Rice Murukku

The other day I met another Indian lady and she smiled back at me.I was surprised,we Indians,as strange as this sounds,never smile at each other.We adeptly recognise each other from pretty far away and then make sure that we don't make eye contact.Our radars are well developed,we even sense if we speak the same language,in other words,we even recognise if we are from the same state or part of India and then decide if we need to smile.I have no clue why most Indians do this,but it could be partly because we are told right from our childhood to be cautious around strangers.Well this lady and me smiled at each other and then started speaking with each other in English.After the lady had left another friend of mine asked me why we Indians always speak with each other in English.

                                               'Is English your mother tongue ?'

                                                'No,Tamil is my mother tongue.'

                                                            'Then English ?'

                                            'Well,you could call that my Father tongue '

                                             She laughs.'Well then German ?'

                                             Me promptly 'That's my Husband tongue'

After a good laugh ,I told her how we Indians,despite having so many languages, resort to speaking in English which is more or less a common tongue.And yes we do have our official language Hindi,which we south Indians do speak a bit,thanks to Shah Rukh Khan and Bollywood,but  a very few of us actually master it enough ,to hold a decent conversation .Which leaves us with no other choice but to switch to English,which is definitely better than our Hindi ('Ek Ghao mein ek kisaan raghu thaatha ') !!

Coming to the recipe this is a very yummy snack that can be prepared in no time.The flour, if prepared from scratch at home, could take a long time to make,but if you have store brought rice flour at hand,it makes the job very easy.This murruku is usually referred to as 'Thenkuzhal',which i assume has something to do with the press.But I can never call it that because the only 'Thenkuzhal' I remember fondly are the ones I had as a kid in my grandma's place.They,true to the name Thenkuzhal-Honeytubes,were sweet and oozed out sugar syrup.So for me these would always be Muruuku :) So off to the recipe !!

You'll Need:

Rice Flour - 1 and 1/4 cups

Urad dal Flour - 1/4 cup

Melted salted butter - 2 tbsp

Cumin seeds -  1 tsp

salt - 1 and 1/4 tsp

Hing a pinch

oil as needed for deep frying

Water as needed

Murukku press

Method:

-For the flours : For the rice flour - I used store brought Idiyappam/String hoppers rice flour.

                                For the Urad dal flour- Dry roast the urad dal on a pan on low heat,once it gives a         nice aroma,grind it to a fine powder.Make sure it doesn't get burnt.

-In a bowl add the flours and the salt and mix well.Next add the butter and mix with you hand.When you take a little between your fingers and press it,it should hold its shape for a few seconds ,before crumbling.

-Mix the hing in the water.Add the water little by little to the flour to make a medium tight dough.Be careful with the amount of water as it can make the dough soggy.

-Heat the oil in the pan and let it heat up,it shouldn't be very hot,let it stay on medium heat.

-Now add a portion of the dough in the press and pipe shapes on a baking paper or any surface greased with oil so that it doesn't stick.

-Always keep the remaining portion of the dough covered with a damp cloth.

-Carefully slide the piped shape into the hot oil and  fry it ,turning it over in between.When it's done the oil around it will stop sizzling.Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

-Once they are cooled store them in airtight containers.

Thanks for stopping by ! Have a nice day !