Garlic Murukku / Poondu Murukku

Today's recipe is simple and easy to make savory snack that can be made for the upcoming festival, Diwali. This Garlic Murukku is one of my childhood favorite snack and my mom makes the best Garlic Murukku. I wanted to post this recipe for long time but did not get chance and now after seeing all other blogs with the Diwali Sweets & Savories recipes i too wanted to share few recipes here and this Garlic Murukku is first in the row :)

This time i did not make a perfect spirals like Mullu Murukku, i randomly squeezed and break it and some batches i did like we do for karasev, press and cut it. Anything is fine...don't bother about the shape or size simply enjoy the crispy crunchy and garlic flavored murukku. Best munch for this cold evenings with some garam garam chai.

Ingredients

1. Rice Flour       3 cups ( i used store bought Rice flour)
2. Gram Flour/Besan Flour/Kadala Maavu    1 cup
3. Butter, melted     2 tbsp(you can also use hot oil)
4. Chilli Powder     1 tsp(use 1 and 1/2 tsp for spicy murukku)
5. Garlic     1 full pod or 8 fat cloves
6. Salt      1 and 1/4 tsp or to taste
7. Hing     1/8 tsp
8. Cumin seeds     1/4 tsp
9. Oil     to deep fry

Method

• Peel and roughly chop garlic and grind it to a smooth paste using 1-2 tbsp water.
• In a mixing bowl add rice flour, besan flour, enough salt, cumin seeds, hing,chilli powder and mix well.
• Then add melted butter(heat in microwave for 30 seconds), ground garlic and mix well.

• After that using water little by little and knead it to a soft and pliable dough.
• The dough should be too hard or sticky, just soft and pliable one.
• Then divide the dough in to 7-8 big balls and keep covered with a damp cloth.

• Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying, then grease murukku achu with oil and fill with it with one divided ball, close it tightly. Use star shaped achu/plate for making mullu murukku(as show in the pic).

• While the oil get hot, shape the dough in to greased Ziploc or plate or ladle(if you want a shaped murukku or directly squeeze in to the hot oil) and when oil gets hot, drop the shaped murukku and fry in medium hot oil.
• After 1-2 minutes turn other side and fry till the hissing sound stops and murukku turns light golden colour.
• Once done remove from the oil and drain it in paper towel.
• After cooling store the murukku in an air tight container. This murukku remains good for up to 2-3 weeks.
• That's it...super crunchy and tasty Rice Murukku / Mullu Murukku ready.

Notes:
For vegan option ~ instead of butter u can also use any oil, but use hot oil(heat it before use).
Instead of chili powder, freshly ground chili paste can also be added. Soak dry red chillies for 20-30 minutes and grind it along with garlic and add it to the flour mixture and knead it.
Always fry the murukku in medium hot oil, if u fry in high heat, it turns golden brown soon but the inner side will not cooked properly.

Linking this to Diwali Delicacies Event By Me & Priya and to Vardhini's Diwali Bash Event.