A Village sweetmeat

Every state in India has its favorite sweetmeat and every village has its own special dish. In my village its murrukku or chakli in Hindi. Any hour of the day if you land up at somebody's house they will serve you with murrukku.

Not only is it easy to make but it does not need to be kept in a fridge. All you need to do is to keep it in an airtight container. Here people normally use the biscuit tins you can buy from your regular grocer. Richer people can use a stainless steel container or one of the innumerable airtight containers available in the market.

There are two types of murrukku. One is sweet and is called acchi murrukku and the other is the normal murrukku. To make acchi murrukku you have to buy an acchi, which is available in all South Indian vessel shops.

For the normal murrukku you have to buy a murrukku maker from the same vessel shop. It's a hollow cylindrical container with a press on top. The bottom is hollow. There are small plates with holes on them. Some have circular holes and others have star shaped holes. You can use the sieve you want depending on what shape you want the murrukku to be.

For the normal murrukku you need one kilogram of raw rice, a quarter kilogram of white udad dal, 2 table spoons of salt, Jeera one table spoon and 2 table spoons of white till.

Clean the rice and soak it in water for an hour. Pour out most of the water. Then grind it wet in the mixie.

Clean the udad dal and put it in the kadai on the gas. Heat it for a while. Grind that dry in the mixie.

Mix the rice powder and udad powder with water. Knead it together. The Jeera and Till also have to be warmed in the kadai and then ground in the mixie.

Add the Jeera powder, Till powder and salt to the Rice-Udad powder mix. Knead it together with your hands for at least 15 minutes. You should have a soft paste.

Put refined oil in a kadai and warm. After the oil gets hot, put the paste in the murrukku maker. If you want to have smooth murrukkus use the sieve with circular holes. If not use the one with star shaped holes.

Hold it above the hot oil and press. You have to make a circular motion as you press down. The paste will come out as strands into the oil. Cut the strands with your hand when there is enough for one murrukku. You can fry five murrukkus at a time or less depending on the size of the vessel.

The Murrukku will be ready in five minutes. Take them out before you put in fresh paste. The oil should be hot but should not boil. If it starts boiling, reduce the gas.

The murruku will last for a month without spoiling. If you keep it in an airtight container it will retain its crispness.

For acchi murrukku you need 1 kilogram of raw rice, quarter kilogram of sugar, 1 coconut and three eggs.

Clean the rice and soak it in water for an hour. Then grind it in a mixie. After that filter it through a sieve. You have to use only the finely ground powder.

Break the coconut and cut out the tender coconut. Grind it in the mixie. Add water to it. Take out the coconut paste a little at a time and squeeze it in another vessel. This is coconut milk.

Break the eggs and add it to the rice powder. Add a little water and mix it well. Add the sugar and coconut milk. Knead it well for at least 15 minutes.

Put refined oil in a vessel and warm it. Once it's hot, put the acchi on the paste. Press half of it inside. Then remove and put it in the oil. The paste will separate from the acchi and fall into the oil. Depending on the size of the vessel you can fry about five at a time.

Do not let the oil boil, but keep it hot. Store the acchi murrukku in an air tight container. It will not spoil for three weeks. It remains crisp and tasty. As Saif Ali Khan would say ' You just can't eat one'.