Pottukadalai murukku is one of the easiest murukku recipes. This is my long time wish to try. Full video, step by step pictures post.
When I was a kid, if we get to taste some store bought murukku, it will be having an unique flavor, which we don’t get in the thenkuzhal murukku we make usually with urad dal and rice flour. My mom used to say it is made with pottukadalai in place of urad dal.
Later we used to try pottukadalai murukku at home. But always ended up in oil drunken soft murukkus. The mistake we did was adding too much of pottukadalai flour.
So after many years, with some knowledge that we need less flour along with the rice flour more in ratio, I saw a recipe in my cookbook mom gave. But it involved wet grinding of the flour.
I am yet to try that version but this instant version is really easy to adapt as we can buy store bought rice flour and just powder the pottukadalai we have at home and make this murukku anytime.
This can be made so easily in a jiffy, I tried with less amount, you can make the same for this Diwali as snack. Everyone gonna love this one!
What is pottukadalai?
Pottukadalai is an easily available ingredients in south Indian households. We use pottukadalai (Tamil term) it for chutneys mostly. It looks same like chana, but just that it will be bigger, pale and light weight.
Pottukadalai called roasted gram or fried gram in English commonly in India. Some people also call it roasted chana dal. Pottukadalai is also known as odacha kadalai in Tamil.
Want to understand more what is pottukadalai? It is prepared from Brown chana (Brown chickpeas). It undergoes process of roasting, peeling and splitting the chana.
But it will not be the same if you dry roast chana dal at home. It’s light texture is achieved only by factory roasting. It’s great to have it as snack as such because of the roasting process.
Pottukadalai is very nutritious just like chana. So it is widely used in households in Tamil Nadu, even for kids.
Ingredients
You can use either homemade pottukadalai flour or even store bought ones. Same goes for rice flour. Make sure both are really fine and good quality. If it is coarse, it will break or even turn hard.
Murukku press
I made this murukku with the press my MIL bought me in Kumbakonam Kumbeswarar temple street shops. She got one murukku press last year for herself and loved it, so she wanted to buy me as well.
You can buy yourself one in such temple street shops. When you visit, you can look for it.
It can also be found in south Indian vessels shop or bought online in Amazon. There are different types, like traditional press, gun model, even screw model. I have screw model as well.
When you buy which ever you decide, make sure to check the murukku mold’s plates. Check if they have this disk and if it fits well too.
It is small comparatively and even the plates have tiny holes than the regular ones. She loves tiny things and so do I. The murukkus made with tiny holes plated press is more whiter in color, more crispier as it gets fried easily in the hot oil.
Try yourself to see the difference!
Top tips
- While flipping the murukku in hot oil, be gentle and careful otherwise hot oil will spill.
- Oil should always be hot when you drop the murukkus, otherwise murukku will drink oil and be oily.
- After dropping the murukku, cook the murukku in medium flame to ensure even cooking and golden colour murukkus.
- You can replace ajwain with white sesame or jeera, but I like ajwain the best.
- DO NOT add more oil in dough than required, otherwise the murukku will disintegrate in oil.
- If murukku breaks while you press, then sprinkle little more water to make it smoother dough.
- Keep the dough always covered to avoid drying.
- Also. if doing in large quantity, I suggest you to do in smaller batches, otherwise if you make dough bulk and let it sit, the last murukkus will turn red.
- Make sure you keep enough oil to fry the murukkus, otherwise, it will get burnt at the bottom of the murukku.
- Top up oil if needed when doing in large batches. But wait for oil to get hot again.
Recipe card
Pottukadalai murukku
Ingredients
- Rice flour – 1 & ¼ cup I used store bought
- Pottukadalai powder – ¼ cup
- Ajwain/ omam – 1 tsp
- Asafoetida – 1 generous pinch
- Hot oil – 1 tbsp
Instructions
- First powder the pottukadalai in a mixie and sieve it(not shown in picture). You can powder more than needed and store for future use.
- Heat required oil in a kadai. Mean while you can make the dough. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, mix well. Add hot oil from the kadai and mix well. Add water gradually and carefully to make a smooth dough.
- I used the regular 3 eyed thenkuzhal plate for this, you can use the star shaped ones too.
- Fill the press ¾th with the dough and squeeze it either directly over the hot oil or over few greased ladles and then carefully flip to the oil.
