Murukku (முறுக்கு) is a crunchy, savoury spiral snack made from rice flour and urad dal flour, seasoned with cumin, sesame, chilli and a pinch of asafoetida, then piped into coils and deep-fried. The name is Tamil for "twisted", after its shape. It comes from the Tamil kitchens of South India and is made in Sri Lanka above all in Tamil homes in Jaffna and Batticaloa, but packets of it are sold in shops right across the island.
Murukku is made in large batches for Deepavali and for the Tamil New Year in April, when it is shared with visitors alongside the sweets, and between festivals it is an everyday snack with a cup of Ceylon tea. Broken pieces also go into the spicy "mixture" of fried snacks sold at shops and street-food stalls. You need a murukku press (a hand-held extruder with a star-shaped disc), although small coils can be shaped by hand.
How to make murukku
- Makes about 30 murukku
- Prep: 20 minutes
- Cook: 40 minutes
- Difficulty: Moderate
Ingredients
- 250 g (2 cups) fine rice flour
- 60 g (1/2 cup) urad dal (black gram) flour, or 60 g split skinless urad dal roasted and ground as below
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp white sesame seeds
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp hot coconut oil or vegetable oil (or melted butter)
- About 250 ml water
- About 1 litre coconut oil or vegetable oil, for deep frying
Method
- Make the dal flour (if needed). Dry-roast the urad dal in a heavy pan over a medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until aromatic and very lightly golden. Cool completely, grind to a fine powder and sift.
- Mix the dry ingredients. Sift the rice flour and urad dal flour into a bowl and stir in the cumin, sesame seeds, chilli powder, asafoetida and salt.
- Rub in the fat. Pour the hot oil or melted butter over the flour and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
- Knead the dough. Add the water a little at a time, kneading, until you have a soft, smooth dough that does not stick to your hands. Keep it covered so it does not dry out.
- Heat the oil. Heat the frying oil in a deep, heavy pan over a medium heat to about 170°C, until a small piece of dough sizzles and rises steadily to the surface.
- Press the spirals. Grease the murukku press, fit the star disc and fill it with a portion of dough. Press 3 to 4 concentric coils, about 8 cm across, onto a greased sheet of baking paper or the back of a steel ladle, and pinch the end to seal.
- Fry in batches. Slide 3 or 4 spirals into the oil at a time and fry for 3 to 4 minutes, turning once, until golden and the oil around them has almost stopped bubbling.
- Drain and cool. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on a rack or kitchen paper. Let the murukku cool completely before you pack it into an airtight container.
Why does murukku break or turn hard?
- Breaks in the press: the dough is too dry. Knead in a spoonful of water.
- Spreads or goes limp: the dough is too soft. Knead in a little more rice flour.
- Hard, dense bite: too little fat in the dough. Keep the full 2 tbsp of oil or butter.
- Greasy: the oil was not hot enough, or the pan was crowded. Fry a test piece first and add only a few spirals at a time.
What kinds of murukku are there?
Murukku is a family of snacks rather than one recipe. The version above is the plain rice-and-urad-dal kind. Other doughs use roasted gram (chickpea) flour, and some Jaffna cooks mix gram flour with steamed wheat flour, which makes the snack no longer gluten-free. Butter murukku is richer, with more butter worked into the dough; kara (spicy) murukku carries more chilli; and hand-twisted kai murukku is shaped with the fingers rather than a press. Any of them can be broken up and tossed with fried peanuts and spiced lentils to make mixture.
Is murukku the same as kokis?
No. Murukku is a stiff dough pressed through a nozzle, and it is savoury. Kokis is a pourable rice-flour and coconut-milk batter picked up on a hot patterned mould and fried into a lacy flower shape. In Tamil that mould-fried snack is called achchu murukku (from achchu, a mould), which is why the two names are sometimes confused. Both appear at the April New Year, and kokis sits on the Sinhala New Year table.
How long does murukku keep?
Cooled completely and stored in an airtight container at room temperature, home-made murukku stays crisp for about 3 to 4 weeks. Humidity is what softens it, so close the jar straight after taking some out.
Is murukku vegan and gluten-free?
With oil rather than butter, the recipe above is vegan. Rice and urad dal flours are gluten-free, but most compounded asafoetida is cut with wheat flour, so use a gluten-free hing or leave it out if that matters to you. Versions made with steamed wheat flour contain gluten.
