In the last post, I referred to Muruku/s (also spelt Murukku/s. So here I am singing its praises.
Murukus - twisted ivory ropes, like a long braid coiled up, crunchy & crisp yet melting in the mouth - aha... to be so lucky as to have savoured this savory from the southern part of India. This is also called the Kai Muruku and is the authentic one. Kai meaning "hand" and Muruku meaning "Rope". "Muruku" in verb form means to tighten.
Murukus - twisted ivory ropes, like a long braid coiled up, crunchy & crisp yet melting in the mouth - aha... to be so lucky as to have savoured this savory from the southern part of India. This is also called the Kai Muruku and is the authentic one. Kai meaning "hand" and Muruku meaning "Rope". "Muruku" in verb form means to tighten.
The muruku is made of rice powder with a small quantity of the urad dal or skinned black gram (lentil) and a bit of spice. The Muruku's cousins are the more common Mullu Muruku (or Thorny Rope)called Chakli or Chakri in the Northern part of India and the Thenguzhal (smooth Tubular coils) - both are made with small hand devices and are easier to make. Today, there are devices even to make the "Kai Muruku", but these machine made ones end up being hard (or kadak as they say in Hindi) rathen than being crunchy.
Here is a little poem I found about Muruku in Tamil, most probably a nursery rhyme..
Mazhai varudhu, mazhai varudhu nellu allunga,
Mukka padi arisi pottu Muruku sudunga,
Nellu allina mama'nukku Muruku kodunga,
Summa irrundha mama'nukku Soodu vai'nga...
I have translated it for those of you who do not speak Tamil.
Rain is coming, rain is coming, quickly pick the grains
Take 3/4 measure of rice and fry murukus
Reward your uncle who picked the grains with Murukus
and the one who did nothing, give him the hot spatula
{In earlier times, mothers would often discpline their kids by saying if you do mischief, I am going to punish you with a "soodu" - a touch of the hot, usually, steel spatula, she was using while cooking.}
My earliest association of the Muruku is with weddings. A wedding is not complete without a Seeru ( i.e. a variety of sweets and savories). One of the main items is the Muruku. It was decided between the bride and bridegrooms families on the number and even size of the murukus (the number of circles).
I remmember one time going with my grandmother (during a visit to Kolazhi, Trichur in Kerala), to her friend's home where there was going to be a wedding. My grandmother and some ladies made Murukus, the diameter must have been about 1.5 ft with star like patterns in it. It is called the Kalayana Muruku or the Wedding Muruku. My own mother learned to make the more humble ones (still by no means a mean skill) by practising on wheat flour. I loved to eat both the half-cooked Murukus that my mother mistakenly allowed us to taste. Once she did that, she had to always keep a few unfried ones for us. The well-fried and crunchy ones were no less yummy.
Talking of Murukus bring back many memories. My grandparents had a small pestle in which they would pound their betel leaves and nuts with a hint of lime (chuna or chunambu) to eat after their meal, like a digestive. Now, while the betel nut is not considered healthy these days, the leaf itself is good for health. In south India, it is an old practice to encourage pregnant women to eat betel leaves after lunch or dinner. As kids, we would be given the tiny stalk of the leaf. And if we liked it, the leaf with a dash of the lime. As kids, what we liked about eating betel leaves, was it made our tounges red. We did not care for the nut which one has to chew and spit out. I will write another post about the betel leaves and how it is eaten.
Getting back to Murukus and my grandparents, when we children were around, we would love to pound the betel nuts and leaves together for our grandparents who would find it easier to chew. It was the same with the Murukus. Since it was hard for them to chew, we would pound it in the pestle, so they could enjoy the Murukus.
Here is a little poem I found about Muruku in Tamil, most probably a nursery rhyme..
Mazhai varudhu, mazhai varudhu nellu allunga,
Mukka padi arisi pottu Muruku sudunga,
Nellu allina mama'nukku Muruku kodunga,
Summa irrundha mama'nukku Soodu vai'nga...
I have translated it for those of you who do not speak Tamil.
Rain is coming, rain is coming, quickly pick the grains
Take 3/4 measure of rice and fry murukus
Reward your uncle who picked the grains with Murukus
and the one who did nothing, give him the hot spatula
{In earlier times, mothers would often discpline their kids by saying if you do mischief, I am going to punish you with a "soodu" - a touch of the hot, usually, steel spatula, she was using while cooking.}
My earliest association of the Muruku is with weddings. A wedding is not complete without a Seeru ( i.e. a variety of sweets and savories). One of the main items is the Muruku. It was decided between the bride and bridegrooms families on the number and even size of the murukus (the number of circles).
I remmember one time going with my grandmother (during a visit to Kolazhi, Trichur in Kerala), to her friend's home where there was going to be a wedding. My grandmother and some ladies made Murukus, the diameter must have been about 1.5 ft with star like patterns in it. It is called the Kalayana Muruku or the Wedding Muruku. My own mother learned to make the more humble ones (still by no means a mean skill) by practising on wheat flour. I loved to eat both the half-cooked Murukus that my mother mistakenly allowed us to taste. Once she did that, she had to always keep a few unfried ones for us. The well-fried and crunchy ones were no less yummy.
Talking of Murukus bring back many memories. My grandparents had a small pestle in which they would pound their betel leaves and nuts with a hint of lime (chuna or chunambu) to eat after their meal, like a digestive. Now, while the betel nut is not considered healthy these days, the leaf itself is good for health. In south India, it is an old practice to encourage pregnant women to eat betel leaves after lunch or dinner. As kids, we would be given the tiny stalk of the leaf. And if we liked it, the leaf with a dash of the lime. As kids, what we liked about eating betel leaves, was it made our tounges red. We did not care for the nut which one has to chew and spit out. I will write another post about the betel leaves and how it is eaten.
Getting back to Murukus and my grandparents, when we children were around, we would love to pound the betel nuts and leaves together for our grandparents who would find it easier to chew. It was the same with the Murukus. Since it was hard for them to chew, we would pound it in the pestle, so they could enjoy the Murukus.
Recipes for Kai Muruku
Related blog/site
Where and who makes Kai Murukus in USA
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