- I did the later as I cant handle the heat when we squeeze over the hot oil as steam will be too hot.
- Also squeezing in ladle then transferring aids good shape. I always do this from the beginning which I learnt from my MIL.
- Make sure oil is hot enough by checking dropping a small piece of dough, it should come up immediately.
- I fried 3 at a time. Cook both sides until golden in color in medium flame. Shh sound should cease and bubbles should be reduced.
- Drain in paper towel and cool down before transferring to the airtight container.
Video
Notes
- While flipping the murukku in hot oil, be gentle and careful otherwise hot oil will spill.
- Oil should always be hot when you drop the murukkus, otherwise murukku will drink oil and be oily.
- After dropping the murukku, cook the murukku in medium flame to ensure even cooking and golden colour murukkus.
- You can replace ajwain with white sesame or jeera, but I like ajwain the best.
- DO NOT add more oil in dough than required, otherwise the murukku will disintegrate in oil.
- If murukku breaks while you press, then sprinkle little more water to make it smoother dough.
- Keep the dough always covered to avoid drying. Also if doing in large quantity,
- I suggest you to do in smaller batches, otherwise if you make dough bulk and let it sit, the last murukkus will turn red.
- Make sure you keep enough oil to fry the murukkus, otherwise, it will get burnt at the bottom of the murukku.
- Top up oil if needed when doing in large batches. But wait for oil to get hot again.
Stepwise photos
1. First powder the pottukadali in a mixie and sieve it (not shown in picture). Sieving is IMPORTANT as otherwise it might break or even affect texture. You can powder more quantity than needed and store for future use.
2. Heat required oil in a kadai. Mean while you can make the dough. Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, mix well. Add hot oil from the kadai and mix well. Add water gradually and carefully to make a smooth dough.
3. I used the regular 3 eyed thenkuzhal plate for this, you can use the star shaped ones too.
Fill the press ¾th with the dough and squeeze it either directly over the hot oil or over few greased ladles and then carefully flip to the oil. I did the later as I cant handle the heat when we squeeze over the hot oil as steam will be too hot.
Also squeezing in ladle then transferring aids good shape. I always do this from the beginning which I learnt from my MIL. Make sure oil is hot enough by checking dropping a small piece of dough, it should come up immediately.
4. I fried 3 at a time. Cook both sides until golden in colour in medium flame. Shh sound should cease and bubbles should be reduced.
5. Drain in paper towel and cool down before transferring to the airtight container.
Enjoy these crispiest murukkus as snack along the coffee/ tea, the unique flavor of ajwain goes well with the pottukadalai murukku!
i can feel how crispy it is .mouth watering
yummy murukku…we also make with wet grinding rice flour… but yours sounds good….
Only today i thought of this and u posted it thanks.
Super tempting murukku, very crispy too. Love the muruku uzhakku.
Please inform the procedure for rice flour; whether it is the store bought one or the one which is made by soaking the rice at home
Store bought works fine.
tried this murukku..added litlle red chilly powder and jeeragam…very nice..thank you
A perfect snack for a perfect evening
Wonderful easy method..tried so many but this is the best.
Thanks a lot
Yummy…Please inform the procedure for rice flour home made…
Love the clicks very much, murukku looks very tempting too!
is it mandatory to sieve the pottu kadalai flour
Yes yes
Tried out the murukku.Came out well.Thank you.
Looks lovely, I am planning to try this recipe. Water is hot or cold ?
Plain, room temperature
Looks tasty!
is it raw rice flour or pulungu arisi flour
Raw rice flour.
Excellent Raks…… i have never made so tasty muruku ever in my life…. Thanks alot dear!!!!
very tasty murukku,tried 2 times in last 2 months, everyone liked it,thanks for the easy recipe
very tasty murukku,tried 2 times in 3 months, excellent texture, very easy with rice flour too.thanks for the recipe
Hi, Tried the recipe but my muruku is little harder when we eat.What wrong it would be?
If you take out the murukku before it is fully done, it turns harder. Make sure its cooked well. Cook in medium flame for long time to ensure its cooked well.
