Bhajani Chakli recipe | Marathi bhajani murukku| diwali special

Diwali  festive season is near ! So here comes a mouth watering snack you can prepare at home this  Diwali -    CHAKLI / MURUKKU .
Chakli is an inevitable part of marathi diwali faraal. My personal favorite amongst all diwali dishes.
Chaklis are deep fried and enjoyed as a crunchy snack in the evenings with tea or coffee.
Chakli is also known as Murukku; Kannada: ಮುರುಕು murukku or ಚಕ್ಲಿ chakli; Gujarati: ચકરી chakri; Marathi: चकली ; Telugu: మురుకులు murukulu, చక్రాలు chakralu, or జంతికలు jantikalu,Konkani: Chakri or Chakkuli. Its Malay name is akar kelapa.Murukku means twisted in the Tamil language. The town of Manapparai in Tamil Nadu is particularly known for its murukku. Murukku is made in many varieties as a traditional treat for festivals such as Diwali and Krishna Janmashtami. Murukku are often served on special occasions within Iyer (Tamil Brahmin) families.

Murukku is most commonly made of mixed rice flour, urad dal flour and water, seasoned with salt, asafoetida and either sesame seeds or cumin seeds.

The ingredients are mixed together into a dough that is then shaped into spiral or coil shapes either by hand or using a mould. The spirals are then deep fried in vegetable oil.

Ingredients

 2 cups chakli bhajani flour
 1 tbsp white sesame seeds,
1 teaspoon ajwain,
red chili powder (as per the taste),
 a pinch of turmeric powder(optional),
1/2 tsp asafoetida,
 salt to taste,
 1/4 cup oil (called 'mohan' in marathi)

Method:

1. Heat some oil/ghee in a pan until it reaches the smoking stage. Pour it over the bhajani and mix.

2.Add sesame seeds, ajwain, salt, turmeric powder, chili powder, and approx. 1 cup boiling water into the bhajani.



3.Knead the flour using lukewarm water to make a soft pliable dough. .grease mould with little oil from inside. Attach chakli chakti . Put dough  in the chakli mould (sorya) or kitchen press.

 

4.Press the piston of chakli mold and make chaklis of desired size  (say 3-4 rotation)  in circular motion starting from centre of the chakli. Drop them on a plastic paper. 

5.Heat enough oil in the pan. When oil is heated enough, turn the heat to medium to low and put chaklis in the pan. fry them to reddish brown colour.




6.Remove and place on tissue to absorb excess oil.Avoid overfrying.Fry chaklis in small batches of 2 to 3. A well done chakli stops bubbling and starts going down in the oil.




7. Once cool, store Chaklis in an airtight container.



 Tips:

1) Chaklis break at the time of frying if abundant oil is used in the flour.In such case knead some bhajani flour adding all ingredient except oil ,and mix it with existing flour and make chaklis again

 2) On the other hand, they turn hard if the amount of oil is not sufficient.in such case add 1-2 tsp heated oil in existing dough.

 3) Bhajani should be ground to a very fine powder.

 4) Fry chakalis in small batches or 2 to 3 at a time to achieve crispness, else they become soggy. Replace the oil periodically (when you see the oil becoming frothy) or they break at the time of frying.

 5) The oil should be sufficiently hot (but not at the smoking point), else chaklis soak up lots of oil and may not become crisp. Also once oil is heated enough, turn the heat to lowest setting. High heat causes them to cook on the outside, while staying uncooked from the inside, or sometimes they even burn and taste bitter.

 6) If for some reason, chaklis loose their crispness after some time, reheat them in microwave (adjust the timing) and they become crisp once again.