Murukku (Chakuli)..... (step-by-step)

There was a powercut and my son was terribly bored ....I dint want him to go outside because of the SUN...so I invited him to my kitchen to make this murukku and he did all the mixing and everything....i just need to do the frying....well, he is a good helper....

Come summer holidays my ammachi (grandmother) used to stock up murukku for us kids. It was supposed to be a healthy snack as it is made of rice flour and besan flour..Murukku as this is called in Malayalam is usually made with besan flour akka chickpea flour (gram flour)...its a traditional snack  The mix is made into a soft dough which is formed into a spiral or coil and it  is deep fried in oil and can be kept air tight for days (I mean if it lasts!!). This recipe is very different from the usual murukku recipe as it has more of rice flour....and it is more soft and crunchy. The secret is that the rice flour is tied in a cotton cloth and steamed for 10 min and then it is mixed with the besan flour to be made into a soft dough.

You will be seeing more of my sons little hand at work here :) infact he did all the spiral works.

Ingredients:

Rice flour: 1 cup (rice flour should be very fine, use idiyappam or pathri flour or you can ask for fine rice flour at Indian stores).
Besan flour: 1/2 cup
Kashmiri red chilly powder: 1 tsp..
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp.
Till seeds: 1 tsp.
Butter/ghee/vegetable shortning, melted: 2 tbsp.
Salt.
Oil for deep frying.

Method:
1. Put the rice flour into a kitchen napkin.

2. Simply cover it and put it in the steamer.

3. Let it steam away for 10 to 15 min.

4. Once it has cooled down, open it and transfer it into a bowl. Break the lumps with your hand.

5. Heat the butter or ghee.

6. Put the besan flour into it and fry it on low flame, the color should not change...so careful here...this is to make the raw smell go.

7. Mix this with cooled rice flour.

8. Put in the red chilly powder, cumin seeds, till seeds, and salt.

9. Make it into a soft dough with water....it should not be too loose or too hard.

10. This is the murukku achu.

11. Put the dough into it.

12. Close it.

13. And squeezzzze!!!

14. Into spirals....aint it pretty.....my son did it :)

15. I like this one better.

16. Deep fry them in hot oil.

Serve them with milk or chai or coffee.