Thenkuzhal Murukku

Thenkuzhal or Thenguzhal is one of the varieties of murukku. Murukku is a Tamil word which means twisted. Murukku got this name of because it’s twisted shape. There are different varieties of murukku like mullu murukku, kai murukku, coconut milk murukku, manapaarai murukku etc. Thenkuzhal is a light and crispy murukku prepared with rice flour and urad dal flour and the main thing is, this murukku is white it color when compared to the other ones which are brown and golden brown. No chilly powder is required for this murukku.

It’s interesting that I haven’t posted any fried recipe so far. But don’t worry. I have two more fried recipes coming up.
This is my mother in laws recipe. This Thenguzhal of hers is very popular in my friends circle in US. Whenever she is here our friends will ask her to prepare this for sure. Traditionally it is prepared with homemade rice flour. But again to make the process simple, she tried with store-bought rice flour and homemade urad dal flour. Vaandu loves it a lot and so obviously I had to learn it from her.

I always go with her exact proportions for the flour. Basically for 1 cup of rice flour we use 2 tbsps of urad dal flour. Adding butter helps to get crispy murukkus. But if you add more the murukku might fall apart while pressing. Coconut oil adds additional flavor to this murukku. Some fry in coconut oil itself. I usually fry it with sun flower oil. In order to get white color murukku, care should be taken while roasting the urad dal. It should light golden brown. As I mentioned in my Sevai post yesterday, I lost a couple of my molds during our house shift. This murukku is prepared with one hole plain mold. But I lost that too. So went with three holes star-shaped ones. Errr.. This is mullu Thenguzhal. ;-) ;-)

Ingredients:

• Rice flour – 2 cups
• Urad dal flour – 4 tbsps
• Salt – 2 tsps
• Coconut Oil – 2 tsps
• White Sesame Seeds (optional) – 2 tsps
• Cumin seeds – 2 tsps
• Hing – 1 tsp
• Butter (at room temperature) – around 1 oz approx. (1.5 tbsps melted)
  • (We get 8oz butter sticks here and the wrapper has the marks for every one oz. So it was easy for me to cut.)
• Oil – for frying + greasing the press
• Water – 1/2 cup or as required.

Steps:
Preparing Urad Dal Flour:

• Dry roast 1 cup of urad dal till they turn light golden brown and let it cool. Then dry grind them into a fine powder. This roasted urad dhal powder is required for murukku, thattai and also for seedai.

Method:

• Mix the rice flour, urad dal flour, jeera, hing, cumin seeds, white sesame seeds, salt, coconut oil and butter together without any lumps.

• Sprinkle the half cup of water on needed basis and knead the dough.
• It should not stick to the vessel and knead the dough into a big ball.

• Meanwhile heat the oil for frying. Once the oil is hot turn it to medium heat.
• Grease the mold and the press with oil.
• Take a sufficient quantity of dough or a handful and insert into the press.
• I directly pressed it into the oil. You can also press the murukku in an oil greased banana leaf or Ziploc and drop into oil.
• After after 30 seconds slowly flip it. Deep fry the murukku till it turns crisps or golden brown. The right time to take it out is when the oil bubble sound stops. (In Tamil we say, ennai osai adangum varai)

• Remove the murukku from oil and place in the paper towel to remove the excess oil.
• Proceed like above for the remaining dough.

Notes:

• You can add daliya powder / pottukadalai podi for crispier murukku.
• Too much of urad dal powder might change the color.
• While frying the murukku, make sure the heat is in medium or medium low.

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Thenkuzhal Murukku

Thenkuzhal is a light and crispy murukku prepared with rice flour and urad dal flour and the main thing is, this murukku is white it color when compared to the other ones which are brown and golden brown. No chilly powder is required for this murukku.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time40 mins

Total Time55 mins

Course: Snack

Cuisine: TamilNadu

Keyword: Thenkuzhal Murukku

Servings: 4

Author: Srividhya G

Ingredients

• Rice flour – 2 cups
• Urad dal flour – 4 tbsps
• Salt – 2 tsps
• Coconut Oil – 2 tsps
• White Sesame Seeds optional – 2 tsps
• Cumin seeds – 2 tsps
• Hing – 1 tsp
• Butter at room temperature – around 1 oz approx. (2 tbsps melted)
• We get 8oz butter sticks here and the wrapper has the marks for every one oz. So it was easy for me to cut.
• Oil – for frying + greasing the press
• Water – 1/2 cup or as required.

Instructions

Preparing Urad Dal Flour

• Dry roast 1 cup of urad dal till they turn light golden brown and let it cool. Then dry grind them into a fine powder. This roasted urad dhal powder is required for murukku, thattai and also for seedai.
• Method
• Mix the rice flour, urad dal flour, jeera, hing, cumin seeds, white sesame seeds, salt, coconut oil and butter together without any lumps.
• Sprinkle the half cup of water on needed basis and knead the dough.
• It should not stick to the vessel and knead the dough into a big ball.
• Meanwhile heat the oil for frying. Once the oil is hot turn it to medium heat.
• Grease the mold and the press with oil.
• Take a sufficient quantity of dough or a handful and insert into the press.
• I directly pressed it into the oil. You can also press the murukku in an oil greased banana leaf or Ziploc and drop into oil.
• After after 30 seconds slowly flip it. Deep fry the murukku till it turns crisps or golden brown. The right time to take it out is when the oil bubble sound stops. (In Tamil we say, ennai osai adangum varai)
• Remove the murukku from oil and place in the paper towel to remove the excess oil.
• Proceed like above for the remaining dough.

Notes

You can add daliya powder / pottukadalai podi for crispier murukku.
Too much of urad dal powder might change the color.
While frying the murukku, make sure the heat is in medium or medium low.

I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.

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