THENKUZHAL MURUKKU, MANUKUPPU

Thenkuzhal Murukku is a popular savory snack usually made for festivals especially for Diwali and Krishna Jayanthi. It’s a crispy and tasty snack made using rice flour and urad dal flour.

Murukku derives from the Tamil word for “twisted”, which refers to its shape. Murukku is typically made from rice flour and urad dal flour. Murukku is especially popular in the states of Karnataka (where it is called chakli), Tamil Nadu,
Kerala, Andhra Pradesh. It is also popular in countries with substantial presence of Indian and Sri Lankan diaspora, including Singapore, Fiji, and Malaysia.

Ingredients & Preparation

Murukku is typically made from rice and urad dal flour. The flours are mixed with water, salt, chilli powder, asafoetida and either sesame seeds or cumin seeds. The mix is kneaded into a dough, which is shaped into spiral or coil shapes either by hand or extruded using a mould. The spirals are then deep fried in vegetable oil.

Depending on the region, there are several variations of the thenkuzhal murukku. Manukuppu Ma is the basic flour made out of lentils such as moong dal and chana dal along with rice and stored to make various types of murukkus.

Manukuppu Ma

Ingredients:

Moong dal/yellow or green gram – ¼ padi

Chana dal/Bengal gram – ¼ padi

Rice – ¾ padi

Method:

● Soak Yellow gram in water for half an hour. Remove the water and dry it well. Put this in a pan and fry it in smaller quantities. Fry Bengal gram without soaking it in water. Clean rice in water and dry it in the shade and fry it in smaller quantities until it becomes hot. Grind the dal and rice. This is called Manukuppu Ma or flour.