Diwali is incomplete without at least a couple of savory snacks and Mullu Thenkuzhal is one of the essential ones in our family. Diwali or not, this murukku is one of the most addictive snacks and you just cannot stop with one. With the ease of having all the sweets and snacks easily available in stores, we skip making homemade ones. Store-bought snacks just don’t taste the same as homemade ones. I often find that store-bought snacks have a pungent oil smell and they spoil quickly. To make them last longer, there are unwanted preservatives or ingredients added to them. These traditional snacks made at home have just the basic and healthiest of ingredients and the taste will prove it all. My husband is a big sweet lover. He loves the traditional burfis and sweets but in between all the sweets, he needs a spicy savory snack. This Mullu Thenkuzhal is perfect for that. I make it often to give as a quick snack for the boys. It is way better than eating the store-bought snack bags. I remember having stainless steel jars filled with snacks growing up. My attais are my biggest role model for bakshanam making as they are very regular and always have different varieties when I visited them. This recipe for mullu murukku is from my husband’s aunt, Lalitha Mami. I love her bakshanam-making skills and adore her patience to make different sweets and snacks. Anytime we visit her (In India or here in the US, at our cousin’s place), she will always have an assortment of homemade sweets and savories. She gave me this recipe way back in 2010 and it was one of my oldest posts on the blog. I have been updating all my recipes with new pictures and better writing skills and this is one such post.
Starting the preparation -
The recipe still remains the same from 10 years back. I have not made one single change to the recipe. This mullu thenkuzhal is made with rice flour and a mixture of moong dal and chana dal flour. I usually start my festival preparations by making all the homemade flour. The most important is the rice flour. Homemade Rice flour also called Idiyappam flour works best for all traditional sweets and savories. I use it exclusively for my Athirsam recipe and Thattai recipe. Here in the US, store-bought rice flour works just fine and can be used. Another alternate is the ready-made idiyappam flour. But if making a lot of sweets and savories, it is easier to make a batch of fresh homemade rice flour. Next comes the lentil flour. I also make a large batch of the payatham paruppu and kadalai paruppu maavu and store the excess in the freezer. You could also mix the rice flour with the lentil flour and keep a batch ready in the freezer. Whenever you are in the mood for a crispy fresh murukku, just take the flour mixture out and measure just what you need, say about a cup if making a small quantity, and add the rest of the ingredients and make the thenkuzhal.
Ingredients to make Mullu Thenkuzhal – (makes around 20 -25 medium murukku)
Rice flour – 2 ¼ cups Moong dal (Payatham Paruppu) – a little over ½ a cup Channa dal (kadalai Paruppu) – little less than ½ a cup Butter – ½ stick or around 4 tbsp White sesame seeds (Ellu) – 2 tsp Asafetida – ½ tsp Chili powder – 1 -2 teaspoon (Depending on how hot you want it) Salt - to taste Vegetable oil or sunflower oil – for frying
Procedure to make Mullu Thenkuzhal –
Fry both the dal separately without adding any oil until it is golden brown.
Let them cool down to room temperature and then grind them together into a smooth powder.
Sieve the flour, measure, and then keep aside. I usually make a big batch of the dal powder and store it in a ziplock bag in the freezer. This way I always have the flour ready whenever I need to make the thenkuzhal.
For 2 ¼ cups of rice flour, you need 1 cup of ground dal powder. Measure them in a wide bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients; Butter, sesame seed, chili powder, asafoetida, and salt needed.
Make a smooth dough adding just enough water needed.
Place a handful of dough into the thenkuzhal achu. I used the single star-shaped hole plate to make my Mullu Thenkuzhal.
Heat oil in a kadai / pan. Squeeze the thenkuzhal out directly in hot oil. You could also shape the murukku in the back of a ladle and then place it inside the hot oil, but I prefer directly squeezing it in oil.
Fry the thenkuzhal in the oil on low-medium heat until golden brown.
Drain it on a paper towel-lined tray and once they cool down to room temperature, store them in an airtight container. This Mullu Murukku can be stored for at least 2-3 weeks.
If you are looking to make more Savory Snacks for this Diwali, check out the recipes below -
If you made this recipe and liked it, give a star rating on the recipe card or let me know in the comments below. You could also share it with me on Instagram using #MyCookingJourney and tagging me @sandhya.ramakrishnan. You could follow me and my recipes on Facebook |Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter/X Cooking time – 30 mins Difficulty level – easy
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