Any festival is incomplete without a batch of freshly made Mullu Thenkuzhal. It was an essential Diwali Snack growing up and I am doing the same for my kids to experience the festival.
Diwali is incomplete without at least a couple of savory snack and Mullu Thenkuzhal is one of the essential one in our family. Diwali or not, this murukku is one of the most addictive snack and you just cannot stop with one. With the ease of having all the sweets and snack easily available in stores, we skip on making homemade ones. Store bought snacks just don’t taste the same as homemade ones.
I often find that the store bought snacks have a pungent oil smell and they spoil quickly. To make them last longer, there are unwanted preservatives or ingredients added in them. These traditional snacks made at home have just the basic and healthiest of the ingredients and the taste will prove it all.
My husband is a big sweet lover. He loves the traditional burfis and sweets but in between all the sweets he needs a spicy savory snack. This Mullu Thenkuzhal is perfect for that. I make it often to give as a quick snack for the boys. It is way better than eating the store bought snack bags. I remember having stainless steel jars filled with snacks growing up. My attais are my biggest role model for bakshanam making as they are very regular and always have different varieties when I visited them.
This recipe for mullu murukku is from my husband’s aunt, Lalitha Mami. I love her bakshanam making skills and adore her patience to make different sweets and snacks. Anytime we visit her (In India or here in US, at our cousins place), she will always have an assortment of homemade sweets and savories. She gave me this recipe way back in 2010 and it was one of my oldest post on blog. I have been updating all my recipes with new pictures and better writing skills and this is one such post.
Starting the preparation –
The recipe still remains the same from 10 years back. I have not made one single change to the recipe. This mullu thenkuzhal is made with rice flour and a mixture of moong dal and chana dal flour. I usually start my festival preparations by making all the homemade flours. The most important is the rice flour. Homemade Rice flour also called the Idiyappam flour works the best for all traditional sweets and savories. I use it exclusively for my Athirsam recipe and Thattai recipe.
Here in US, the store bought rice flour works just fine and can be used. Another alternate is the ready made idiyappam flour. But if making a lot of sweets and savories, it is easier to make a batch of fresh homemade rice flour. Next comes the lentil flours. I also make a large batch of the payatham paruppu and kadalai paruppu maavu and store the excess in the freezer.
You could also mix the rice flour with the lentil flours and keep a batch ready in the freezer. Whenever you are in a mood for a crispy fresh murukku, just take the flour mixture out and measure just what you need, say about a cup if making a small quantity and add the rest of the ingredients and make the thenkuzhal.
If you are looking to make more Savory Snacks for this Diwali, check out the recipes below –
Preparation time – 15 mins
Cooking time – 30 mins
Difficulty level – easy
Ingredients to make Mullu Thenkuzhal – (makes around 20 -25 medium murukku)
- Rice flour – 2 ¼ cup
- Moong dal (Payatham Paruppu) – little over ½ a cup
- Channa dal (kadalai Paruppu) – little less than ½ a cup
- Butter – ½ stick or around 4 tblsp
- White sesame seeds (Ellu) – 2 tsp
- Asafetida – ½ tsp
- Chili powder – 1 -2 tsp (Depending on how hot you want it)
- Salt – to taste
- Vegetable oil or sunflower oil – for frying
Procedure to make Mullu Thenkuzhal –
- Fry both the dal separately without adding any oil until it is golden brown.
- Let them cool down to room temperature and then grind them together into smooth powder.
- Sieve the flour, measure and then keep aside. I usually make a big batch of the dal powder and store it in a ziplock bag in the freezer. This way I always have the flour ready whenever I need to make the thenkuzhal.
- For 2 ¼ cup of rice flour, you need 1 cup of the ground dal powder. Measure them in a wide bowl.
- Add the rest of the ingredients; Butter, sesame seed, chili powder, asafetida and salt needed.
- Make a smooth dough adding just enough water needed.
