Happy Deepavali!
the Festival of Lights is upon us! in joyful celebration, we decided to learn making Murukku from the lovely Mdm Serany (who we lovingly call Aunty Rany). though murukku is abundantly available in shops and supermarkets, making it yourself at home means being able to cater the recipe to your own preferences (having more or less carom seeds or sesame) and being able to savour fresh and crunchy Murukku - trust us, it’s a whole world of difference compared to the store bought ones which could have possibly been stored on the shelf for an extended time, affecting its taste and texture.
the concoction for the dough is relatively simple but the murukku-pressing process requires some elbow grease & patience. however, it’s a great activity when done with family and friends where different people could take on different tasks in the process.
Aunty Rani’s Murukku
1 x 500g packet Murukku Flour Mix (Aunty Rany recommends Lingam’s)
1/2 cup coconut cream
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp carom seeds (ajwain)
1 tbsp white sesame seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter or ghee
Canola oil, for deep frying
directions
heat a pan of low to medium heat. add the carom and sesame seeds and toast together until the sesame turns light brown. spoon it over onto a plate and let it cool completely.
combine water and coconut cream in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
in a bowl, combine the flour mix with salt and mix with your hand. spoon in the butter/ghee and mix well until the it turn into a breadcrumbs texture.
gradually pour in the diluted warm coconut milk mixture & mix well with your hand. once the dough comes together nicely but not into a sticky mixture stop adding more liquid.
pinch out a portion of dough which could fit into your murukku mould and roll it into a rough cylinder shape.
stuff into the mould and press it out into the desired spiral shape onto cut out pieces of parchment.
in a pot/wok, heat oil to medium heat. flip the piped out murukku onto your hand with the paper facing upwards. slowly peel out the parchment and quickly let the murukku into the oil.
fry until lightly golden, fish the murukku out with a spatula and drain on a rack or on paper towels
once the murukku is completely cooled, transfer into an airtight container for storage.