Murukku

Ingredients and preparation

Murukku is typically made from rice and urad dal flour. The flours are mixed with water, salt, chilli powder, asafoetida and either sesame seeds or cumin seeds. The mix is kneaded into a dough, which is shaped into spiral or coil shapes either by hand or extruded using a mould. The spirals are then deep fried in vegetable oil.

Varieties

The dish has many variations, resulting from the types and proportions of flours used. Mullu Muruku has an uneven texture that gives it an extra crunch. 'Mullu' refers to thorns in Tamil and the snack derives its name from this. The Kai Murukku (literally, "hand murukku") is made by hand using a stiffer dough. Pakoda murukku is another ribbon-shaped variety of the snack. Attayampatti Kai Murukku, a town in Tamil Nadu, is known for its unique variety of murukkus, known as Manapparai murukku. This Manapparai murukku got famous because of Mr. Krishnan Iyer who prepared and sold this first in Manapparai. In 2010, the Tamil Nadu government applied for a geographical indication tag for Manapparai Murukku.

Other varieties include:

• Rice and lentil murukku (Mullu murukku)
• Light crispy murukku (Thenkuzhal murukku)
• Coconut milk murukku (Thenginakaai haalina murukku)
• Wheat flour murukku (Godhihittina murukku)
• Spicy murukku (Kaara murukku)
• Garlic murukku (Belulli murukku)
• Fish murruku (Meenu murukku)
• Ring murukku (Kodubale)
• Butter murukku (Benne murukku)
• Besan Murukku (Kadale murukku)
• Rice murukku (Akki murukku)
• Sweet murukku (Sihi murukku or Achappam)
• Mint Murukku (Puthina murukku)