Thenkuzhal recipe – Thenkuzhal murukku preparation with step by step photo, video. The authentic recipe, made in bulk for Diwali and gokulashtami festivals.
Thenkuzhal murukku will be the main diwali snack in our households. My mom as well as MIL both make this in large numbers and store in large tins. It is very flavourful and crisp snack. I still remember my childhood days, when my mom makes this one week before diwali. From that time the festive mood will start. We just call it thengozhal, murukku is just a keyword here😁
As kids, which part excites us more is while making this murukku, the last batch my mom takes out when it is half-done. That murukku will be so white and soft. Though she will give only one each that way, we love it very much and wait when my mom will finish making murukku and make this ‘aravekkaadu murukku’ – which means half cooked murukkus 😋.
Even my MIL does the same and now too Vj loves it, so I make sure I reserve one for him and one for myself. Unlike Kai murukku, we don’t roast urad dal that golden. We will always do it very slightly for this thenkuzhal. The recipe is more common. All of us do the same way. But here is my recipe anyways.
Before jumping into the recipe, some commonly asked questions.
Coarse flour, not enough water, too much fat content.
Main reason murukku breaks while squeezing or in oil is because the rice flour (or sometimes, urad dal flour) is too coarse. Make sure to use fine rice flour. Also don’t forget to sieve your flours, especially urad dal flour if you are making at home.
If it’s not enough water, you can know it as it will be hard to squeeze, so add little more water. to bind together.
If you think you have added too much butter or oil to the dough, sprinkle little more flour.
Colour of murukku mainly depends on the rice variety we use. I use idiyappam flour and it gives best white murukku. You can use a good quality raw rice if you want to prepare homemade rice flour.
Using butter also gives whitish murukku than ghee.
Do not roast the flour/ urad dal until it changes colour. Just heating it until dry is fine (if roasting)
If it is not cooked properly inside, the next day, murukku turns hard. So make sure to cook thoroughly. Cook for longer time in medium to low flame, towards the end gives crispy result.
Too much oil or butter and not enough water content in the dough.
Thenkuzhal recipe – Thenkuzhal murukku
Ingredients
- Rice flour/ Idiyappam flour – 2 cups
- Urad dal flour – ¼ cup
- Butter + Oil – 3 tbsp
- Asafoetida – ¼ tsp
- Cumin seeds or sesame seeds – 1 & ½ tsp
- Salt and water – As needed
- Oil – For deep frying
Instructions
- First, mix rice flour, urad al flour, butter (melted),oil, asafoetida, cumin seeds, salt well and then add water to make a non sticky dough with no cracks.
- Heat oil in kadai side by side, enough to deep fry the murukkus. Fill the murukku press with this dough with murukku hole plate.
- I always grease some ladles and make murukku first in that then drop them in oil. This way we can make decent shapes also our hands wont feel the heat.
- Test if the oil is hot by adding a very tiny pinch of dough to oil. invert the murukku in the ladle gently to oil.
- Deep fry in medium flame.
- Cook both sides till the ‘Shhh’ sound ceases and murukku turn golden in colour.
- Drain in paper towel and cool down completely before storing them in airtight containers.
Video
Notes
- Make sure you keep the dough covered throughout to avoid drying of the dough.
- Even if you want to make in large numbers, do it in batches.
- If you make more dough and keep for while you make murukku, the last batches tend to get fried in deep golden colour,so colour may be different.
- Make sure the rice flour you use is fine in texture. Otherwise the murukku will break. Even if the urad dal powder is coarse, the murukku will break.
- For this murukku my mom says its not necessary to fry urad dal / urad dal flour. They just give rice and urad dal to the mill and get it ground and make murukku. So if you get ready-made urad dal flour at stores, you can use it as such too. I used store bought urad dal flour.
- If you add more urad dal powder, then colour will vary. Also takes long time to cook and crispiness also reduces. But only if you add very much more than the mentioned ratio. Approximation works.
