Murukku

Ingredients:

• Raw rice- 4 cups
• White gram- ¹/₂ cup
• White sesame seeds- 25 gm
• Cumin seeds- 25 gm
• Asafoetida powder- 2 tbsp
• Butter- 100 gm
• Salt to taste
• Oil for frying

Method  of Preparation:

Wash and clean the rice. Allow it to dry. When it dries completely, grind to a powder. Fry the gram and powder it. Mix the powdered rice, powdered gram, white sesame seeds, cumin seeds, asafoetida powder, butter and salt together. Take a little of this mixture and add water to make a dough-like consistency. Heat oil in a pan. Drop a pinch of dough into it. If the drop springs to the top with bubbles all around it, then the oil is just ready to fry the Murukku.

Squeeze the dough through a murukku mould (utensil with a hole) into the oil. Deep-fry the Murukku, till crisp and golden brown. Drain the oil and spread the murukku on a newspaper to remove the excess oil in it. When it cools, this light and crispy snack can be stored in an airtight container.

Variation : Murukku has many variations. One is made with maida (250 gms refined flour), sesame seeds (1tbs). Steam the flour mixed with salt in a pressure cooker without water and the weight, for 20minutes. After it cools, add the required quantity of water to make a smooth dough. Squeeze the dough through the murukku mould and deep fry  in oil till crisp.