Cooks Joy

I should say I am lucky to have found a lot of friends through blogging and some of us share a deeper bond. I got introduced to Anamika who blogs at TasteJunction when I was a newbie in the blogging world. What started as a casual email exchange grew much deeper and I am really happy to have found her and her amazing blog. Speaking about her blog, her pictures are gorgeous and present a virtual feast to the eyes. Oh and she not only cooks and takes pictures, she is a wonderful writer too. Checkout this page of hers, friends.

So when Anamika asked me to do a guest post for her I was thrilled and excited. I wanted to do something South Indian and after a couple of email exchanges I decided on this all time favorite snack. There are a ton of murukku varieties based on the ingredients used and this is a common one. I had been wanting to make this for the blog for quite sometime since my kids love it too. “Mullu” in tamil means thorn. The shape of this murukku resembles thorns and hence the name. This is an addictive snack and you certainly cannot stop with one piece. I know I could not . Off to the recipe.

Another shot of the tasty murukku.

3 cups rice flour
1 cup bengal gram flour (Kadala maavu)
Salt
1/4 tsp asafoetida
2 tsp chilly powder
1 tbsp sesame seeds
4 tbsp butter
Oil for deep frying

Method
Take rice flour and bengal gram flour in a vessel.

Add salt.

Add asafoetida.

Add chilly powder.

Add sesame seeds.

Add butter.

Using water make a stiff dough.

Load the murukku press with a single star shape disc and fill it with a portion of the dough. The murukku press is similar to a cookie press.

Heat a pan with oil. Make murukkus directly over the oil like I did or you could form a nice pattern on a plate and transfer to the oil.

Murukkus in hot oil. Fry them until they are done turning them around as needed.

When the hissing sound dies down, the murukkus are done.

See the thorny texture, hence the name.

Crispy murukku ready for an evening snack. They store well in air tight containers.

Enjoy!