Kai Murukku
Do you have the patience and skill to make these spiral shaped snacks called Kai Murukku? 🙂
Twist.. twist.. break… (repeat) Twist.. twist.. break… (repeat) Twist.. twist.. break. Chuck. :-/
That pretty much sums up my attempt at making the astonishingly difficult kai murukku. A spiral hand shaped rice flour snack, this south Indian deep fried delicacy really tested my culinary skills like no other cake or cookie has!
Murukku or Chakli is an Indian snack made with different types of flours. But the most common South Indian type is made with Rice flour and shaped by hand. This is known for it’s twisted spirals
I’ll admit, this one definitely requires skill. This is one of those recipes where I failed miserably!
If you do have the knack for twisting the dough without breaking it, kudos! I’ve added a video tutorial to give you an idea of how South Indians make their Murukku! And a huge thanks to my mom for letting me tail her and click pictures while she patiently twisted these murukkus! 🙂
KAI MURUKKU RECIPE | South Indian Suthu Murukku
You’ll need –
Add all dry ingredients into the mixing bowl & mix
Add butter at room temperature
Using a fork or hands, incorporate butter into the butter
The mixture will resemble a somewhat wet sand
Add enough hing-induced-water
Mix and knead to a very soft dough (if dough is too dry, add water. you cannot form Murukku with dry dough)
On the work surface, lay down a clean kitchen cloth
FORMING MURUKKU: Divide dough into equal sized portions (size differs based on how big a Murukku you want). Take a portion of the dough and place on your palm. Push a little bit of dough continuously with your thumb while simultaneously using your index finger to twist it. Keep doing this in a circle spiral going till the size you want. When it is as big as you like, seal off the dough by sticking it to the adjacent circle.
Watch the video to give you a better idea on how to form these spiral shaped.
And here’s my miserable attempt at making spirals. 😛 I think if I can’t get this right, I’m going to just roll them into neat ropes & make knots and deep fry. The taste is the same!
Place each formed Murukku on the kitchen cloth to let it dry out a bit (for 5-10 minutes) as the cloth absorbs the moisture from the dough
Meanwhile, heat a heavy duty pan will enough oil to deep fry. (To test if oil is ready, drop a small piece of the dough into the oil. If it fries and floats up instantly, it is done)
Carefully pick up each Murukku on your spatula
Drop it into the oil from the sides (if you directly drop, oil will splash on you)
Do not overcrowd the pan but don’t waste the space either. (a good rule is to add more as long as they all have enough room to float around in the oil)
Deep fry on both sides for 4-5 minutes in medium high flame or until the Murukku is golden brown and crisp.
Remove on to a slotted plate / tissue.
Store in an air tight box (stays well for 2-3 weeks, but best eaten fresh within 3 days)
- 1 cup Rice flour (homemade) {note 2 below}
- 1/8 cup roasted Urad Dal flour (split black gram four)
- 1 tablespoon soft Butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (adjust to taste)
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed Cumin Seeds (Jeera)
- 1/4 teaspoon Hing (Asafetida) soaked in 1 Tablespoon Water
- 3-4 Tablespoons Water, or as required {note 3 below}
- Note
- The ratio for Rice flour and Urad Dal flour is 8:1. For 8 cups of Rice, you use 1 cup of Urad Dal flour. In the recipe, I’ve given measurements for 1 cup of Rice flour only. But since making murukku is a long process, people usually make large batches at a time. So if you want, you could multiply the amount of each ingredient by 4 or 8 or as much more as you want to make more pieces of this kai murukku
- For murukku, you HAVE to use “eera arisi maavu” – i.e Rice flour made with Rice that has been previously soaked in water & dried. You can find the tutorial for it on Foodomania.com
- The amount of water required depends upon the consistency and texture of the dough. A general rule is to use as much water to give a very soft dough. But always keep more water on hand as the dough tends to dry out fast as you’re making murukku and you may have to keep sprinkling more
- Add both flours, salt, crushed cumin into the mixing bowl & mix
- Add butter at room temperature
- Using a fork or hands, incorporate butter into the flour mixture. The mixture will resemble a somewhat of a wet sand
- Add enough hing-induced-water and some more water a little bit at a time
- Mix and knead to a very soft dough (if dough is too dry, add water. you cannot form Murukku with dry dough)
- On the work surface, lay down a clean kitchen cloth
- FORMING MURUKKU: Divide dough into equal sized portions (size differs based on how big a Murukku you want). Take a portion of the dough and place on your palm. Push a little bit of dough continuously with your thumb while simultaneously using your index finger to twist it. Keep doing this in a circle spiral going till the size you want. When it is as big as you like, seal off the dough by sticking it to the adjacent circle.
- Place each formed Murukku on the kitchen cloth to let it dry out a bit (for 5-10 minutes) as the cloth absorbs the moisture from the dough
- Meanwhile, heat a heavy duty pan will enough oil to deep fry. (To test if oil is ready, drop a small piece of the dough into the oil. If it fries and floats up instantly, it is done)
- Carefully pick up each Murukku on your spatula. Drop it into the oil from the sides (if you directly drop, oil will splash on you)
- Do not overcrowd the pan but don’t waste the space either. (a good rule is to add more as long as they all have enough room to float around in the oil)
- Deep fry on both sides for 4-5 minutes in medium high flame or until the Murukku is golden brown and crisp.
- Remove on to a slotted plate / tissue.
- Store in an air tight box (stays well for 2-3 weeks, but best eaten fresh within 3 days)
- The dough made with rice flour will not be elastic like your regular pizza dough. It will be brittle and break off. But just make sure it is very soft to touch. {Important: SOFT, not MUSHY. So take care of the amount of water}
- It takes a lot of practice to get the twisty spirals. If you cannot do that, just roll into thin ropes and form circles. They’ll taste just as good.
If you can’t be bothered with all the hard-work but want to taste the kai murukku, I found these. They are the closest things you’ll find to an authentic kai murukku.
Some of the other awesome South Indian recipes that my mom has shared –
Can this recipe for ‘Kai Murukku’ be modified or adapted for microwave cooking?
H i Aditya, this cannot be made in the Microwave. You could add a pinch of baking soda while kneading the dough and try baking it though (at 200 C for about 15-25 minutes or until it is crispy) It might take a long time.