Besan ke Murkul
I have been enjoying some winter treats from the past few days, first~a light and delicious Pumpkin halwa, then some spicy Besan ke Murkul.
Murkul, or Murukul, are delicious savories that are made with rice flour, or lentil flour or gram flour, etc. There exist various varieties of this crunchy snack. This variety of Murkul is easy to prepare, doesn’t require a lot of ingredients, and at the same time, satisfying. They are usually prepared at home and stored in air-tight containers for eating. They are also available ready made in Indian stores.
murkul press, with various attachments for different shapes of the murkul
To prepare these savory addictive crunchy snacks at home, special molds are required to press the dough into desired shape into the hot oil to be deep fried. These molds are inexpensive and are available at Indian stores and called as ‘Murkul press’ or ‘Murukku press’. These molds come along with many attachments for different shapes for the murkul. Today I have used the star shaped attachment.
Besan Murkul – Savory Crunchy Gram flour Coils
Makes- about 20 Murkul
Ingredients:
Gram flour/Besan – 3 cups
Cumin seeds – 3 tbsp
Red chilli powder – 1 1/2 tsp
Salt – 2 tsp
Ginger-garlic paste – 2 tbsp
Water – 2/3 cup
Canola oil – to deep fry
Murkul, along with a cup of warm tea on a gloomy autumnal afternoon
Method:
1. Heat oil to deep fry in a kadai.
2. In a mixing bowl, add all the above ingredients and mix thoroughly to form a sticky dough like paste.
3. Fill the murkul press with the prepared dough and press into hot oil forming coils. You will get the hang of it with practice. Deep fry a few murkul at a time in the kadai until browned on both sides. Remove using slotted spoon onto a paper towel lined platter. Repeat until all the dough is used up. Once they are all completely cooled, transfer them to an air-tight container to store. Serve as snack.
Tip: Grease the back of the slotted spoon with oil, and press the dough using the mold into circular ring. To fry the murkul, gently invert the spoon over hot oil so that the murkul drops into the oil in perfect shape.
Luv,
Mona
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October 22nd, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Munh me paani aa gaya…:)
October 23rd, 2009 at 5:01 am
Hi Mona, I too have the same kind of kitchen press. A small tip..Take 1/4 of rice flour and 3/4 of besan and add little warm oil to the flour along with other ingredients and mix well before making it into dough. And you can add little til or ajwain to the dough which gives a good taste and texture to the murukkus or chaklis..
October 23rd, 2009 at 6:58 am
Prepared this crispies for diwali, looks great..
October 23rd, 2009 at 11:46 am
Muruku is a all time favorite snack at tea time..And thats a nice muruku gun. Your muruku looks so crispy with beautiful color.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:26 pm
wow Mona,
mashAllah this is too good 🙂 making murkul at home….I can’t wait to try.Please keep putting up more stuff.I love trying out stuff from your website and there’s so much more I want to try.
Cheers
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:03 pm
My friend’s mom makes good muruku too and I did not know there was a tool for it 🙂
October 25th, 2009 at 12:31 am
Assalamu-alaikum Mona. The murkuls look awesome! I have the same teacups from Ikea 🙂
October 25th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I just love murukkus, but don’t have that machine to make them, so have to buy it from the market. Your murukuls look so lovely :). Enjoy them.
October 25th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
wow lovely murkuls..India ki yaad aagayi…thanks ya..
October 27th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Looks absolutely delicious!
October 28th, 2009 at 2:37 am
Hmmm… I definitely want to make this…
I used to eat something like this before when I visited my Indian friends in Bahrain …
I think they called it “Natai” or “Matai” it’s was made with Gram flour…
& you can buy it but the homemade taste much better…
they sell it as a mix or in bag with so many layer include mung beans …
Do you have recipe for that mona??? 🙂
Zainab, I apologize but I am not aware of the dish you are talking about. Maybe if you tell me the correct name, I can find out inshallah. ~Mona
October 28th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
Hi mona,
My friends call it MATHAI & in arabic it call matai….
it’s so popular in all Bahrain markets…& they said it’s Indian…
I’ll look for a picture of it & send it to you 🙂
Have a good day 🙂
May 28th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Asalam u Alaikum,
Mona Aapi, I was looking for this Murkul Press since long time to make papad(noodle’s look like which called fhurfhur..thats kathiawari people make at home) could you please tell me the name of any toronto base desi store where i can find this press machine. Thanks a lot.
Jazakallah
Ryzwan, I had bought this press from India. Try to look into specialty Indian grocery stores in Toronto. They might have it.
June 28th, 2017 at 12:45 pm
Dear Mona,
I am waiting for you to publish a Hyderabadi cookbook with recipes in English and also youtube cooking videos. May you be showered with barakah and sadaqa jaria ameen.
Much respect,
Asma