'Murukku' is a crispy savory snack and a great accompaniment with your evening tea or coffee. Homemade Murukku especially has an excellent taste and nothing can beat it. It tastes far better than any readymade or store-bought ones.
'Murukku' is sometimes referred to as 'Chakli', another savory snack as they are quite similar. However, the latter counterpart usually has chickpea flour in its ingredients. 'Murukku' on the other hand has predominantly rice flour and split skinless black gram dal in it.
It may seem like a daunting task to make it, as you need to get the right shape of the Murukku and then deep-fry them. So for the longest time, I avoided it and only made it when someone experienced was around to supervise making or help.
However, once I tried it by myself, I found it simple to make. All you need is some patience, as the process of shaping and frying is a little time-consuming. The recipe that I am sharing today is one such no-fail recipe.
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Ingredients for the Murukku
- Skinless Blackgram lentils (Urad Dal) - Use whole or split, I used whole.
- Rice flour - Store-bought rice flour is good enough and is easily available.
- Cumin seeds, White Sesame seeds.
- Pantry Staples - Butter - Organic and Unsalted and Salt to taste.
How to make Crispy Murukku?
To make crispy Murukku, start by cooking the split skinless black gram lentils (urad dal). I used my regular pressure cooker to cook the urad dal. The ratio of urad to the water I used is ½:2. Cook it for about 4 whistles just like you would cook regular dal. It should be cooked thoroughly so it can be mashed well.
Once the steam has been released, transfer it to a bowl and mash it with a whisk or the back of a spoon. When you can handle the heat, add the rice flour, the rest of the ingredients melted butter, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, and asafoetida to form a smooth dough.
The consistency should be such that you can easily pass it through the Murukku press. It should neither be too thick and dense nor too loose and flowing.
To Shape the Murukkus
Use a Murukku maker or Murukku press with a star tip. Make a medium-sized ball using the Murukku dough and place it into the press. Shape out the Murukkus by pressing the dough in the maker, rotating the lever on the top, and shaping it into spirals as it comes out of the maker. Feel free to use your hand to get the right shape.
Place them on paper towels, so they can be ready for frying. Next deep-fry the Murukkus in high to medium-hot oil. Take care not to overcrowd when frying and add them one at a time to maintain the heat.
Drain onto a paper towel when done. That's all and you are done making this delicious savory snack. They can be stored in an air-tight container for a couple of weeks.
To make the Murukku dough in an Instant Pot
Cook the split black gram lentils (urad dal ) using the pot-in-pot method. Add a cup of water to the inner pot. To cook the urad dal use 1: 1.5 cups water in the other container used for cooking. Cook on high pressure for about 25 mins and let the steam release naturally. Next, follow the steps in the recipe as usual.
Step-by-Step Process
- Step 1: Combine the cooked lentils, rice flour, and condiments to form a smooth dough and pass it through a murukku press.
- Step 2: Squeeze long shapes of dough and shape them into round spiral shapes.
- Step 3: Deep fry in oil until they turn light brown and crisp.
- Step 4: Transfer them to a bowl and they are ready to be served.
What type of Murukku Maker to use?
There are many kinds of murukku makers to purchase these days. The one that I have is a brass one which has many different tips and molds. You can use them and try various interesting shapes as well.
Hope you enjoyed reading this post on Murukkus. If you like savory snacks, do check out my section on traditional Indian appetizers.
Recipe FAQs
They taste best when they are fresh for a few weeks. If they are stored well in an air-tight container they can stay fresh for about a month.
The oil used for frying should neither be too hot nor heated on low, it should be medium hot and flip and cook on both sides until it turns golden brown.
The proportion of ingredients is also important using more urad dal compared to rice flour will make murukkus soft. Using more butter will cause the disintegration of the murukkus. Water used in the dough should be the exact amount.
Store the murukkus in an airtight container only after they have completely cooled down to room temperature. This helps prevent moisture buildup, keeping them crispy for longer.
This is most likely because the oil used for frying was not at the right temperature when the murukkus were fried. If they were fried in low heat, they would drink a lot of oil.
If you tried this Crispy Murukku Recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and a 📝 comment below. I love hearing from you!
Crispy Murukku
Ingredients
- ½ cup black gram skinless (urad dal)
- 2 cups rice flour
- 2 tbsp butter or (coconut oil)melted
- 1 pinch asafoetida optional
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- ½ tsp salt to taste
- 2 cups water 1 ½ cups in IP
- 5 cups vegetable oil deep fry
Instructions
- Cook the urad dal in a pressure cooker for about 4 whistles.
