Murukku


Murukku is a savoury, crunchy snack originating from the Indian subcontinent, popular in southern India, and Sri Lanka. The snack's name derives from the Tamil word for "twisted", which refers to its shape. In India, Murukku is especially popular in the states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh. It is also popular in countries with substantial presence of Indian and Sri Lankan diaspora, including Singapore, Fiji, and Malaysia.
Murukku is typically made from rice flour and urad dal flour. It is sometimes called "chakli" in Karnataka; chakli is a similar dish, typically made with an additional ingredient, bengal gram flour.

Ingredients and preparation

Murukku is typically made from rice and urad dal flour. The flours are mixed with water, salt, chilli powder, asafoetida and either sesame seeds or cumin seeds. The mix is kneaded into a dough, which is shaped into spiral or coil shapes either by hand or extruded using a mould. The spirals are then deep fried in vegetable oil.

Varieties

The dish has many variations, resulting from the types and proportions of flours used. Mullu Muruku has an uneven texture that gives it an extra crunch. 'Mullu' refers to thorns in Tamil and the snack derives its name from this. The Kai Murukku is made by hand using a stiffer dough. Pakoda murukku is another ribbon-shaped variety of the snack. Attayampatti Kai Murukku, a town in Tamil Nadu, is known for its unique variety of murukkus, known as Manapparai murukku. This Manapparai murukku got famous because of Mr. Krishnan Iyer who prepared and sold this first in Manapparai. In 2010, the Tamil Nadu government applied for a geographical indication tag for Manapparai Murukku.
Other varieties include: