Butter murukku or butter chakli is a gluten free cracker of sorts that is crispy fried yet melts in your mouth. It is absolutely divine yet so very easy to make. Though popularly made during Indian festivals like Diwali and Janmashtami, this can be made any time and devoured with a cup of chai.
The butter adds so much flavor to this while the chickpea flour and rice flour provides the texture and cripiness. Asafetida (hing) and cumin seeds are commonly added to this to add some extra flavor, but you can also add other spices like crushed black pepper, carom seeds (ajwain) etc.
All Indian festivals like Diwali always have an assortment of sweet and savory snacks made as offerings or to just enjoy and share among friends and families. Some prefer sweets over savory and others prefer savory over sweets. I, for one, love sweets. But I also love taking a few bites of savories in between so I can eat more sweet goodies.
If you are looking for more savory snacks for Diwali, here are some of our favorites
For all Diwali sweets and snacks recipes on the blog, you can go to the page DIWALI and find them all there. All crowd favorite recipes like halwas, gulab jamun, barfi, chaat, laddoos, kheer and many many other recipes are there.
There are also a few drink recipes like Cardamom Rose milk, Saffron Almond milk and a very delicious Rose Cardamom Gin Cocktail.
To make this butter murukku, you will need the following kitchen things
- Murukku / chakli press
- Kadai or any heavy bottomed pan for deep frying
- A slotted ladle or a spider for straining the chakli out of the oil
Ingredients for butter murukku
The ingredients for butter murukku are fairly simple ones that are already there in your pantry. You need
- Rice flour
- Besan / chickpea flour
- Unsalted butter
- Asafetida / hing
- Cumin seeds
- Salt
- Water
- Oil to deep fry
To make butter murukku
To make the dough for this easy butter chakli, mix together all the ingredients except the oil to form a dough. Add the water a little by little while mixing and not all at the beginning.
Once you have a pliable but non-sticky dough, make lemon sized balls of it and add to the murukku press. Make sure the murukku press has the correct shaped filter holes for the murukku dough to pass through. I like to use star ones or the single bigger round hole to make this murukku.
Heat oil at medium high heat and drop a small piece of the dough to see if the oil is hot enough. If the oil is hot enough, the dough piece will bubble and rise up to the surface of the oil almost immediately.
Once the dough is in the press, close the press and while holding it on top of the hot oil, press down the top to get the dough to come out the base plate holes in strands.
The dough will break into 2-3 inches pieces and that is normal.
Do not over crowd the oil or the murukku won’t cook evenly. Using a spider or a slotted spoon, drain out the murukku pieces from the oil once they look and feel crispy. Don’t let them get golden brown, that is too cooked. They will continue to cook in the heat even after taking them out.
Drain on a plate topped with paper towels. Wait till it cools down to room temperature before storing in an airtight container.
Butter Murukku – Butter Chakli
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice flour
- ⅓ cup besan
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ¼ tsp asafetida
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ½ cups water use less or more as needed depending on the brand of flour mix
- 3 cups avocado oil for deep frying
Instructions
- To make the dough for this easy butter chakli, mix together all the ingredients except the oil to form a dough. Add the water a little by little while mixing and not all at the beginning.
- Once you have a pliable but non-sticky dough, make lemon sized balls of it and add to the murukku press. Make sure the murukku press has the correct shaped filter holes for the murukku dough to pass through. I like to use star ones or the single bigger round hole to make this murukku.
- Heat oil at medium high heat and drop a small piece of the dough to see if the oil is hot enough. If the oil is hot enough, the dough piece will bubble and rise up to the surface of the oil almost immediately.
- Once the dough is in the press, close the press and while holding it on top of the hot oil, press down the top to get the dough to come out the base plate holes in strands.
- The dough will break into 2-3 inches pieces and that is normal.
- Do not over crowd the oil or the murukku won't cook evenly. Using a spider or a slotted spoon, drain out the murukku pieces from the oil once they look and feel crispy. Don't let them get golden brown, that is too cooked. They will continue to cook in the heat even after taking them out.
- Drain on a plate topped with paper towels. Wait till it cools down to room temperature before storing in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Why does murukku break?
This butter murukku is about 1 ½-2 inches in length. If your murukku breaks before it gets to that length while pressing it or breaks once it is in the oil, then the dough is too dry. It is not bound together enough to hold while pressing and frying. Sprinkle 1-2 tbsp water at a time and mix into the dough and try again.
Why is murukku not crispy?
Crispiness comes from the fat content in the dough. If fat is less in the dough the final fried product may not be crispy and easy to bite, but will be very hard and dense instead.
To store the murukku
Wait till the fried murukku has cooled down to room temperature. Transfer to an airtight container. It will stay fresh for 2-3 weeks easily. If you close the murukku container before it has completely cooled down, any steam escaping will create moisture and the murukku will get soggy.
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