Mullu Murukku / Crispy Savory Spirals

" The fondest memories are made when gathered around the table."

Those of you who read my post on crispy lentil fritters will be aware that my mom is in town. Evening snacks or tiffin (as we call it back home) became an everyday affair ever since then. Like these - fritters, salads, rolls, crepes, cupcakes and anything that we can joyfully munch.  Needless to say, food tastes so much better when you eat it with your family.

It was one such beautiful evening, my mom and I made these crispy delights...

For those of you wondering - these are crispy savory spirals (sorry, that's the best I could translate) which is a popular Indian snack known as 'mu-ru-kku' in Tamil and 'chak-li 'in Hindi.

These beauties are mostly reserved for special occasions and festivals as it requires deep frying and can be little time consuming. But for those of you who need no reason to celebrate food, just like me, go ahead and make them.You can store these in an air tight container and enjoy them throughout the week

There are different types of murukkus and here is the recipe for 'Mullu Murukku'. 


Ingredients:

Raw rice - 2 cups.
Moong Dhal - 1 cup
Butter - 1 tsp
Salt - as needed
Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp
Oil - for deep frying

Preparation

Grind raw rice and moong dhal to a very very fine powder. This is usually done in flour mills in India.You can prepare this mixture in advance and store it for future use.

You can also get ready made murukku flour in any Indian grocery store.

Method
1. Combine the flour, butter, salt and asafoetida to a 'not-too-tight/not-too-smooth' dough using little water at a time.

2. You will need a chakli/muruku maker with a 1- star attachment.

There are different types of murukku maker available in the Indian stores.Mine looks like this -

Each maker works differently. Experiment with yours to find how your maker works.I can assure you it is no rocket science and is very easy to work with.Please let me know in the comments below if you need more details on the murukku maker or have trouble figuring how it works.

3. Heat the oil for deep frying and once the oil is hot,  insert the dough to the muruku maker and press the dough in spirals into the hot oil.(See Tips)

4. Flip the sides for uniform cooking till the oil bubbles subside.

5. Transfer them to a paper towel and let it cool.

Tips:

1. The murukku can change color if the dough is resting for a long time.So prepare the dough in batches.

2. If you are not comfortable pressing directly to hot oil (step 3), you can 

     a) Pipe in the shape to a greased ladle and place the ladle in the hot oil.
     b) In few seconds, shake the ladle a little and you will see that the dough easily slides into the oil without the shape getting messed up.
     c) Make sure you use appropriate ladle that is heat resistant.

3. You need not worry too much about the shape, the taste is what matters and it is equally good whatever the shape is.