Diwali and Janmaashtami are two major festivals where many variety of snacks are prepared esp for Diwali, the more the better .There are many combinations and ratios of flours used such as besan/chickpea flour, udada dal flour , rice flour and fried gram flour beiing major flours used, so one can make a variety of crunchy snacks using the different shape of the murukku plate and give a new take .

Many times I use a standard home made blend of murukku flour and use different flavours and so make a good variety of thengoyal or murukku / chakli .

For flavours I use coconut milk , spices, sesame seeds, cumin , chili flakes, green chili paste and so on . Do not use too many flavours in a single recipe .

Ingredients

For the Thengoyal ( smooth coils and mullu muruku ..same ingredients )

4 cups rice flour ( store brand will do )

1 cup udad dal flour also store brand, or prepare your own by roasting udad dal till golden colur , cool and grind to a smooth powder, sieve this powder two times .

1 tsp cumin seeds or ajwain seeds/ carom

1 tsp white sesame seeds

pinch of asafoetida powder

salt as needed

2 tbsp melted butter or hot oil ( i always use hot oil ) but butter gives a great taste .

oil for deep frying .

Method

• First mix all flours , ingredients with fingers, crumble dry mixture well after adding oil or butter, then add little by littlewater , to make a smooth soft dough .

• Keep oil for heating , dont allow it to smoke, juts enough to sizzle a small test pinch of dough dropped in oil , should bring it up sizzling .

• Grease the inside of chakli tengoyal press, drop a ball of dough, press directly into hot oil, or squeeze into circles or any shape you like, on greased spatulas, about 4-5 spatulas. it is easier this way drop the tengoyal into oil by tipping the spatula above oil, this way your hand doesnt get heated or burnt while dropping the tengoyal into oil, much safer too and quicker.

• Now reduce flame to medium to low, as the tengoyal will get browned quickly without getting cooked inside, also keep turning them around in hot oil, fliping them, to prevent dark colour .

• Drain on paper towels or on a sieve.

• Store when cooled .

tips..many of you may be aware..

• dont make a big batch of dough.

• mix dry flours in bulk, but make small portions of wet dough one at a time, wait til you finish one batch, then prepare a fresh dough/ as the tengoyal dough once prepared has to be used up quickly..

• usually i measure two cups of mixed flours and make a dough out of that, use it up, then start the next one ..if you are using bigger kadai, lots of oil, then make bigger batches but dont allow wet dough to sit on counter for long .

  recipe for the mullu murukku.

  Remember i mentioned different taste ?...read on ....same flour ingredients etc but coconut flavor has been added .and use star shape plate .

use the same flour mixture, but use thin coconut milk to make the dough,to make most yummy thenga paal muruku or coconut milk muruku.. use the star shape plate of the murukku maker, squeeze on to greased spatula into small circles, drop into oil ...

tips..

Dont use too thick coconut milk..also the quantity of coconut milk required will depend on the quantity of dough you are preparing ..

If you dont have fresh coconut milk , use coconut milk powder, add to water, mix well, use it to make dough ,

If you dont have coconut milk also ..then here is a handy hack ..

Take some thin milk, add two or three tsp of coconut oil, use this water milk, coconut oil mixture to make the muruku dough....will taste awesome ..no one wil guess!!..again quantity of this mixture needed wil depend on the quantity of dough you are going to make ...remember to make smooth firm dough, not very tight, not too sticky.

( infact i made the above mullu muruku using this hack..as i had no fresh coconut milk, or coconut milk powder...)

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