The Famous South Indian Muruku recipe

Two years literally flew past. I had forgotten how time consuming and exhausting bringing up a baby is! I never imagined when I started this blog that it would take me 2 years to just write my second post! But now the little one is old enough to remind me!! Last night as I was putting him to bed, out of the blue he said, "naani, I want to eat muruku naani". So the first thing I did the next morning is to make it for him. At which time I realised, what a perfect way to re-start  my memoirs of life with Abi! 

So here is the recipe for the quintessentially south indian snack - muruku. This is one of the rare things that Abi eats without a fuss and I love making it for him. It came out very nicely and not only Abi, but the entire family really enjoyed it!

Ingredients:

1. Idli rice/ south indian Ponni rice - 4 cups soaked for 4-5 hours 

2. besan (kadalai maavu) - 2 cups, sieved

3. garlic - 6 cloves

4. red chillies - 6

5. ajwain - 1/2 teaspoon

6. black sesame seeds (til) - 1 teaspoon

7. hing - a pinch

8. unsalted butter - 50 gms

9. salt to taste

10. oil for frying

Kitchen equipments needed:

1. grinder (mixie should be a substitute for grinder but I have not tried making in it)

2. muruku mould (achchu in tamil)

Prep time: 30 minutes approx

Making time: 30 minutes approx

Serves : 40 - 50 pieces of murukus approx

Step by step Method:

1. Grind red chillies (6 pieces) and garlic (6 cloves) together in a grinder to a fine paste by adding little water. 

2. Now add the soaked rice (4 cups) to this paste in the grinder and grind it to a fine consistency by adding water little by little. It should neither be too thick that grinder doesn't run nor too thin that it looks watery (refer picture). Add salt. Grind it for another minute and remove.

3. Add rest of the ingredients to this batter and mix well. It will become like soft dough. The sign of perfectly made dough is that when you press your fingers to it, it should not stick (If it sticks, add a bit more besan till it stops sticking.) Now we are ready to fry our murukus!!

4.  Heat oil in a frying pan. Grease the muruku mould and then fill with the prepared dough. Oil the backside of a skimmer (poori spoon) and press the dough in a round shape onto the skimmer. Gently turn over the skimmer into the hot oil. Fry on both sides till golden brown or the oil stops to bubble. Then remove. (The muruku's colour gets a bit deeper after cooling down. So the pieces should be removed just a little bit before the desired colour). 

5. Take a bite and check. If the muruku is a bit hard, add a bit more butter in the dough. Fry 4 -5 pieces at a time ( or more if the pan is bigger) till the dough is finished. 

6. Cool and store in an air tight container. It is best to spread newspaper at the base and on top before closing. This helps the murukus stay crisp and yummy! Now our snack time is set for the next one month!