Mullu Murukku or Chakli

Mullu Murukku or Chakli

This was my first baking experiment trying to make a crispy finger food that too a south Indian snack. None at home are a fan of chakli or mullu murukku (mullu simply refers to the thorny appearance we give it) and honestly it is the ‘kai’ murukku (made by hand) that we all like. We were visiting a friend in Aberdeen and just as per our culture, I did not really want to go empty handed and there was no point buying stuff from Tesco while they could get it themselves. So I thought I might as well try this and share my success story with them. I did see a basic baked chakli recipe on Tarla Dalal’s website however, but I somehow thought that was not quite how I would do it as my memories of its taste was different from that recipe. So here is my secret recipe:

1 cup rice flour

½ teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)

1 tablespoon cooking oil (I prefer groundnut oil and would not use olive oil)

Salt to taste

Baking tray, baking paper, ‘naazhi’ (equipment to squeeze the murukku out to its shape) with the star shaped opening.

Heat the cooking oil and add to rice flour. Mix the flour so it looks like breadcrumbs. Add jeera seed and mix again. You may want to just attempt crushing the jeera seed in your hand itself, I am not suggesting you break them but some pressure on it will help release the aroma. Add required amount of salt and water. When you take a small ball from the resultant dough and press it, it should not just break and fall. If it does then you will not be able to get required shape and flow while making murukku. Then put the dough in the naazhi and squeeze on a baking tray covered with baking paper. In the meantime preheat the oven to 165degC. Bake the murukkus for 10-15 minutes and if they are crisp, turn the side and bake for further 10-15 minutes. I noticed that sometimes it takes a bit longer to cook. Enjoy the chakli with just 1 tablespoon oil !!