Coconut Milk Murukku | Thengai Pal Murukku

Coconut Milk Murukku, a delicious, crunchy and flavorful snack made from the rice flour as main ingredient and flavored with coconut milk. It's one of our favorite snacks to munch on any time. 

Back in days when we were in hosur, we used to buy this coconut milk murukku from the local bakery whenever we pass by that store. The flavor and the taste of the murukku is simply amazing. Later i had tried a few proportions to recreate that murukku taste and finally the recipe that i'm sharing today is my keeper for making this delicious murukku!

Before check out the recipe, let's see some of the FAQs 

Can i use store brought coconut milk for this recipe ?

Yes, of course ! But here, i have used homemade coconut milk only. Make sure to use the brand that doesn't have any artificial flavor for best taste and aroma. 

Why did my murukku break into oil ?

If the dough doesn't have enough moisture in it, the murukku breaks easily in the oil and also it breaks while squeezing the dough. So add a little more coconut milk in the dough, mix it well and use.

Why is my murukku not crispy ?

If the oil is too hot, then the outer turns darker easily and it won't be crispy. Cook it in the medium flame for the whole process helps to get crispy murukku.

Why is my murukku hard?

It doesn't have enough fat in it. Butter used in the murukku helps to keep the murukku crispy and as light.

Does the murukku burst in the oil?

Chances are there!!

1.  If the dry ingredients like rice flour and any other flour used in the recipe has any big granules. So make sure to sieve all the flour once before making dough
2. Once all the dough is squeezed, don't tempt to roll the left over dough into seedai and fry. It has the chance to burst.

Coconut Milk Murukku

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Serves : 25 
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Coconut Milk Murukku, Murukku, Thengai Pal Murukku Coconut Milk Murukku, a delicious, crunchy and flavorful snack made from the rice flour as main ingredient and flavored with coconut milk.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Rice flour - 2 cups
Roasted chana dal/Pottukadalai/Dalia  flour- 1/3 cup
Butter - 2 tbsp
Cumin seed - 1 tsp

Coconut Milk - 1 cup(approx)
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Oil - for frying

Procedure

Take rice flour, pottukadalai flour, cumin seed and salt in a large bowl, mix it all well together, then add the butter.

Incorporate butter with the flour until it all mixed well. Next add the coconut milk little by little and make a soft dough.

Take the murukku press and add the three hole disc in it. Then fill 3/4 of the murukku press with the dough. 

Close the murukku press with the lid. Take a few slotted laddle or small plates and squeeze the dough in circles and keep it ready. Heat the oil for deep frying. Add a piece of dough in the oil, if it rise up immediately, then the oil is ready to fry murukku.

Add a few pressed murukku dough and cook it on medium flame.

When the "shh" sound stops and the murukku floats on the top, remove it from the oil and place it on tissue paper. Let them cool completely and store it in air tight container.

Tasty, crunchy and flavorful coconut milk murukku/Thengai pal murukku is ready.

Related:How to make Omapodi/Plain sev

Notes:

• Make sure to store the murukku when it's completely cooled down.
• Tastes and flavor intensify after a  few days.
• Instead of cumin seed, you can also use the sesame seeds for flavoring.
• 

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Ribbon Pakoda, a delicious and crunchy snack made from the mixture of rice flour and besan. It's one of the easiest snacks to prepare at home with basic pantry basic ingredients and I used to make these types of snacks at least once in a month at home to fill our snack box. 

We prefer these kinds of home made snacks more than any pre-packed store snacks.Though I have been preparing this snack for years now, somehow I didn't share this easy recipe so far, as deepavali is nearby, I thought sharing this recipe now would be helpful to all those who are looking for easy diwali snacks to prepare on this occasion. 

Before checking out the recipe, let's see some FAQs

What's the correct temperature to fry these Ribbon pakoda?

Add a pinch of dough into the hot oil, it should come up immediately . That's the perfect temperature to fry ribbon pakoda.

Why is my ribbon pakoda chewy instead of crunchy even though it has a golden brown color?

Oil temperature is too high, so the outside turns into a golden brown color before the inside get cooked. So it's chewy. Reduce the oil temperature and make sure to cook it in low-medium flame for a crunchy texture.

Ok, now let's see how to make this delicious Ribbon Pakoda. If you have any other questions, leave a comment, I will try to answer to the best of my knowledge !  

