Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Murukku rings

When I say "murukku", I dont mean "thenkuzhal" or "ribbon pakoda" or "muLlu thenkuzhal" or any of the other crunchy, deep-fried snacks that plenty of people have written about on their blogs.

Murukku to me always and forever denotes the lovely twisty circles you get at weddings. (You can also buy really yummy ones at Saravana Bhavan or Grand Sweets - in Chennai, but of course). The thing about murukku is that they dont contain any chilli whatsoever - the only flavouring comes from cumin seeds (something Pete is thankful for. He likes murukku!) I've never made it myself, because it takes a heck of a lot of skill to make the things by hand. I've seen my mother making it (very rarely, for probably the same reason as me) with indifferent success as to aesthetics, although always rating very high in the taste factor. Apparently both my grandmothers were dab hands at it, but that particular talent doest seem to have been passed on to us, unfortunately.

Still, after looking at the perfect, beautifully-twisted murukku made by
Menu Today, I thought I would try my hand at it too. I should have known better. On the whole, I neednt have bothered, and I think I will refrain (for a change?) from detailing the failure of my efforts! Thank goodness I made the dough in a small quantity, on a trial basis.

Of course I took the easy way as regards the rice flour - I used ready-made rice flour instead of soaking rice, drying it and then grinding it into flour. Too much trouble, too little time. Anyway, that could be part of the reason why the dough didnt turn out better than it did. So I decided to make murukku rings instead. I can do rings, me - no problem. Break off a bit of dough, roll it between the palms to a sort of cigar-shaped 2-inch piece and join the ends. Tadaaa... murukku rings! Yep, that's pretty much the limit of my skills.

Recipe for:
Murukku rings




Ingredients:

10 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp urad dal flour
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tsp butter
Salt to taste
Water as required
Oil for deep frying

Method:

1. Put the flours, cumin seeds, butter and salt in a bowl. Make a fairly stiff dough, adding water little by little.

2. Pinch off small pieces and roll between the palms into oblongs about 2" in length. Join the ends, pressing them together lightly to form a circle, so that the ends dont come apart in the oil.



3. Let the rings dry for 15 minutes, uncovered. Then fry them in hot oil until brown. Drain on absorbent paper and store in an airtight tin when cool.

15 comments:

The Cookbook Junkie said...

Those look so good. I saw the pic on the side of your blog yesterday and they immediately caught my eye.

Krithika said...

I too looked at the pic and was searching your archive. Looks nice and crunchy.

Anonymous said...

murukku is heaven but sinful at the same time. once i start eating them, i cannot stop. but shyam, i hope you dont mind me saying so, but your murrukus look like the onion rings from burger kings. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Cookbook Junkie, Brithika - Thanks! :)

mr218: Yeah I agree, it's a very un-murukku-like colour. I blame the rice flour for it! :)

Anonymous said...

Augh! That was a typo. :( VERY sorry, Krithika! And thanks again for your comment.

Vaishali said...

You write so damn well, Shammi. Really. It always is a pleasure to read your write-ups. I absolutely mean it. And no, I am not scratching your back because you scratched mine. (That sounds pretty gross when written like that, doesn't it? Ewww..)
Btw, those onion...sorry...Murukku rings look very moreish. Perfect accompaniment to a Hindi Masala movie, what say?

Menu Today said...

Hi Shammi,
Murukku rings- Ring murukku Came out well. Thanks for sharing the other version of murukku.

jayakarthik said...

oh yeah shyamala even i was remained of that kai murukku when i saw it in sun tv
ladies make them fast it looks like easy to make
but its not i know.....
grand sweets i m drooling i love that sweet shop

Anonymous said...

Hi
Your site is very good and the photos are wonderful.I tried your ring murukku, the taste was very good but it started bursting, thanks god I was not standing too close to the stove.By any chance do you know why it bursts?
Pls reply, it will be very useful for me.Thanks a lot.

Ultimate Foodie said...

Hi Shammi, you know what? my mom was teaching me 'the art of making kai murrukku'...seeing the bewildered look on my face, she told me " if you cant twist it and turn it, just make it into rings"...
i see that you have put that tip into good use here ;)... whether it is rings or strings, it is the taste matters in the end right?
Happy holidays and Merry Christmas!

PS : I have been a silent reader of your blog for quite some time now... couldn't resist posting a comment for this one though :)

Ravi said...

Shammi, how about adding little "omam" to the dough? I guess it gives a nice aroma (but ofcourse only when its LITTLE).

Lakshmi said...

Hi Shammi, we call them Chegodilu, look yummy

Anonymous said...

hi shammi
i have been a avid reader. its called kodubale in karnataka. as one of ur blog reader suggests i add omam , seseame seeds jeera chili powder etc.

they look beutiful and must taste fantastic. i can see small boils on ur kodabale. was ur oil very hot when u put in the rings. thjis happens to me when oil is way too hot . wonderful recipe though

Unknown said...

Nodding my head at your post - i must say, I get angered when i see the 'snacks' aisle of supermarkets here calling every possible fried snack as MURUKKU- for people who've been eating this out of their grandmom's hands, we know what the real thing is and it can never ever be compared to a chakli or anything else. Your roundels are good - taste being more important than shape and its of the RIGHT colour too..
BTW i was in chennai around Christmas time and couldnt come back without the bags of murukku and thattai from grand sweets (fortunately my inlaws are in ADYAR :)

Shammi said...

Hi anon, sorry i took so long to get to your comment! To answer your question, I dont know why your murukku rings exploded. It could be that the dough was too moist, or perhaps it was the quality of the flour itself - there's no concrete reason that I can give you. I'm just glad that you werent injured!