Receipe 23: Murukku / Mullu Murukku / Magizhamboo

Thanks to my chitti for passing on this receipe.. I am planning to try it this weekend!

What you need?

Kadalai paruppu - 1 cup
Payaththam paruppu - 1 cup
Rice flour - 2 cups (store-bought will do)

Salt

Chilli powder
Asafoetida
Butter about 60 grams, or, if you buy quarter-kg packet, take one-fourth of it.
Oil to fry
Seeragam seeds - a couple of tsps (optional)

Frying pan
Murukku kozhal with star-shaped hole(s).

Le Method:

Roast the kadalai paruppu and payaththam paruppu separately till light brown.
Kadalai paruppu takes longer to roast and that is why it needs to be roasted separately.

Grind them into fine powder. Can be ground separately or together.

Mix 2 cups of rice flour with 1 cup of this paruppu flour.

Add butter to this mix. Don't melt the butter, the heat from our hands is enough to soften it and to get it to mix with the flour.

Add seeragam seeds if you like the taste and flavour of fried seeragam. It is also good for digestion.

Dissolve salt, chilli powder and asafoetida in about half a cup of water.

Heat oil in the frying pan.

As the oil is getting heated, add the spiced-up water to the flour and make it into dough. More fresh water can be added as needed to make the dough.

If you are making in large quantity, dough should be made in instalments so that the flour doesn't sit soaked in water for a long time. Murukku will come out darker in colour if the dough is let sitting for a long time.

Everything is ready to start the frying. Put the dough into the murukku press and press it into the hot oil, deep fry it and enjoy!

NOTE:

There are many variantions that can be attempted depending on individual preferences.

1. Instead of frying and grinding the paruppus, kadalai maavu (store-bought) can be used. This will come in handy if time is a constraint. Fresh-ground paruppu flour always tastes better.

2. Kadalai paruppu can be completely eliminated and replaced with payaththam paruppu.

3. Instead of using equal quantities of the 2 paruppus, you can reduce or increase one of them and adjust the other.

4. If butter is not readily available, ghee can be used, but, butter provides the softness to murukku especially for aging teeth. Ghee doesn't do this.
5. Adding more or less of butter determines how soft the murukku will be. Too much butter will make the dough to dissolve in oil and murukku will loose it's crispiness.