Ribbon Pakoda | Ola Pakoda

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 6 
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Ribbon Pakoda, Ola Pakoda,Seeva, Pepper Ribbon Pakoda Ribbon Pakoda, a delicious and crunchy snack made from the mixture of rice flour and besan.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Rice Flour - 1 cup

Besan/ Gram Flour - 1/2 cup

Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp(heaped)

Butter - 1 tbsp

Water - as needed

Oil - for frying

Procedure

First take the rice flour, besan, pepper powder and salt in a bowl. Mix it all well together. Melt the butter and add into the flour mixture.

Mix it with your hand until the butter is well mixed with the flour. Next, add water little by little and make a soft pliable dough.

Take the murukku press and add the ribbon pakoda disk into it and fill 3/4 of the press with the dough and close the lid. Heat the oil for frying and squeeze the dough directly into the oil as concentric circles.

Cook it on low-medium flame until it gets a nice golden brown color and the sound "shh" stops. Remove from the oil and drain it on a paper towel.

Once it's cooled down completely, break it into small pieces and store it in an airtight container. Yummy Ribbon Pakoda is ready to munch on any time.

Related : How to make Sattur Sev

Notes:

• Store it in a clean dry container to retain its crunchiness for a longer time.
• Instead of pepper powder, you can use chili powder too.
• For vegan version, instead of butter, you can add some hot oil in the flour and mix it well.

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Thenkuzhal | How to make Thenkuzhal murukku | Diwali Snacks

Thenkuzhal Murukku, one of the traditional diwali snacks made from the rice flour and urad dal flour. It's super crispy and absolutely delicious !! Never can imagine a deepavali without making a murukku at home!! In those days, only during deepavali time, murukku was prepared at home.

While growing up, Amma used to make the murukku at least two or three days before deepavali and the murukku would last for at least a week after diwali. During diwali week, for every meal, i used to eat at least one murukku. Do I need to tell you about the other time? 

Ok, now coming to this thenkuzhal murukku recipe, it's one of the easiest and tastiest snacks that you can prepare at home with pantry basic ingredients. I often make this at home as our evening snacks and when i'm making a list of recipes to post here for this year diwali , i was shocked to know that i haven't shared this recipe so far. 

So this was the first recipe that I had prepared for this year's diwali post !!! Let 's check out on how to make the super crispy thenkuzhal murukku and if you're beginner, do check out the below FAQs  

Here are some basic FAQ about murukku

Why is it called Thenkuzhal ?

When you break this murukku, you can see a small hole running throughout and it seems like a  pulankuzhal(a music instrument)  hole. It's the most common reason that I have heard for the name "Thenkuzhal" 

Why did my murukku break into oil ?

If the dough doesn't have enough moisture in it, the murukku breaks easily in the oil and also it breaks while squeezing the dough. So add a little more water in the dough.

Why is my murukku not crispy ?

If the oil is too hot, then the outer turns darker easily and it won't be crispy. Cook it in the medium flame for the whole process helps to get crispy murukku

Why is my murukku hard?

It doesn't have enough fat in it. Butter used in the murukku helps to keep the murukku crispy and as light.

Does the murukku burst in the oil?

Chances are there!!

1.  If the dry ingredients like rice flour and any other flour used in the recipe has any big granules. So make sure to sieve all the flour once before making dough
2. Once all the dough is squeezed, don't tempt to roll the left over dough into seedai and fry. It has the chance to burst.

Why does my murukku have a dark color or not as white as the store bought?

There are 2 reasons why murukku became dark in color.

1. Adding too much of urad dal makes the murukku become darker easily
2. Cooking for a longer time even after the "Shh" sound stops.

Ok, hope i have answered the basic FAQ about murukku!! 

How to make Thenkuzhal murukku

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 20 
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Thenkuzhal, How to make Thenkuzhal, Thenkuzhal murukku,Savory Snacks, Diwali Snacks, Deepavali Sancks Thenkuzhal Murukku, a crunchy, delicious and traditional savory snack made from the rice flour and urad dal.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Rice flour - 2 cups

Urad dal flour - 1/4 cup

Butter - 3 tbsp

Sesame seed - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seed - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Water - as needed

Oil - for deep frying

Procedure

First in a bowl, add rice flour, urad dal flour, sesame seed, cumin seed and oil. Mix it well. Then add the room temperature butter and mix it well with the flour.

Next add water little by little and make a soft dough. 

Take the murukku press and add a three hole disc in it, fill 3/4 of the press with the dough and close it with lid.

Heat the oil for deep frying. Squeeze the dough in a circle on to the small plate/ flat laddle as show in fig below. Once the oil is heated(to check the oil temperature, add a pinch of dough, it should come up immediately) add the pressed murukku dough

Add more depends on the oil level and cooking vessel. Let it cook on medium flame.