- Once the pressure is released , transfer it to another bowl and mash the dal using a whisk.
- Add rice flour, butter, cumin seeds, sesame seeds, asafoetida , salt and make a soft dough.
- Make medium sized balls and fill it in the murukku press .
- Press and Shape the murukkus into spiral shapes.
- Keep the shaped murukkus on a paper towel ready to be fried.
- Heat about 5 cups of oil and add the murukkus to deep-fry.
- Add one by one and make sure not to overcrowd the murukkus in the oil so that the heat is maintained.
- Fry for about few minutes until they are cooked .
- Drain them out into a bowl lined with paper towel.
Notes
- When frying the murukkus, add them one by one to the hot oil, making sure not to overcrowd them. This ensures the oil temperature remains steady, allowing them to cook evenly and become crispy.
- Make the murukku dough by adding the rice flour to the warm lentil flour and mix well so the dough is smooth and can easily pass through the murukku press.
- Grease the press on the side with a little oil so the dough does not stick to the press.
- Store them in an air-tight container after they cool down.
Wow! This is interesting. This is the first to hear about Murukku and would love to try this as it seems easy to make. Will check if we have the ingredients available locally. Thank you for sharing this.
Thank you so much , wonderful to hear you will give this a try . It is quite easy and fun to make with the murukku press . Enjoy!
I've had this snack before... love them! However, I always buy them at the supermarket. I'll now try to cook from your recipe. Thanks!
Yes they are available to buy in most Indian grocery stores , and they taste ok most of the times. The homemade ones are defintely very fresh with no preservatives and have a unique taste . Glad to hear you will give it a try! Thank you for the comments.
Looks so very tempting! i have just eaten (literally) but your post makes me want to eat it at once!
Thank you for such a wonderful comment! I agree they are very tempting indeed.
These look as fun to make as they must be to eat!
Exactly right Diane , it is indeed fun making them , tastes awesome and disappears in no time 🙂 Thank you for the comments!
This is perfect for Veganuary! It looks really good and enticing. I was looking for a crunchy snacks the other day. So this is perfect! Though I'm not very good at cooking, I will have a go. 🙂
Thank you for the wonderful comment , it is a great crunchy snack so pretty sure you will love it!
This is a Diwali time snack for us. It's called "chakli" in Marathi. I will definitely try this recipe!
Oh! wonderful . I have had Chaklis as well , they usually have besan or chick-pea flour in it , and they are also very delicious . Nice to hear you will try this recipe of murukku. Thank you for the comments!
This was an interesting read, as not heard of these before. Murukku look really yummy and we will deffo be trying out this savoury treat, as we are always looking to try out new foods thank you so much x
Thank you so much. These savory treats are fun to make and delicious as well ! Glad to hear you found a new recipe to try. Happy cooking!
oooh I've had these before they're delicious! So glad you've given us a recipe for them. We just bought a small fryer last year this is perfect!
That's awesome , you can now try this recipe with the fryer . Thank you so much for the comments!
Muruku looks so perfect Nisha, I always enjoyed the crispness. ❤
Thank you so much Suni , yes it has the perfect crunch and crispiness to it !
I have never heard of Murukku but it looks delicious! I like the healthy ingredients!
Thank you so much Lori, glad you like it!
Looks perfect shape and texture, love this mullu muruku than the smooth finish once. Sesame seeds is a great addition , it adds so much flavor to the muruku, always our traditional snacks are the best and I'm so addicted to it!
Thank you so much Aarthi. Yes, couldn't agree more, traditional snacks are always the best . We also prefer the mullu murukku over the smooth ones at our home. The addition of sesame seeds is optional but as you rightly say it imparts a nice flavor. They are very addictive indeed!
Looks so yummy. 💙💙💙☕️☕️☕️ doesn't take long too, as I see 🙂 interesting recipe!
Thank you Ray, yes not too long . The main effort is getting the shapes and these days the fancy press with lever on top make the process simplified with less effort!
I love the look of these! Yummy too, I'm sure! Sharing to Pinterest now 🙂
They are very addictive and make a great snack Christy. Thank you for sharing and the comments, appreciate it!
These murukku look so beautiful & crunchy. Traditional home-made snacks are always healthier than store-bought snacks, so we can take these delicious murukku at any time with no guilt.
Thank you so much Megala , means a lot coming from an expert like you . Absolutely right the home-made ones are healthier and one can have them guilt free for sure!
Awesome!
Thank you so much!