- Butter give whiter colour and crisp texture(mom&MIL says so)
- Make sure you deep fry in enough oil,otherwise the murukku,if touches the bottom of the pan will lead to uneven browning.
- After few batches, you may want to top up more oil for frying, as it gets absorbed.
How to make thenkuzhal murukku method:
- First, mix rice flour, urad al flour, butter (melted),oil, asafoetida, jeera,salt well and then add water to make a non sticky dough with no cracks.
- Heat oil in kadai side by side, enough to deep fry the murukkus. Fill the murukku press with this dough with murukku hole plate. I always grease some ladles and make murukku first in that then drop them in oil. This way we can make decent shapes also our hands wont feel the heat. Deep fry in medium flame.
- Cook both sides till the ‘Shhh’ sound ceases and murukku turn golden in colour. Drain in paper towel and cool down completely before storing them in airtight containers.
This will be tasting great for weeks, you can enjoy for so many days when stored in airtight containers. The middle inside of the murukku has hole,which makes it light and crispy. Maybe that’s why they named as thenKHUZHAL ?
Makes me nostalgic. Love the aravekkadu murukku. All these days thought I was the one to keep loving it. Nice clicks Raji.
I made this 2 days back still craving for some..looks so good. Feel like grabbing it from the screen…crispy and perfect
looks perfect raji…
i remember my childhood days my mom makes this every fortnight and we all love the bothe half cooked and crispy murukkus. nicely done and clicked.Useful tips for beginners
Recipe is too Gud and it turned Out perfect…Lovely lovely clicks…
Ohhhh soooo beautiful nd lovely clicks…Perfect tea time snack.Crunchy munchy.
I just planned to prepare this week..Usually my mother in law prepares the dough and i help her with the rest.. this time its all me and ur instructions have relaxed me.. 🙂 Murukku looks very crunchy and love the first click
I thought u had already posted this recipe….i love these murukku very much..looks perfect
wow!!looks perfect!!
never tried murukku…want to try but im really afraid…but cing urs this is very simple. murukku looks perfect!second pic looks superb!!
my absolute favourite! thanks for the recipe!
Mmmm…so amazingly tasty recipe…sounds great..;)
Tasty Appetite
My fav thenkuzhal, looks super crispy and addictive..
Have to do next week .Nice , tempting clicks.Drooling !!
Crispy & just too tempting!!! Pass me some ppppleeeaasseee!!!
Prathima Rao
Prats Corner
we make this on Ganesh chaturthi. Lovely clicks.
Lovely clicks makes me crave for some right now:):)
சூப்பர்ர்ர்ர்ர்ர்ர்ர்ர்ர் தேன்குழல்…..இனிதான் செய்ய ஆரம்பிக்கனும்..இப்பவே செய்து சாப்பிடனும்போல் இருக்கு!!
wow these sure look delicious.
Bookmarked.
I am hosting a new event which I am calling Back to our Roots. Do check out my event and send me your entries from 15/10/11 to 30/11/11.
wow! perfect and very inviting! Crunch crunch!
If you want you can link this recipe to my Diwali Event!
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Hi Akila,
I saw murukku press in Mustafa day before sterday…If not its there in Jyothi stores too..
looks perfect raji, its true everyone's favorite recipe
Murrukus look simply delicious and crunchy.
Excellent preparation.
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
Hi,
Lovely write up on good old murukku. I liked the detailed notes on each of the problem areas, and your hints. Very well written and well photographed.
Thanks.
so well made. wish could have done it the same way like you
Raks. . that araivekkadu murukku was my favorite.. oily but chewy and so good.. my paati always made that. I also make thenkuzhal regularly for Deepavali.
looks so crunch and tasty.
Superbly done thenkuzhal.Luks crisp and crunchy.Seems like U r celebrating Diwali daily.