Once the 'shh' sound stops and the shh sound stops and the murukku floats without any bubbles around it, remove from the oil and place it on tissue paper. Do the same for the remaining dough.

Tasty and crispy murukku is ready. 

Related : How to make Kai Murukku / Suthu Murukku 

For more diwali snacks, check out my diwali collections

Notes:

• It stays well for up to 10 days at room temperature
• Dont reduce the amount of butter used in the recipe
• This murukku doesn't absorb lot of oil, but if you're making it in larger batch, make sure to top up the oil in need

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Muttai Puffs, a Indian style puff pastry with spicy egg masala inside. Like Veg Puffs, these egg puffs are also most common in tea kadai/bakery snacks around midday/evening across Tamilnadu. With hot coffee or chai/tea, those puffs taste awesome and quite fulfilling too. Like i had already mentioned in my veg puffs post, i'm not a great fan of savory puffs occasionally i can eat one fully without any fuss. 

But ST is such a huge fan of all types of puffs, so whenever i buy puff pastry, reserve a bit of puff pastry to make these egg puffs or veg puffs for him. As an adherent fan of puffs, he gives a big thumbs up for this egg puff and said it tastes exactly like bakery egg puffs. So if you're looking for bakery style egg puffs, do give a try on this recipe.  

Puff Pastry 

In today's recipe, I have used the brand "Tenderflake" for puff pastry. In the past, I tried a couple of other brands of puff pastries and it all works fine for making these egg puffs. With a single puff pastry, you can make 4 large puffs or 6 small puffs.

Make sure that the puff pastry is at room temperature before stuffing it with eggs. Transfer the puff pastry from freezer to refrigerator in the previous night itself, so the next morning, the puff pastry is perfectly thawed and  ready to use. 

Tips to make delicious Egg Puffs

• Don't overcook the eggs, make sure to boil the egg until the yolk is firm & yellow.
• Make sure that the spices in the masala are little overpowering, that way it tastes perfect with puff pastry.
• Depending on the size you want, you can cut the eggs into half or quarter. 

Related: How to make mini apple bite with Puff Pastry  

 

For the last one week, i have been waiting outside after sunset to get a glimpse of neowise comet and still haven't gotten a chance to see it. Knowing that it won't come our way for another 6766 years makes it wanting to see even more. After repeatedly talking about this for the past one week, ST also got interested and for the two or three days we're roaming around our area with compass turned on in our phone. With no luck, yesterday we took a drive after 10 PM to the nearby park for a wide view of the sky which we thought would give a better chance to spot the comet. Again no luck, still  have a couple of days left before it vanishes, will see?

Whenever i come to know about astronomic events in our place, i literally pester ST to spot it and he also doesn't have much choice so join me. Right from spotting the ISS, lunar eclipse, solar eclipse and the list goes on.Still remember the time when we were in Houston, i set alarm for early morning on winter days to witness the lunar eclipse.

With coats and caps on, we were the only couple standing outside in the cold weather to watch. Right from childhood, i have been obsessed with all astronomy events but didn't have much source to know the exact time & direction back then. Now that it's easy to access all the sources, sky gazing is one of my favorite time passes. Ok, Thanks for reading till the end. Now coming back to the recipe, this has nothing to do with egg puffs recipe, just thought of sharing my interest. Now let's check out the egg puff recipe.   

Muttai Puffs | Egg Puffs

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Egg Puffs,Muttai Puffs, Bakery Puffs, Snacks Muttai Puffs, a Indian style puff pastry with spicy egg masala inside. Like Veg Puffs, these egg puffs are also most common in tea kadai/bakery snacks around midday/evening across Tamilnadu.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Puff Pastry - 1/2 
Boiled Egg - 1
Onion - 1/2
Tomato - 1/2
Ginger garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Red chili powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp
Garam Masala powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander leaves - few
Oil - 1/2 tsp

Procedure

Slice the onions thinly and tomato into small pieces. Heat the pan with oil, add the onions with a pinch of salt. Saute till the onions are translucent and then add the ginger garlic paste and saute till it's aromatic.

Next add the tomatoes , spices(turmeric, red chili, coriander & garam masala powder) & salt. Mix it well. Add 1/4 cup of water and cook till the onions are soft and the raw smell of the spices are gone.

Once the onion tomato masala are thick, switch off the flame and then add the coriander leaves and mix well. Let the masala cool completely. In the mean time, cook the egg and slice it vertically. 

