Name: Manapparai Murukku recipe by Sandhya Ramakrishnan at BetterButter
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 20
Ingredients: Rice flour – 1 cup; Ullutham maavu (urad dal flour) – 1 tbsp; Sesame seeds – ½ tbsp; Omam / Ajwain – ¼ tsp; Jeeragam / Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp; Butter – 1 tbsp; Salt – to taste; Asafoetida – couple of pinches; Oil – to deep fry; Star nozzle in the murukku press

ABOUT Manapparai Murukku RECIPE

Manapparai is a small town in Tamil Nadu near Tiruchirapalli. This town is very famous for its murukku and dairy. This murukku business was started by Mani Iyer, who sold these murukkus in the railway canteen. It became so famous that it started spreading out. Now there are several shops all over the town who make these murukku and sell in kilograms. There are vendors who claim that no one can achieve this taste which is unique to this town. When questioned he said that it is because of the flavour of the local town water that adds to the uniqueness of the taste.

Instructions

Roast the rice flour for 3 to 4 minutes until slightly warm. The rice flour should not change color. It should just get a little warm.
Roast the ullutham paruppu / urad dal until golden brown. I made a large batch to use for later. For this quantity, it is enough if you just roast 2 tbsp of urad dal.
Let it cool down and then grind it into a smooth powder. Sieve the powder and keep it aside.
In a large bowl, add the rice flour, 1 tbsp of urad dal flour, sesame seeds, cumin seeds, ajwain, asafetida, salt and butter. I pounded the cumin seeds and ajwain a little bit before adding it to the flour.
Using your hands mix all the ingredients well and incorporate the butter evenly.
Now add water slowly and make stiff, but soft dough. Keep it covered until ready to use.
If the dough breaks up when making the murukku, it means the dough is on the drier side. Sprinkle a little bit water to the dough and then try again.
It does take a little bit of practice to get the shape perfect. I succeeded only half way through in getting a decent looking complete circle.
Gently slide the prepared murukku into hot oil and fry until pale brown. I fried about 4 murukkus at one time.
Do not crowd the pan when frying. Now drain the half fried, pale looking murukku in a bowl and repeat the same with the rest of the dough.
Now go back and fry all the half fried murukku in batches again for the second time. This process is what makes the murukku extra crispy. Now fry until they are golden brown and then drain.
Let them cool down completely before storing in an air tight container.

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