Murukku | How to make murukku | Murukulu | Jantikalu

Murukku recipe – Murukulu or murukku is a deep fried Snack made with rice flour and dal flour. Chakli, chakuli, chakralu and jantikalu are the other Indian names to these. There are so many varieties of murukku, the one I am sharing here is a basic, very old and standard recipe that is followed by many South Indian women.

There are so many variations of making murukku using sago, besan, wheat flour, fried gram, rice batter etc, all lend a different texture and taste.

This one is very different with an aroma of roasted urad flour and are crunchy as well light in texture.

I had few requests for easy chakli (chakralu), butter murukku, ribbon murukku /ribbon pakoda, omapodi and few other snacks. I made this basic version in small quantity as my kids don’t eat these deep fried snacks much.

This recipe can be doubled as well and can be used to make both murukulu and jantikalu.

More murukku recipes
Butter murukulu
Karasev
Thattai recipe
Sweet muruku
Ribbon pakoda
Omapodi/ sev
Chakli

You may like to check this collection of Diwali snacks recipes and Diwali Sweets recipes.

Preparation to make murukku recipe

You can skip this section and use roasted gram or pottukadalai or fried gram. Powder 3 tbsps roasted gram and use only tbsps powder. You will be left with a little more which you can up for stir fry recipes.

1. Clean and dry roast ¼ cup or 4 tbsp urad dal/ minapappu on a medium flame. I do not suggest skipping the roasting part as it may make murukulu chewy after a day or two.

2. Keep stirring and roast evenly. When they turn lightly golden, off the heat. Do not over roast.

3. Cool and add to a blender.

4. Powder to a fine flour. If the flour is coarse and not fine, then seive it.

Dough for murukku recipe

5. Add 1 cup rice flour, 4 tbsp urad dal flour (or 3 tbsps roasted gram flour) , ajwain (omam/ vammu), chilli powder, sesame seeds and salt. I did not have sesame seeds so skipped. I also skipped red chili as my little kid cannot eat spicy foods.

6. Mix everything well. Then heat up 1 tbsp oil in a kadai and pour it. Mix everything well. Hot oil makes them light.

7. Pour water little by little and knead the flour to make smooth non sticky dough.

8. If the dough is sticky and soggy, it will absorb lot of oil while frying. If very dry then murukku / murukulu will break while making them.

9. Grease the mould, fit the star muruku plate. Stuff the dough inside.

Keep it ready.

How to make murukku

10. Slowly begin to press the mould to release the dough and make a spiral. A moist cloth, foil or butter papper can be used to place the murukku. I prefer to use small cuts of butter paper for convenience, as it is easy to lift each one and fry.

11. If you are a beginner, you can also make these on steel spatulas. A holed spatula works better.

12. Put on the flame to medium high. Make sure the oil is hot enough. Place them when the oil is hot enough. To check if the oil is hot, drop a tiny flat piece of dough in the oil, it floats if the oil is ready. The muruku will come out from the spatula when it is getting fried.

13. If made on a cloth or foil, you can lift them gently and drop in oil. Fry on a medium flame and keep stirring for even frying. Fry until golden and crisp. Bubbles begin to reduce when fried well. If not fried well, they will turn chewy after 1 to 2 days, so make sure to fry evenly on a medium flame.

14. Drain the murukku on a kitchen tissue.

Store murukku in a air tight stainless steel or glass jar.

15. The same dough is used to make jantikalu. They are made with large holed sev plate or jantikalu plate. These are fairly easy and can make them directly in the hot oil.

16. Fry murukulu until golden stirring often. Drain on a kitchen tissue.

Break to pieces and store in a air tight jar.

Tips to make crunchy murukku

1. Always make a stiff dough that is not sticky. Too much moisture in the dough will make murukku absorb lot of oil.
2. Use up the dough immediately and fry the murukku. Resting the dough will make murukku oily.
3. If you plan to make murukku with more then 2 cups of flour, then make the dough in batches.
4. Always fry them on a medium high heat otherwise murukku will turn soft after 1 to 2 days.
5. If the oil is not hot enough then they absorb more oil and they turn soft the next day.

Rice flour for murukku

Please use good quality raw rice flour that is fine and smells good. Traditionally short grain raw rice is rinsed and soaked well for 1 to 2 hours. Then drained and shade dried for a while. It is then milled to fine flour.

This process makes the murukku lighter as well. So If using store bought rice flour you may get different results unless you ensure you use raw rice flour.

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