That familiar spiced cracker loops and bends symbolising time's passing and the changing of seasons; it’s no wonder that poetic Murukku has come to herald the celebration of harvest and light, Deepavali. 

It turns out the circular receptacles of the BRUNO Compact Multi-Plate attachment are superbly suited to shape and fry your murukku! Simply pipe the batter in, and it will mold into perfect rings with little oil and effort. Celebrate Deepavali with a homemade batch of crunchy butter murukku this festive season with the help of your trusty BRUNO Hotplate! 

Delving into the deets

Urad flour

Urad (black gram) flour, is used in this murukku to lighten the texture and to add a fullness and earthy flavour. If unavailable, regular gram flour can also be used. These can usually be found in at Indian specialty grocers and Indian spice shops at your local wet market.  

Spices

Typically, murukku spices are mixed-and-matched according to the cook's preferences, so don't fret if you can't find all that we listed in the recipe. We do however, feel that two of them were absolutely essential:

The first, asafoetida or hing, is a sulfurous powdered resin that, when cooked, brings forth a zesty umami flavour that tempers other spices. The other is whole cumin seeds as it provides little bursts of flavour when interspersed throughout the cracker. 

 Other choice murruku spices include: chilli powder, sesame seeds, curry leaves, and turmeric.     

Piping

Murukku is classically made with a speciallised hand-cranked press, in this recipe we improvised using a piping bag making this recipe great for murukku newcomers. While murukku does entail quite a thick batter, we’ve found that we are just able to squeeze it out a piping bag by maintaining a gentle constant pressure.  

Recipe 

Steps

Mixing the Batter

1. Place the rice flour and urad flour in a large mixing bowl, and douse with the melted butter.
2. Add the cumin seeds, asafoetida, ajwain powder, nutmeg powder, salt, and black pepper to the bowl and stir it in.  
3. Gradually trickle water into the mixture while stirring, add enough so that the mix turns into a thick cement-like batter. 
4. With a spatula, scoop the batter into a piping bag configured with a star-shaped tip (less than 1 cm diameter). 

Frying

1. Equip your BRUNO Compact Hotplate with the Multi-Plate attachment, halfway fill each of its recesses with vegetable oil, then set the heat to MED. Give the hotplate a couple of minutes to heat up. 
2. Situate your piping bag parallel to the side of one of the Multi-Plate holes, and angle the tip diagonally (~ 30°) so that when you squeeze the batter out onto the non-stick surface, the batter simply slides across the circumference of the cavity to shape your circular murukku.
3. When the batter ring is complete, give the piping bag a twist to cut off the batter stream. Proceed to pipe the murukku batter into the remaining Multi-Plate holes. 
4. Let the murukku cook (~ 4 minutes) until the bottom is golden brown. Periodically rotate each of the rings laterally with a chopstick so they cook evenly.
5. Flip the murukku with chopsticks to cook the other side (~ 3 minutes) and continue rotating them until the second side is similarly golden-brown. 
6. Drain the murukku over a paper towel when fully cooked. Season with more salt if desired and serve with chai as a crunchy festive treat!

May your Deepavali be abundant with light, joy, and prosperity!

Enjoy~~~