the handle, when the dough falls on the spoon make coils or rounds on the slotted spoon.
  13. Dip the slotted spoon into the oil and slide the coiled dough into the oil.
  14. Fry till it turns light golden in color. The dough should be dipped completely in the oil.
  15. You can see that when it has completely fried the oil will stop making the bubbling sound, transfer to a kitchen paper towel.
  16. Keep aside the murukku for sometime as it gets more crispy as it sits.
  17. Taste the first murkku and if more salt is needed add it to the dough and knead it well.
If you don't have a mould, make the rounds manually:
  1. On a clean counter top or wooden board, place a medium ball sized dough.
  2. Grease your hands with oil and roll the dough to thin long rope shape.
  3. Make sure the rope is of even width. You have to be very gentle while doing this else the rope will break.
  4. Place any bottle lid on the wooden board, rotate the dough rope around the lid till you have 3 or 4 layers. Make sure the layers are close to each other else it will separate while frying.
  5. Gently take the coiled dough and put into the oil and fry it.
  6. This can be made into different shapes by using different shaped discs: noodle shape, ribbon shape etc.
  7. Store it in an air tight container.
Notes
If you want you could some seasonings to the flour, make it spicy by adding chili powder or add other dried herbs or spices.
This mould is available at Indian stores.

AboutThas

Thas is the author of Cooking with Thas, a popular food blog with recipes from Indian, American and Fusion Cuisines. She has been blogging since 2009 and been featured in several magazines. Read more...