Preheat the oven @425 F. Cut the puff pastry into 4 equal size, take only two pieces and put the remaining in the freezer. Take one piece of puff pastry and slightly stretch it with rolling pin.Place a tbsp of masala in one end of puff pastry and place an half a egg with yolk side down and put another tbsp of masala on the top of egg.

Take the other side of puff pastry and cover the egg and seal the edge by pressing it together(or you can fold this as squares, refer my IG Reels for folding as squares) and place it on the parchment lined baking tray.

Put it in the oven and bake it for 15-18 mins or until the top turn slightly brown.  

Tasty and spicy Egg puffs/ Muttai Puffs is ready. Serve it with hot tea. 

Related: How to make Veg Puffs 

Notes:

• Adjust the spices as per your liking.
• I have used tender flake puff pastry.
• If your tomato has more tartness, use just 1/4 of it. Otherwise the puffs would be too tangy
• Make sure to cook the masala till all the moisture evaporates and oil oozes out from the masala
• Make sure to cool the masala before stuff inside the puff pastry otherwise it would be soggy once baked

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Masala Vadai, a crunchy & delicious deep fried savory snack made from split yellow peas and aromatic Indian spices. There are so many variations in making this masala vadai. In today's recipe, i'm sharing the basic version of masala vadai, it tastes good with a cup of tea or as accompaniment for your special day meal. 

Back in days when we were school goers, Amma used to make paruppu vadai/masala vada with chana dal and we used to call it as "Aama vadai"/ஆமவடை (honestly don't know the reason for the name ) and it's my favorite and like it more than the medu vada/uluntha vadai. On those deepavali days, i was the one who finishes off all the aama vada. 

Though aama vadai/ஆமவடை tastes so good, it doesn't stay crunchy for longer hours like the one we got from the tea shop/restaurant. The key to the restaurant style crunchy paruppu vada is the use of the split yellow peas/pattani paruppu not the chana dal/kadala paruppu. 

Once knew the secret ingredient , i have been using pattani paruppu/split yellow peas only for making the masala vada . Over the past several years away from home country, i have easy access to the split yellow peas(even walmart/local store carries this in their regular grocery section) than the chana dal, that's the another reason for me using split yellow peas for masala vada.

If you're from South Tamilnadu, you might already knew about another type of vada known as  kara vadai those are made from the combination of chana dal, yellow split peas and urad dal. I have been trying to remake the kara vadai at home for a while now but still  couldn't recreate the exact texture and taste. Once i knew the knack, shall share the recipe here. 

Ok, now coming back to today's recipe, it's such a fool proof vada recipe that even beginners can make this delicious vada without any fuss. Make sure to soak the Pattani Paruppu/Yellow Split Peas for at least 2 hrs and grind into coarse mixture, those are the only two things to be taken care for scrumptious & crunchy masala vada. Now, let's check out on how to make this vada.

Masala Vada | Pattani Paruppu Vadai

Preparation Time : 2 hrs | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Makes : 10 small vadai 
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Masala Vadai, Pattani Paruppu Vadai, Paruppu Vadai, Vadai, Evening Snacks, Savory Snack,Kara Vadai Masala Vadai, a crunchy, delicious deep fried savory snack made from split yellow peas and aromatic Indian spices. There are so many variations in making this masala vadai. In today's recipe, i'm sharing the basic version of masala vadai, it tastes good with cup of tea or as accompaniment for your special day meal.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Pattani Paruppu/Split Yellow Peas  - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1(small)
Ginger - 1 inch
Fennel seed - 1/2 tsp
Red chili - 3 
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Salt - to taste
Oil - for frying

Procedure

Soak the pattani paruppu for 2 hrs . First in a blender/mixie jar, add ginger, red chili & fennel seeds and grind into coarse mixture.

Next drain the water from soaked peas and add into the mixie jar and grind into coarse mixture and add into a bowl.

Chop the onions into small pieces and add into the grounded peas along with curry leaves, coriander leaves and salt. Mix it all well together. Take equal amount of vada mixture and make a ball(I found this way easy to flatten the vada later, but making ball is totally optional step.)

Heat the oil for frying, flatten the vada batter and add into oil gently. 

Cook it on medium flame until it's brown and crispy. Drain from oil and place on tissue paper. 

Tasty Masala Vada is ready. For more tea time snacks and chaat items, check out here 
Notes:

• Cook it in low medium flame for crunchy vadai.
• Grind the soaked peas into coarse mixture for crunchy vadai
• Fennel and ginger gives great flavor to the vada. Highly recommend to use that to recreate tea shop style masala vadai.
  
  

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