Last night my kitchen looked like a war zone, gooey strings of dough splattered on the benchtop, tiny pools of oil coating the surface, layers of paper towels excessively saturated. I would describe my first-time attempt at Murukku as awkward!
Murukku is a deep-fried savoury Indian snack often made during Deepavali (Festival of lights) and these crunchies are so tasty that they’ve also been made to order and sold during the Chinese New Year in KL. I vaguely remember helping my aunty at my grandma’s house almost 13 years ago, rolling the warm dough into little cylinders so she could add them into a special wooden mold and then press them out onto the back of an oiled metal plate and plop them straight into the hot oil. The powers of observation have eluded me because I don’t remember my aunty making such a mess plus she pressed out the dough with such ease! Then again, it was my first time so practice makes perfect I suppose. Whilst I’ve got the flavour box ticked, I wished my Murukkus looked more presentable. I do not own a Murukku mold but my mother-in-law gave me a very vintage SAWA 91 Icing and Cookie Cutter set which at that time, I thought would not see the light of day. But turns out, it is a very useful tool and with over 22 nozzle and mold plates of all shapes: star shaped holes, jagged ones, single and multiple holes, round, square etc, it was ideal for this attempt.
I’ve made some brief notes of this experience for future reference.
- Alter the water to flour ratio. Dough was too gooey so initial batch was a little soft and not crisp. Dough somehow firmed up (or dried up a little) later and was much easier to work with. Murukku turned out crunchy.
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Don’t be stingy with the oil for frying. Too little and the murukku will soak up excessive oil. Too high and I ended up with a couple of burnt ones. Lower to medium flame after initial high flame.
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A single star-hole plate will do. Just coil the dough as you press it out onto the oiled plate. (Tried 4 different molds and it was a mess)
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Next time – measure the salt and write it down. Could not judge at all what salt to taste meant as the saltiness differed when I tasted it in the flour and when I’ve added water to it. The latter was so much saltier which is risky because water goes in after the salt
Keep your cookie press well for it'll bring u a fortune in 30 years! 🙂
how to make this ar?? ;p
Hi Kenix, this was so so only. A bit hard so I must have misplaced the recipe. The next time I try again, I’ll let you know. Although this is the Murukku, Indian style, so it should have sesame seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, rice and besan flour. There’s another type, chinese style which is popular during chinese new year and they have prawns in it. So it has a slightly sweet flavour. I’m not sure which one you’ve had before?