Chakli / Murukku

Chakli / Chakralu / Murukku :

Chakli is all time favourite savoury anyone / everyone will surely love to eat. It is such a tempting snack, I would think before I taste a piece. I am too scared that I cannot stop till they are all done. (Without thinking of the after eating effect )

Stopping here, I would jump to writing the recipe.

Ingredients:
For the Murukku Powder
(You can also use ready mix if available)
Rice : 4 cups
Urad Dal - 1 cup

For making the dough
Butter : 100 grms
Sesame seeds - 3 tspn
Hing : 1/2 tspn
Salt for taste
Water enough to form a dough

For Chakli
Oil for deep frying

Method:
For making Murukku Powder
1) Wash Rice and Urad dal separately, drain water and spread it on a cloth. Let it dry in room temperature for about 30 mins.
2) Now, take small portions of urad dal and dry roast them till they turn light golden brown.
3) Similarly roast the rice, just enough to let go the moisture in it.
4) Now, mix both together and blend them into a fine powder.
For making the dough
5) Take a broad mixing bowl, and spread butter evenly all around the bowl, till you think its melting.
6) Now, add the powder to this and add sesame seeds, Hing and salt and mix all together.
7) Add water little by little and little and make it into a soft dough.
8) Now make equal portions of the dough just nice to fit into the chakli maker

Cylindrical Shapped dough portions. Ready to enter the Muruku/Chakli Maker / Press

9) Now, out of the options you get in the press use the one with single star, and put the dough into the maker and press on small plastic sheets / banana leaves / wax paper. (whichever is available) into spirals as big as you want.

10) In the meanwhile, take a deep frying pan, and heat enough oil.

11) Once hot, slowly drop the pressed chakli into the oil, and deep fry on medium flame till they turn light golden brown.



Murukku / Chakli pressed on small sheets of Plastic paper.

Pressed Chakli ready to be deep fried.

Chakli ready to be tasted.

12) Now, you can store these in air tight containers and best served with a hot cup of coffee / even along with sambar rice or rasam rice. :) Yum..

Note:
1) You need to knead the dough as much as you can. This will prevent the chakli from breaking in between while you are trying to make the spirals.
2) In case the chakli is breaking while pressing, you can use little water and make the dough a little softer (if it turned out to be hard) and knead again and press.

Cheers!
Madhavi

Kajjikai / Stuffed coconut Pastry

Kadubu/ Kajjikai / Stuffed coconut Pastry

Its a festival time and  we are all looking for making lots of sweets, savories and cakes. Here is one of a very tasty savoury, which is one of my all time favorite.

The stuffing to this pastry can be of a lot of varieties, here is my recipe with a dry coconut stuffing/filling. Here you go with the Ingredients,

Ingredients:
For the dough
Maida/All purpose flour - 1/4 cup
Fine Semolina / Chiroti rava - 3/4 cup
Salt to taste
Butter - 1/4 cup or
Hot oil - 1 tbl spn
Water sufficient to mix the dough

For the filling:
Dry coconut - 1 cup (Finely grated)
Sugar - 1 cup
Ghee Roasted Cashew nuts - 1/4 cup
Cardamom Powder - 1/2 tspn
and oil for deep frying


Method:

For the dough:
1) In a mixing bowl, add Butter and spread all over the bowl. (if you are using hot oil, you can skip this step and add oil on top of the dry mixture and mix well and continue with step 3.)
2) To this add maida, salt, semolina and salt and mix all the ingredients thoroughly well.
3) To this add water as needed and make it into a dough (Just like how you make for puris) and keep aside.

For the Filling
4) Now, for the filling, add dry coconut, sugar, cardamom powder and cashews mix well and keep aside.

For the Pastry
5) In a frying pan, add enough oil for deep frying and keep the flame low.
6) In the meanwhile, make small lemon sized balls and keep aside.
7) Roll each ball into small puris (Preferably make oval shaped puris) and
8) Add 1 tspn of the filling in the center of the puri and close the puri to make it into a semi - circle leaving the filling locked inside.
9) Now, lock or seal the puri to make sure the filling is secure inside and does not spill out into the oil while deep frying.
10) Repeat this to the rest of the balls. and drop these stuffed puris into the hot oil and deep fry.
11) You will have crispy stuffed coconut pastry ready to be served for any festival or even as a dessert in your parties.

Note:
1) You can store these pastries in air tight container for more than 2 weeks.
2) You can customise the filling to your taste.
      Options for the filling: You can also add semolina, crushed Dalia, Crushed poppy seeds and many more.

Enjoy!
Madhavi

Kodbale

Kodbale/Koloda

 It literally means, "a bangle made out of a mixture". I figured this out during a casual conversation with my in laws and they gave me this explanation.

Anyway, now you know, with in-laws around we have experts/pros on board and am back with an authentic snack recipe.

This is a snack which most of the Kannadigas love to eat and relish. We love to eat these with Hot cup of Filter coffee / Tea during the evenings. Usually, this is a delicacy we enjoy when anyone returns from Bangalore and a must for my MIL to make. (You know why.. its my Hubby's fav snack) :)

Here you go with the detailed recipe and enjoy making it and storing it to relish with a HOT CUP OF COFFEE.. :)

Kodbale, Travelled all the way from Bangalore to Kuala lumpur :)

Ingredients:
Rice Flour - 4 cups (We used Red rice flour/ Kempuakki hittu)
Maida Flour/all purpose flour - 1 cup
Fried Gram dal / Uragadle - 1 cup
Chiroti Rave / Bombay Rava - 1 cup
White sesame / Till - 1/4 cup (around 4 tspn)
Jeera - 4 tspnButter - 1/4 cup (around 50 grms)
Hing - 1 tspn (around 25 grms)
Fresh Coconut - 1 cup grated
Dry coconut - 1 handful (Optional)
Dry Red chillies/Byadige mensinayi - 1/2 cup (or as per your taste)
Oil for deep frying
Salt to taste

Method:
1) Take Maida/all purpose flour and dry roast till good aroma comes out and keep aside.
2) Take Chiroti Rava/Bombay rava and dry roast till good aroma comes out and keep aside.
3) Take Roasted bengal gram/Urgadle and blend it to a fine powder and keep aside.
4) Now take Byadige menasina kai and blend it to a course powder and keep aside. (Make sure it is dry enough if not, you can dry in for 1-2 hours under sunshine on a hot day)
5) Now take fresh coconut and dry coconut and blend it to a fine powder with as little water as possible, and keep aside.
6) Now take a broad basin and spread butter all around the basin till it melts and add Hing to it and mix well.
7) Take another basin, and make a mixture rice flour, maida, chiroti rave, uragadle powder and chilli powder and mix well.
8) Add this mixture to the basin where you have butter and then,
9) add till, salt, jeera, and hot oil (1/4 cup) to this and mix well.
10) Now, add ground coconut and mix well.
11) In another small basin, and keep aside 1/4 portion of the mixture and mix well with enough water to make a hard dough.
12) Now, make small ball from the dough, knead it well and roll it to make a long cylindrical string, and shape it into a bangle as you see in the photo. (make sure the dough is not dry and does not crack.)
13) And now these are ready to deep fry. 14) Repeat step 11 to 13 for the remaining flour.

NOTE:1) Do not make a dough with large quantity of mixture. It will make the kodbale sour and tends to break while kneading / frying.

 2) Deep fry on a medium flame, till they are golden brown.
3) If you are making small quantity, you dont need to split the flour to make a dough.

Cheers!
Madhavi