Hi raks… Can I use butter instead of hot oil
Hi raks… Can I use butter instead of hot oil..if possible tell the quantity
Sure, same softened butter one tbsp
Hi Raks .. thanks a Lot.. it came out real well for me but one doubt i always have is about the salt quantity. Some people felt the salt was a pinch more in the murukku I did.. so any tips on that ..
I tasted the maavu powder after adding Salt and roughly added salt.
Thanks for sharing clear and concrete information , step by step to help anyone and God Bless for this Good quality of yours..
Regards
Gayathri
Yes you can make the salt taste little less before frying, then may be after frying it will taste right.
Hi Raks, I cook very rarely and thought of making something special for Diwali and tried these murukkus – it came out really well. Thank you for the recipe.
Just a suggestion, while writing recipes can you also include the amount of salt that you use? While I understand that salt used may differ but for a novice like me figuring out whether I need to use a pinch o salt or a spoon of salt itself is difficult.. 🙂 🙂
Hi Raks, tried the murukku today. It tasted good, but did not hold shape…. it was more like omapudi, what could have gone wrong?
Hi Raks, tried this murukku today, the taste was good, but did not hold its shape….. came out more like omapudi :(…….. What could have gone wrong?
Hi Raks, tried this murukku today, the taste was good, but did not hold its shape….. came out more like omapudi :(…….. What could have gone wrong?
Haha, I tried to add salt quantity for beginners, but got severe negative reactions from readers so stopped 😀
I tried this for Diwali. Everyone liked it and was praising about the crispness and taste of the murukku.My hubby's clients also liked it very much.Thanks for recipe.
Great recipe ! Tried it, tweeted a little bit with ingredients like, cumin seeds and sesame seeds….
Wet grinding gives better result than readymade flour.
Madam. I need your help.. Your press is nice n small so where I can get this?
I got these in Kumbakonam
Happy Diwali to you and your family! Your blog has become a holy cooking book for me 🙂 I have tried several recipes from here and they have never failed. thanks a load for such detailed recipes. God bless you!
tried this murukku today..came out so well…but its hard to pilunjify d dough for me..wats reason??? anyway murukku turned out awesome for me??wats the ri8 consistncy of d dough?? will u tell that
Hi raks, love all recipes of urs. It is always i feel hard to press the murukku achu.. Any tips to overcome the difficulty?
Hi Raks,
I am usually very wary of fried stuffs. But tried this one and everyone loved it. Thanks for the beautiful recipe
I have tried your adhirasam,murrku,now i became expert in this two,thank ,i got the best compliments for your recipes
This is the first time I have tried something for Diwali. It turned out very well. My husband liked it and my 1.5 yr old son is enjoying iit.I still remember, when my mom was alive she used to do this for me. Thank you so much for making my day 🙂
Hi raks, please post that wet grinding method. I lost that recipe.
Here it is https://www.rakskitchen.net/2015/10/puzhungal-arisi-murukku-recipe-diwali.html
Hi, do we have to use plain rice flour or idiyappam flour if we buy? Is processed rice flour better than the raw one?
Hi, I find idiyappam flour yield better results. Here in singapore, other rice flours are very coarse, but the idiyappam flour brand I buy is very fine and gives smooth results. I still have to find out if it is because of the texture or if because of the processing.
Hi Raks,
Thank you for sharing this lovely recipe. Would like to try this week. Could you please let me know the amount of salt needed for this recipe in teaspoons or grams? I am not experienced in adding salt according to the ratio or proportion of the flour or ingredients? It would be helpful. Thanks!
Hi, It is very hard to mention the salt quantity as each salt brand has different salinity 🙂 For this recipe, you can try adding 3/4 tsp approximately, since you are asking.
Hi, tried this recipe today, it tasted great but cudnt squeeze to murukku shape,it kept breaking, not sure what went wrong …
Murukku breaks when there is not enough water or if the rice flour or pottu kadalai flour is coarse. If you add more water and try and could not fix, then its because of coarse flour only it breaks. Hope this helps you next time.
Tried this murukku fr this diwali and its a super hit…perfect measurements thanks a lot dear 🙂
Yay, thanks a lot 🙂
Excellent measurements, very crisp ,tastes really good.
Only mine were darker did not get your pale creamy colour.
Thank you for your feedback 🙂 Darker colour could be of two reasons. One, Oil temperature too high. Two, rice flour quality. Try using idiyappam flour, it gives whiter murukku.