Ulundu murukku – Recipe for making murukku with easy store-bought urad dal flour and readymade Idiyappam flour. Try this easy no grinding murukku with lots of tips, pictures and a video.
What is vellai murukku (white color ulundu murukku)?
This Ulundhu murukku is a mild and kids-friendly variety as I did not add any spice like chilli powder or pepper. If you wish you can add a little bit as given in notes.
I prefer this murukku to be plain as I want the original taste of rice and urad dal to dominate.
And of course, the beautiful white color will be achieved only when you don’t use chilli powder. The crisp off-white or ivory hue is the specialty of this vellai ulundu murukku.
Alternates for the chilli powder are roughly crushed peppercorns or green chilli paste as per taste.
How to make a perfect crispy murukku:
Murukku making is an art I would say and it took me a few years to get the knack after my marriage.
What will you call the perfect chakkli or murukku? A crispy one which is neither hard nor chewy, not too soft, not oily and with perfect color.
To tick all these attributes, there are a few tricks and tips you need to definitely keep in mind. Follow these steps and you will get the best murukku every single time.
The combination can vary like rice flour with urad flour, gram flour, moong flour or fried gram flour. Whatever the mix is if you follow these tips you will a crispy murukku every time.
Tips: To get crispy & perfect murukku
Problems & solutions:
- Hard murukku
- There is very less fat content(or you did not add hot oil) in maavu. Use extra tsp of hot oil or butter.
- Oil is not hot enough while frying. The dough should come up instantly. Wait for the oil to become hot before every batch(test with a small piece).
- Murukku dough breaks while pressing – Maavu is dry or thick(less water in dough). Sprinkle some water, knead again and press.
- Murukku disintegrates inside oil – More water in dough(sticky/loose dough). Add some rice flour, knead and press.
- Murukku is very soft (not crispy) – Too much fat content in the dough. Add some more flour(increase dough quantity) & water, knead and press again.
- Murukku drinks oil
- Oil is not hot enough while frying. Check with a small piece before each batch.
- Sticky dough – add some flour, knead and press again.
- Dark Murukku – Oil is overheated. Reduce the flame, wait, check with a small piece and do again.
Try these: Ribbon pakoda and Pottukadalai murukku.
Homemade flour vs store-bought flour:
You can use either homemade rice flour or store-bought idiyappam flour. But store-bought dry rice flour won’t work out. Because store-bought rice flour will be totally dry and not for the murukku. Idiyappam flour works well for murukku as it has the right softness and moisture. I used store-bought idiyappam flour.
To make homemade rice flour:
- Rinse raw rice 2 to 3 times thoroughly with lots of water.
- Soak for 2 hours.
- Drain water and dry the rice by spreading on clean cotton cloth in shade.
- Do not allow the rice to dry completely. When the rice still has little moisture in it, collect and grind using a mixer(in batches) or mill machine.
- Store this homemade rice flour for making murukku, idiyappam, dosa and kozhukattais.
Similarly, for urad flour, you can use homemade or store-bought. I use store-bought (Lakshmi brand) and it is perfectly done.
To make homemade urad flour:
Dry roast the whole white urad dal in a pan for five minutes in low heat.
Do not allow to change its color. Cooldown and grind in batches using a mixer grinder. Sieve the flour and use.
Watch the video here and please subscribe if you like to see more recipe videos from my channel 🙂
Ulundu murukku | Easy urad flour murukku
Equipment
- Murukku press
- Deep fry pan
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 2 cups homemade Rice flour Store-bought Idiyappa flour works best
- ½ cup Urad dal flour homemade sieved or store-bought
- 1 tbsp Sesame seeds
- ½ tsp Cumin seeds
- ¼ tsp Asafoetida
- 1 ½ tsp salt as per taste
- 4 tbsp smoky Hot oil
- 1 cup water approx.
- Oil to deep fry
Instructions
Preparation:
- Measure and keep the ingredients ready.
- Start heating oil in a deep pan to fry murukkus. I use groundnut oil for most of my deep-frying snacks.
- If you use homemade flours sieve before use.
Recipe:
- In a large mixing bowl, add two cups of rice flour (idiyappam flour).
- Next, add 1/2 cup of urad dal flour.
- Add 1 tbsp of sesame seeds and 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds.
- Put a 1/4 tsp of asafoetida for digestion and 1.5 tsp salt for taste.
