Zatpat / Quick Chakli / Muruku

                             

                                

In India, we celebrate different festivals and  during festivities, people get together, share sweets and gifts and enjoy much fanfare observing some aspect of their heritage /religion.

During our childhood days, we used to wait for Diwali vacations.  For us it used to be more about going to stay at a friends' house, get together with family, get together with friends and make food near the Verandah under the supervision of elders and very important enjoy different type of snacks and sweets made during this occasion!

I was very interested in getting my new clothes during Diwali and would not bother my dad for crackers as I thought it was a waste of money :).   I loved drawing the Rangoli's in front of the door but till today never managed to learn this art :(.

Every evening, neighbors in the society would come with sweet plates and I would eagerly wait to check the salty and spicy snack in the dish.  My all time favourite was Chakli / Muruku.  My mother would make and store them in big containers and we used to enjoy eating them for breakfast, tea time... They are spicy, crunchy and can be made with different variations!

Today, I had carried Zatpat i.e. quick Chakli / Muruku that I made yesterday night to office.   I offered some to Hima, my colleague and she told me that she never managed making good Chakli's and when I told her that it took me just 15 to 20 minutes to make them she was suprised!  I promised her to share the recipe on the blog and here is the recipe for this quick snack.

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - ½ cup

Besan Flour / Gram Flour - ¼ cup

Sesame Seeds / White Til - 1 tsp

Butter - ½ tbsp

Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp

Asafoedita  - ¼ tsp

Salt - as per taste

Oil for deep frying

Method :

Sieve the Besan flour, rice flour, red chilli powder, asafetida and salt for 2 times.  Add this flour in a big bowl and add butter to this mixture. Mix it well with your fingers till it becomes like bread crumbs.

Now add water little by little and knead it into a soft dough.  Take the murukku-press. I used the star design i.e. the mullu murukku design.  Grease the murukku-press with oil, then fill the murukku-press with dough upto ¾ of the press. Press a round shape on the ladle.  Heat the oil in a pan till it becomes hot or put a pinch of dough into the oil. If the dough comes up immediately, then  it seems the oil is heated well.   

Now flip the ladle over the oil. After a minute, flip the murukku and cook till the sizzling sound reduces completely.  Take it out from the oil and drain them using tissue paper. 

Repeat this for remaining dough also. Allow it to cool down completely and store it in  air tight container.  Ensure that you reduce the heat while frying the Muruku.

Tasty, Crispy, Spicy, Zatpat  (quick) Chakli / Muruku is ready to serve for tea time.