THENKUZHAL MURUKKU | DIWALI SNACK RECIPES

      Thenkuzhal murukku will be the main diwali snack in our households. My mom as well as MIL both make this in large numbers and store in large tins. It is very flavourful and crisp snack. I still remember my childhood days,when my mom makes this one week before diwali. From that time the festive mood will start.

 
    As kids, which part excites us more is while making this murukku, the last batch my mom takes out when it is half-done. That murukku will be so white and soft. Though she will give only one each that way, we love it very much and wait when my mom will finish making murukku and make this ‘aravekkaadu murukku’ – which means half cooked murukkus . Even my MIL does the same and now too Vj loves it,so I make sure I reserve one for him and one for myself.    Unlike Kai murukku,we don’t roast urad dal that golden. We will always do it very slightly for this thenkuzhal. The recipe is more common. All of us do the same way. But here is my recipe anyways.

Ingredients

Rice flour/ Idliyappam flour	2 cups
Urad dal flour	1/4 cup
Butter + Oil	3 tblsp
Asafoetida	1/4 tsp
Jeera  or sesame seeds	1 & 1/2 tsp
Salt and water	As needed
Oil	For deep frying

Method

I used store bought urad dal flour. So I slightly dry roasted(you can skip this too) in a pan with out changing its colour. Mix flours,butter (melted),oil,asafoetida,jeera,salt well and then add water to make a non sticky dough with no cracks. Heat oil in kadai apparently, enough to deep fry the murukkus.Fill the murukku press with this dough with murukku hole plate. I always grease some laddles and make murukku first in that then drop them in oil. This way we can make decent shapes also our hands wont feel the heat. Deep fry in medium flame. Cook both sides till the ‘Shhh’ sound ceases and murukku turn golden in colour. Drain in paper towel and cool down completely before storing them in airtight containers.

           This will be tasting great for weeks, you can enjoy for so many days when stored in airtight containers. The middle inside of the murukku has hole,which makes it light and crispy. May be that’s why they named as thenKHUZHAL ?

Notes

Make sure you keep the dough covered through out to avaoid drying of the dough. Even if you want to make in large numbers, do it in batches. As if you make more dough and keep for while you make murukku, the last batches tend to get fried in deep golden colour,so colour may be different. Make sure the rice flour you use is fine in texture. Other wise the murukku will break. Even if the urad dal powder is less, the murukku will break. For this murukku my mom says its not necessary to fry urad dal / urad dal flour. They just give rice and urad dal to the mill and get it ground and make murukku. So if you get ready-made urad dal flour at stores, you can use it as such too. If you add more urad dal powder, then colour will vary. Also takes long time to cook and crispiness also reduces. But only if you add very much more than the mentioned ratio. Approximation works fine. Butter give whiter colour and crisp texture(mom&MIL says so) Make sure you deep fry in enough oil,otherwise the murukku,if touches the bottom of the pan will lead to un even browning. After few batches, you may want to top up more oil for frying,as it gets absorbed.

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