Friday, August 27, 2010

Festive treats - Murrukulu / Chakli

Shravana masam - must say a festive month, with poojas and festivals. 
When it comes to food, pindi vantalu/ snack items is compulsory. Murrukulu or chakli is one among these crispy snack varieties.


In Andhra and Karnataka...Chaklies/murrukulu are often made and served as snacks/ savories... Just like we have pop corn while watching tv or as time pass snack when friends arrive at our place....the same way these snacks were taken in olden days.....Having busy lifestyle, many cannot prepare these snacks at home and so people prefer instant mixes or ready made Indian snacks that are available in the supermarkets now a days.





Last week when I made these chaklies, it reminded me of my grandmother and tears rolled down my eyes...
I remember my grandmother making chakli (in kannada)  whenever we visited her place...she used to store these  in an air tight box and used to give us 4 chaklies..very crispy and crunchy and one rava laddu for snacks :).

So, I decided to make chaklies and got the presser from one of my friends in our apartments.
When I was preparing to make these chaklies, it was a challenging task, as one needs bit patience to prepare the Urad flour, press the murruku maker and also to clean up the kitchen after the mess..but the result I got was of course worth it...crispy chaklies..though not perfect round shape :)

Step by Step procedure : Chakli / Murruku

Ingredients :

Urad flour - 1 cup (Urad flour preperation shown below )
Rice flour - 2 cups
Melted Butter - 2 Tbspn
jeera - 2 tsp
asofoetida - 1 pinch
Salt - as per taste


Method :

1.Combine  all the above ingredients in a mixing bowl.




 2. Add water little by little and prepare the dough.  Make sure that the dough is soft enough just like the chapathi dough.


3. Heat sufficient oil in a pan / tava for deep frying. Take a lemon sized portion of the dough and put it in the Murruku/chakli maker and press it directly above the tava for the batter to drop in the oil using the single star designed plate inside the presser.




4 Fry till golden brown color and place it on a paper napkin.
Store it in a airtight box for instant snacks anytime anywhere :)





Urad Flour :

1. Roast 1 cup urad dal /urad gota in a pan. When the color changes to light brown turn off the gas...(its fine if some urad seeds are white..its just that they should be roasted once) .Set aside for cooling.



2. Powder it finely, giving breaks in between so that the grinder doesn't get heated up.. :P.
Urad flour is ready :)