3teaspoonUrad Dal2 teaspoon Urad Dal Flour after roasting & grinding
1tablespoonButter at Room Temperature
Salt as needed
Water as needed
Oil to Deep FryGhee and/or Coconut Oil can be used too
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Instructions
Wash and soak the dosa rice (maavu pacharisi) in enough water for one hour.
Meanwhile, dry roast urad dal on medium flame until golden brown.
Once cooled down, grind into a smooth powder.
Sieve it to remove any coarse particles. We need 2 teaspoon of this flour, so measure it out and set aside.
Drain off the water and dry them on a cloth towel for 2-3 mins until excess water is removed. Do not dry them completely or under the fan or in the hot sun. It is essential for the rice to be wet, just not soaking wet.
Transfer the wet rice into a blender jar and grind on high powder until it is smoothly powdered.
Dump the wet rice flour onto a sieve and gently sieve the rice flour. Don’t push it around with hands, as there is chance of coarse rice flour getting through. If you have a lot of coarse flour, grind it again and sieve. Don’t do it beyond two times as it can dry out the flour. I got approx. 2 cups of rice flour.
Add the rice flour to a mixing bowl along with urad dal flour, butter at room temperature and salt as needed.
Mix it gently with your fingers to ensure that the butter is spread all over the flour. The mixture will look crumbly.
Now add water little by little and knead into a soft dough. I had to use about ¼ cup of water only, as the rice flour we use is slightly wet. The dough looks sticky, unlike the usual murukku dough. If it does not, then there was an issue with the rice flour. It is this stickiness that helps in twisting the dough to shape it by hand.
Now spread a clean towel and place a bottle cap. Take a small ball of dough in your hands and begin twisting it with your thumb and index finger. It helps to hold the dough at a height as it becomes easier to keep the shape even. Look at the video for reference. You can slightly wet the dough if it is too dry and it will dry out if it is held in hand or exposed to air for too long.
Hold as much dough as possible and shape the murukku as evenly as possible. Traditionally these Kai Murukku are made moonu varisai, naalu varisai etc upto 9 varisai. I tried to keep it small at 3 varisai only.
Always end off the murukku at the same point where it began so that all murukku look uniformly shaped.
Prepare all the murukku this way and by the time 7-8 are done, you will notice that the first few start to leave water below as the towel turns slightly wet. This means they are ready to fry. It will also be easier to remove them without breaking at this stage.
Heat oil for deep frying. Once it is hot, set the flame on medium to low. Take the prepared murukku using a flat spatula and drop it gently into the oil. You can fry 2-3 per batch depending on the size of your fry pan.
At the beginning, the murukku will float on top and bubble really well. After a minute, turn them to the other side and continue cooking.
As the bubbling stops and they sink towards the bottom, remove them from oil. They will turn a shade darker once out of the oil. Don’t let them turn golden brown in oil itself. Repeat this with rest of the murukku.
Store them in an airtight container once they cool down a bit. Serve with a cup of hot coffee or tea!