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.

SPICY THENKUZHAL

Ingredients:

Urad dal/black gram – ¼ padi

Rice flour – 4 palam

Salt – ½ palam

Green chillies – 1 and ½ palam

Coriander leaves – ½ palam

Ginger – ¼ palam

Asafetida – 2 pinches (gundalavu)

Butter – 1 and ½ palam

Method:

● Soak black gram in water overnight. The next day, remove the water and grind the flour smoothly. Add rice flour and powdered salt into the flour. Grind green chillies, coriander leaves, ginger in the grinder. Squeeze the juice out of this into the ground flour by placing it in a white cloth. Dissolve asafetida in one- rupee coin size water and add it to the flour.

● Add butter in the flour and knead it. Use the thenkuzhal machine and squeeze lemon sized flour in the ghee or oil and cook until red. Repeat this procedure for the rest of the flour.