In a wide bowl, add the rice flour, urad dal flour, 1 tbsp of coconut oil, sesame seeds, salt, and asafoetida. Mix well, and the flour should be more like coarse cornmeal.
Now add coconut milk little by little and make a soft and smooth dough. I used about ¼ cup + 2 tbsp of coconut milk. Make sure the dough is not too hard. It becomes hard to press, and also, the murukku breaks if it is too hard. If it’s too soft with more moisture, you need to bake it for a longer time. The coconut milk quantity entirely depends upon the quality of the flour used. So add little by little as required.
Now preheat the oven to 375 deg F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or aluminum foil. I used the star-shaped mold for this murukku.
You can use your preferred mold. Grease the murukku press with oil. Then add the dough in the murukku press. I was able to add the entire dough into the press.
Slowly press the murukku in the baking tray lined with parchment paper. As you can see from other murukku pictures, I pressed the murukku in different sizes. :-) You can very well learn pressing the murukku when you bake it. There is no hot oil, and if you are not getting proper round-shaped murukku, you can mix it and add it back into press and practice. If the dough gets dry, sprinkle some water and mix again.
Brush the murukku with coconut oil and bake the murukku in the preheated oven for 8 minutes. After 8 minutes, the murukku will be all dry, and it is moving freely.
Now carefully lift the murukku and flip it. Use a spatula and flip it.
Brush the other side of the murukku will coconut oil and bake again for 8 minutes.
After 8 minutes, turn off the oven and let the murukku sit in the oven for 5 minutes. The total baking time is 16 minutes, and I let it sit in the residual heat for five more minutes. Every oven is different. The baking time for this murukku is 16 to 18 minutes. Let the murukku cool completely for one hour and relish it.
Notes
If you keep the rice flour in the refrigerator, you can slightly roast the rice flour for a couple of minutes.
I used light coconut milk. If you are using full-fat, use ¼ cup of coconut milk and add 2 tbsp of water. Or dilute the thick coconut milk with water.
Do not add all the coconut milk at once. Add little by little and knead the dough.
Adjust the salt according to your preference. You can add ½ tsp of red chili powder too, but the color will be different.
Skip hing to make it a gluten-free murukku or add gluten-free hing.
Make sure the dough is not too stiff and not too soft.
Every oven is different. The baking time for this murukku is 16 to 18 minutes. Keep an eye on the murukku after 15~16 minutes and check for the doneness. Letting it sit in the oven after turning off the heat makes it more crispy.
With the leftover batter, you can make thattai or ring murukku like how I did. For ring murukku, I had to bake it for 20 minutes.
Store it in an air-tight container, and it stays crispy for 10 days.