- If you wish to add spice you can add 1/2 tsp of chilli powder or green chilli paste. I didn't add as I preferred white murukku.
- By this time the oil will be hot on the pan. From the pan add 3 tbsp of very hot oil. This is an important step. The oil should be sizzling hot when added into the flour mix. Add only the mentioned quantity for this amount of flour.
- Too much fat in the dough will make very soft murukku and too little fat will give very hard murukku. See the detailed tips above in the story.
- Now add water gradually and start mixing. Approximately one cup to 1.5 cups of water may be needed.
- The dough should be soft but not sticky. The maavu which is rough or dry will break while pressing through murukku maker.
- Use three slotted plate and apply oil to grease the inside of the press.
- Fill the cylinder with a handful of dough and press directly into the hot oil.
- Or you can make it on the back of the flat ladles or spatulas like this.
- Check the temperature of the oil and drop the murukkus carefully. You can check with a small bit of dough. It should raise instantly with a sizzling sound.
- Fry in batches. Beginners see the tips in top of the story.
- When bottom sides are done flip the sides and fry the other side of the murukku.
- Remember we are doing the white color murukku so don't wait for the color change. If it changes in color means you are over frying it.
- Remove the murukkus from the oil when the sizzling sound stops. It takes around a min for each one totally.
- Before doing the next batch wait for the oil to become hot again, check with bit dough then follow the same procedure.
Video
Notes
1) See the above story in the post for general murukku making tips.
2) For this ulundu murukku use only mentioned quantity of urad flour for two cups rice flour. Extra urad may make the murukku brittle in the oil.
3) You can use Ajwain seeds in place of cumin seeds. Ajwain seeds are more aromatic than cumin.
4) If you want spice in vellai murukku you can use a tsp of green chilli paste or crush pepper. These won't change the color but will give some spice to white urad murukku.
Nutrition
Preparation:
- Measure and keep the ingredients ready. In the below pic there is no salt and hot oil.
- Start heating oil in a deep pan to fry murukkus. I use groundnut oil for most of my deep-frying snacks.
- If you use homemade flours sieve before use.
Recipe:
- In a large mixing bowl, add two cups of rice flour (idiyappam flour). Next, add 1/2 cup of urad dal flour with 1 tbsp of sesame seeds and 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds. Put a 1/4 tsp of asafoetida for digestion and 1.5 tsp salt for taste.
- If you wish to add spice you can add 1/2 tsp of chilli powder or green chilli paste. I didn’t add as I preferred white murukku.
- By this time the oil will be hot on the pan. From the pan add 3 tbsp of very hot oil. This is an important step. The oil should be sizzling hot when added into the flour mix. Add only the mentioned quantity for this amount of flour.
- Too much fat in the dough will make very soft murukku and too little fat will give very hard murukku. See the detailed tips above in the story.
- Now add water gradually and start mixing. Approximately one cup to 1.5 cups of water may be needed.
- The dough should be soft but not sticky. The maavu which is rough or dry will break while pressing through murukku maker.
How to fry ulundu murukku:
- Use a three-holed murukku plate and apply oil to grease the inside of the press.
- Fill the cylinder with a handful of dough and press directly into the hot oil.
- Or you can make it on the back of the flat ladles or spatulas like this.
- Check the temperature of the oil and drop the murukkus carefully. You can check with a small bit of dough. It should raise instantly with a sizzling sound.
- Fry in batches. Beginners see the detailed tips in the story above.
- When the bottom sides are done flip the sides and fry the other side of the murukku.
- Remember we are doing the white color murukku so don’t wait for the color change. If it changes in color means you are over frying it.
- Remove the murukkus from the oil when the sizzling sound stops. It takes around a min for each one totally.
- Before doing the next batch wait for the oil to become hot again, check with bit dough then follow the same procedure.
Tips:
1) See the above story in the post for general murukku making tips.
2) For this ulundu murukku use only the mentioned quantity of urad flour for two cups rice flour. Extra urad may make the murukku brittle in the oil.
3) You can use Ajwain seeds in place of cumin seeds. Ajwain seeds are more aromatic than cumin.
4) If you want spice in vellai ulundu murukku you can use a tsp of green chilli paste or crush pepper. These won’t change the color but will give some spice to white urad murukku.
Great tips👍👍