Manapparrai Murukku for ICC

We are travelling south to Tamil Nadu for this month's Indian Cooking Challenge. I am amazed by the variation of snacks we have across the country, with just a few changes in the ingredients and the method of preparation -- we end up with so many different type of snacks.

When I saw that Valli has a murukku recipe for this month, I was a little disappointed that we are going to make just another murukku recipe, but I was pleasantly surprised how just a few changes can make such a big difference. These murukkus are fried twice instead of just once in regular murukkus making them crunchy and very addictive.

We are slowly getting over jet lag and started enjoying our vacation. I wanted to make these murukkus long time back, but with the sleeping patterns going whack, I had to wait till today to finally make the murukkus. Actually it was my mom who made them and I supervised her. So thanks to her I was able to finish this on time.

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 1cup

Urad dal - ¼cup
Cumin Seeds - ¼tsp
Asafoetida/ Hing - ¼tsp
Ajwain - ¼tsp
Salt - ¾tsp (adjust as per taste)

Method:

• Dry roast urad dal until lightly golden. Remove from heat and let cool. Then grind into a smooth powder. Sieve the powder to make sure that it is completely smooth.
• Dry roast rice flour for 4~5 minutes.Let cool.
• In a mixing bowl, combine both the flours, cumin seeds, hing, ajwain, salt, 1tsp ghee and 2tsp hot oil. Mix well, then add enough water to make a smooth dough.
• Heat oil for deep frying.
• Pinch off a big piece of the dough and place it in a murukku/ chakli press fitted with either star or 5-hole plate. 
• When the oil is hot, press the dough into the oil and fry on medium flame for 4~5 minutes. Remove and repeat with the remaining dough.
• Once the whole batch is done, re-fry the whole batch to get the perfect crispy and crunchy murukkus.
• Remove onto a paper towel lined plate and store in an airtight container.