Crispy Crunchy Urad Dal Murukku

It is festival time, which means it is time to make delicious snacks at home. In many Indian homes, making snacks on the days leading up to festivals like Diwali, Holi, etc, is a common practice. Keeping with tradition, I also make various snacks, and we enjoy them with family and friends. It is a great way of sharing your happiness and spreading joy. These snacks can be stored and eaten for many days. I have already shared many dry snack recipes, which you can check out here.

Today’s recipe, Urad Dal Murukku, is a slight twist on the traditional urad dal murukku recipe. The traditional method calls for dry roasting urad dal until it releases a lovely aroma, then grinding it to a fine powder. This powder is combined with rice powder and other basic murukku ingredients like spices, sesame seeds, etc., to make a smooth dough. This dough is passed through a murukku press and released into hot oil.

Since dry roasting is a time-consuming process and fine-grinding it at home is also challenging ( it is time-consuming to make super-fine urad dal flour like the way it is done in mills), I sometimes use this alternative method of making Urad Dal Murukku. I would still say that the Urad Dal Murukku made the traditional way tastes better, but this is a close second. The flavour difference is minor, but the time savings are huge!

I have seen Urad Dal flour in some Indian shops in Germany. If you have access to it, please use it and combine it with rice flour in a ratio of 1:4, i.e., for every one part of Urad Dal, use four parts of Rice Flour.

Alternatively, if you can access a mill, get your roasted urad dal ground there. The results will surely be the best. If you still want to make it the traditional way but don’t have access to either of the two options mentioned above, try grinding the roasted dal in a mixer. Pass it through a fine sieve and grind the coarse lentils again. Use the sieved flour for the recipe.

However, the recipe I am sharing today is a twist on the original. It only involves soaking the lentils. Once they are soft after soaking, grind them to a fine paste and combine them with rice flour. Pass the dough through a murukku press and release the strings into hot oil, and you will have crispy Urad Dal murukku ready in under 30 minutes.

Here’s the way to go about it:

Equipment Needed:

• Mixing bowl
• Mixer grinder
• Murukku Press
• Pan for frying

You can learn about all the equipment I use in my Indian Kitchen in Germany here.

Ingredients for Urad Dal Murukku:

• 1 Cup Urad Dal; washed and soaked in water for about four hours
• 4 Cups Rice Powder
• 2 tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Asafoetida
• 5 tbsp Softened butter
• 1 tbsp Red Chilli Flakes
• 3 tbsp Sesame Seeds
• Oil for frying

Notes about Ingredient Sourcing in Germany:

All the ingredients needed for this recipe are easily available in Indian shops. Rice powder (called Reismehl), Salt (called Salz), butter (called Butter) and oil ( in this case, Frittieröl) can be easily sourced for supermarkets in Germany.

Learn about German Supermarket Products here.

Method to make Urad Dal Murukku:

• Discard the excess water from the soaked urad dal.
  
  
  
• Grind it into a fine paste. Use just about the amount of water needed to make a fine, smooth paste. Transfer this paste to a mixing bowl.
  
  
  
• Add rice powder, salt, red chilli flakes, asafoetida, sesame seeds and butter.
  
  
  
• Mix well. You should get a smooth paste. If it feels too firm, add a little bit of water.
  
  
  
• Transfer small portions of this mixture into the murukku press.
  
  
• Release the strings directly into medium-hot oil.
  
  
  
• Fry till they turn golden brown.
  
  

Remove them on a paper towel to remove excess oil. Once they cool, store them in a clean, dry, and airtight jar.

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