Thenkuzhal Murukku

Murukku is a traditional snack which prepared for festivals, especially Diwali and Krishna Jayanthi. Thenkuzhal is a tasty and crispy snack make from rice and Urad dal flour.  This post has been lying in my draft since Diwali and finally posted it today.   For Thenkuzhal Mavu, readymade mavu won’t be good. But if there is no other go add a handful of urudh dhal powder more. Add little hot oil or ghee while getting the batter ready. In this recipe, I used ready made rice flour.

Ingredients:

Rice Flour -                     4 cups

Urdh dhal                      1 cup

Cumin Seed                   1 tsp.

Salt -                               to taste

Butter -                            4tbsp.

Asafetida(Hing)              1 tsp.

 Cooking Oil                   for deep fry

Method:

• Put the frying pan in the stove. Keep the stove in low fire .Dry roast the Urad dhal to a nice golden brown color and powder it in the blender and sieve it .The urudh dhal should be roasted in such a way that it should never get red at the same time be well roasted .  (OR) you can use store bought Urad flour and roasted it.
• Take a large mixing bowl and mix rice flour, Urad flour, cumin seeds, salt, asafetida powder, butter. and water . Knead well to form smooth dough.  Heat oil and keep it ready.

• Check the oil temperature before dropping the Murukku. Try with a small sample.
• Press out the dough using a Thenkuzhal press in the hot oil, fry well.
• Cook until the hissing sound ceases.
• Remove from the fire and drain.
• Crispy Thenkuzhal are ready! Cool them and store them in air tight containers so that they remain crispy. 

 Tips:

•  Always fry the Murukku on medium high flame, otherwise it will brown the outer layer, and dough will be partially cooked inside.
• Do not mix the whole flour at a time to make dough. Do them in batches.
• Do not over crowd them while frying.
• Do not keep the dough for a long time.