- Place a handful of dough into the thenkuzhal achu. I used the single star shaped hole plate to make my Mullu Thenkuzhal.
- Heat oil in a kadai / pan. Squeeze the thenkuzhal out directly in hot oil. You could also shape the murukku in the back of a ladle and then place it inside the hot oil, but I prefer directly squeezing it in oil.
- Fry the thenkuzhal in the oil in low-medium heat until golden brown.
- Drain it on a paper towel lined tray and once they cool down to room temperature, store them in an airtight container. It can be stored for at least 2-3 weeks.
Mullu Thenkuzhal
Any festival is incomplete without a batch of freshly made Mullu Thenkuzhal. It was an essential Diwali Snack growing up and I am doing the same for my kids to experience the festival.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 25 Murukku
Ingredients
- Rice flour – 2 ¼ cup
- Moong dal Payatham Paruppu – little over ½ a cup
- Channa dal kadalai Paruppu – little less than ½ a cup
- Butter – ½ stick or around 4 tblsp
- White sesame seeds Ellu – 2 tsp
- Asafetida – ½ tsp
- Chili powder – 1 -2 tsp Depending on how hot you want it
- Salt - to taste
- Vegetable oil or sunflower oil – for frying
Instructions
- Fry both the dal separately without adding any oil until it is golden brown.
- Let them cool down to room temperature and then grind them together into smooth powder.
- Sieve the flour, measure and then keep aside. I usually make a big batch of the dal powder and store it in a ziplock bag in the freezer. This way I always have the flour ready whenever I need to make the thenkuzhal.
- For 2 ¼ cup of rice flour, you need 1 cup of the ground dal powder. Measure them in a wide bowl.
- Add the rest of the ingredients; Butter, sesame seed, chili powder, asafetida and salt needed.
- Make a smooth dough adding just enough water needed.
- Place a handful of dough into the thenkuzhal achu. I used the single star shaped hole plate to make my Mullu Thenkuzhal.
- Heat oil in a kadai / pan. Squeeze the thenkuzhal out directly in hot oil. You could also shape the murukku in the back of a ladle and then place it inside the hot oil, but I prefer directly squeezing it in oil.
- Fry the thenkuzhal in the oil in low-medium heat until golden brown.
- Drain it on a paper towel lined tray and once they cool down to room temperature, store them in an airtight container. It can be stored for at least 2-3 weeks.
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Amara Annapaneni says
Those murukus look crunchy and delicious Sandhya. Home made flours gives a better taste to Indian snacks. Love your props…. and presentation.
Rajani says
Your husband sounds like me, I also have a sweet tooth but need a savory one to break the sweetness in between! The murukku looks crispy and delicious and it’s even more special since it’s a family recipe.
Rafeeda - The Big Sweet Tooth says
Just so perfectly made! Passed on recipes are always the best. They are no-fail and can be made any time. And like you mentioned, home made is always the best, thought it involves so much work…
Harini Rupanagudi says
Wow! this one sounds very close to what my mom makes. I should cross check with my mom. You have refreshed so many childhood memories with these murukku.
Usha says
Murukku looks so crunchy and perfectly shaped. I stay away from deep fried food and have very few traditional snacks on my blog. So I chose Diwali snacks for this week and my apartment smelled oily for a day after I made muruku and sev for the theme. But the snacks for so yum and we relished them for a week! I agree, homemade snacks are always better than the store bought ones.
Usha says
Do not know if my previous comment was posted or not. Anyway, murukku looks crunchy and delicious. I agree, homemade snacks taste a lot better store bought ones. I usually stay away from deep fried snacks and have very few traditional snacks on the blog. So this time I chose Diwali snacks for the theme. We relished the snacks for a week though the apartment smelled oil for at least a day after all that deep frying!!
Suma Gandlur says
In my husband’s home, they make these with urad dal flour though they are not the mullu variety. These thenkuzhal make an apt snack for the festive occasion and you have made them perfect.