Superb…Crystal clear pictures and explanation. I going to forward your recipes to all my friends who are asking diwali recipes. 🙂
Cheers,
Uma
love it dear! and looks awesome too!
this is perfect murukku….I am making this too to Diwali! 🙂
Good to see ur palagaram recipes…I am really tempted to try them…
Crispy & flavourful snack…perfect colour nice clicks…
I want you to parcel a huge pack of this to me. if I was living in S'pore every time you posted something i would run to your place to get my share 🙂
wow Raji looks mouthwatering ..yummy:)
Thenkuzhal muruku is truly eye catchy. I can munch it at any time raji. You have made it so perfect.
Love this snack, looks perfect!
Raji murukku, sweets whatever you did parcel me some ..ore diwali kalai kattiduchu 🙂 The thenkuzhal looks perfect.
Lovely simple click yet very inviting! Thenkuzhal is such a simple recipe yet so perfect as a kids snack!
Shobha
too good ..
Looks delicious. Would love for you to share your pictures with us over at foodepix.com.
hi Raks,
I tried the mullu muruku instead of thenkuzal. But i taken only the measurement you given. The muruku came out amazing. My hubby surprised and appreciated.. Credits to you :). Thanks a lot. keeps on rocking
thanks for guidances
my wife does not know the preparation of murukku. but she knows and learns from the guidances thanking you.
I used the same recipe for mullu murukku. It came out really well.
HEY RAJI CAN U JUST TELL ME HOW MANY THENKUZHAL WILL COME IN YR MEASUREMENT… AND ALSO I NEED TO PREPARE 25 ..TELL ME THE PROPORTION OFRICE FLOUR AND URAD FLOUR??????????
This one gives around 18-20 murukku. So 3 cups rice flour and urad dal flour 1/4 cup + 1/8 cup. You will get 30 murukkus.
If you have a cup that measures 1/4 cup, half of it will be 1/8 cup…
NICE ONE. JUST DID THIS. PERFECT. PREVIOUSLY I USED TO PUT PAYATHHUM MAAVU ALS0 . JUST TRIED THIS ONE CAME OUT GUD.
Hi !
I tried this today and it came out good. Thank you for sharing the recipe and your wonderful step by step pictures make it so much easier!
You have a wonderful blog , thanks for all your hard work, it is greatly appreciated!
Tried it today, came out well and crispy! Thanks..
Made it today for my son. Nalllaaaa vandhuchu – thanks
வறுத்த உழுத்த ம்மா வா பச்சை மாவா
Pachhai maavu is okay.
The thenkuzal breaks while I pressed it and also breaks while cooking. What am I missing here raks.?
If flour is coarse or too much fat – butter or oil in the dough is the reason
Hi, I made this today but I think I did not add enough salt. the thenkuzhal is tastes very bland. Is there anything I can do to fix it?
you can try making manoharam. Make jaggery syrup until you are able to form a hard ball (Hard ball consistency) and add broken pieces of thenkuzhal to it, roll it like pori urundai.
Can i try this recipe using healtg mix…if yes is urad dal necessary
I dont think u need urad dal.
Hi raji,
I dont understand butter+oil proportion . both equal proportion ? (1.5tbsp and 1.5tbsp? )
I didnt get the part.
Yes correct 🙂
Is peanut oil good for making this?
Which oil to use for frying? Is Kadalai ennai better ? Peanut oil
Yes you can use.
Can we add chilli powder to this? Thanks
Tried this for Gokulashtami. Came out well. Thanks
Hi mam,
1 cup is 200gm or 250gm??
The murukku came out very well.. thanks a lot..
Thank you 🙂
Can you share the manoharam measurement for the above thenguzhal quantity and step by step procedure. Thanks
I have not tried manoharam actually. Will sure try and post within this Diwali
What is the measurement of rice and urad dal if i have to grind in mill.
Please give me cup or gram measurements if possible
What is the measurement if I want to grind in mill .
For raw rice 1 kg how much urad dal ?
Looks yummy Raji. Where you bought the murukku press. Please reply
I bought in Kumbakonam, in a temple street shop.
Perfect Murukku just like my grandma’s. Thanks so much!
Thanks a lot 🙂