Murukku or Thenkuzhal for Diwali

Ingredients (8)

• of rice flour1 cup
• of urad dal flour 0.25 cup3 tsp
• more or less2 tbsp
• a generous pinch of hing / perungayam / asafoetida
• of cumin seeds / jeera0.5 tsp
• of white or black sesame seeds0.5 tsp
• to 3/4 tsp of salt0.5
• makes about 15 pieces

Method

1. 1

   Mix the rice flour with the salt, hing, and urad dal flour. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to this. Mix gently with fingertips until it represents coarse sand.

2. 2

   Add the cumin and sesame seeds. It's fine to stick with one but I wanted to taste both of them so we added both.

3. 3

   Mix it well to incorporate well into the dough. It will begin to come together and hold it's shape when you press it in your palm. If it's too dry at this stage, add a little more butter. Don't go overboard because otherwise the murukku won't hold it's shape when you fry it.

4. 4

   Fill a murukku mould gently with enough mixture without pressing it down too hard.

5. 5

   Heat a kadai with enough oil to deep fry the murukku. When it's almost smoking hot, press the mould over the oil lightly until enough batter comes out. Swirl the mould so that you get overlapping batter worming out.

6. 6

   If you are a novice, you can press the thenkuzhal over a slotted spoon and gently introduce into the hot oil.

7. 7

   Fry until it becomes golden brown. Different people have their own preferences on how much they like to fry their thenkuzhal. Personally, I prefer it somewhere in the middle so I would try to get the golden brown colour.

8. 8

   That's it, we are done. Once cool, store in airtight containers. Keeps well for about 4-5 days if it lasts that long!

9. 9

   Hope you all are enjoying your Diwali cooking and sweet-making :)