Rice Flour Stick Vadagam

Come summer and starts the best use of the sun's heat.  This year too I made vadams/vadagams/vadiyaalu/kondattams/crispies (call it either way).  I normally do the easy and simple varieties of them as I would like to do them side-by-side with my morning cooking chores.  I also make them in smaller quantities making it easy to handle and not strain too much on making them as a whole lot.

I normally make rice flour in bulk for this season and store it to be used now and then to make these vadagams.  It comes in handy for many purposes.  Store bought rice flour can also be used.



Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 1 cup
Water - 3.5 cups
Rock Salt - 1 tsp
Gingelly Oil - 1 tbsp

Method:

In a bowl, mix in the rice flour and 2 cups of water to a smooth, flowing paste.  There should be no lumps.  Do this step off the stove.

In another thick bottomed vessel, heat the rest of the water and bring to a boil.  Add the rice flour paste to the boiling water as a continuous stream and keep mixing.  Add the salt and oil and allow to mix stirring continuously.

It will start to thicken and become a thick mass.  It may form lumps, so keep stirring.  We need a smooth, lump free mass of rice flour.

When the thick rice flour cooked dough comes together, becomes shiny to look, and does not stick to your wet hands, switch off the flame and allow to cool.

Mix with the ladle once or twice in between to cool down the dough.   The dough should not be too dry or a tight mass.

When the dough is warm, fill into the murukku press with the single star plate (achu) inside and press into long strips on a plastic sheet or cloth placed on a flat surface.  Since my star achu was not big enough, my baking stuff came handy and I used my piping bag and star icing nozzle to pipe out long strips of the cooked rice flour dough.





Dry them under hot sun's heat until there is no moisture.  When the sides start to turn crisp at the edges, peel and turn over.   Once the other side is also dried, break them into finger long sticks.  Transfer to a broad tray/plate and allow to dry for 1 more day.  I dried them for 3 days totally.



Store in clean, dry container and use as and when needed.  If properly dried, they stay good for a long time.



To fry them, heat oil in a kadai and fry till it puffs up completely.  The oil should not be too hot, else they would darken.




Store the fried vadams in an airtight container and serve with any variety rice or sambar/rasam rice or munch as such.

Notes:

You can add jeera, ground chillies, omum, etc. to the boiling water itself as additional flavors to the vadam and make it spicy too.  We like them plain, so I have not added any of these, just salt.

Adjust salt according to your taste.  The general rule is to use half the quantity of salt for the vadams than what we would use normally for any other dish.  Only then, the fried vadams will be of normal salt taste, else it would be too salty if full quantity to salt is used while making the vadams.

Sago can be also be added to add extra crispiness to the vadams.  Add about 1 to 2 tbsp of sago for this quantity of rice flour.  Soak the sago in 1/4 cup of water for about an hour and grind it in the mixie and add to the rice flour paste and then proceed with the process.  Alternatively, you can add powdered sago to the rice flour and do the vadam.

Happy Summer days!!

Mullu Murukku

Source:

Mrs. Saraswathi Raj

Ingredients:

Roasted Rice Flour/Idiyappam Flour - 4 cups

Gram Flour - 2 cups

Roasted gram (pottukadalai) flour - 1/2 cup

Moong Dhal (payaru paruppu) flour - 1/2 cup

Salt - 2 to 3 tsp

Red Chilli Powder - 3 to 4 tsp

Asafoetida Powder - 1/4 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Omam - 1 tsp (optional)

Butter - Lemon sized ball

Water - As needed

Oil - To deep fry


Procedure: 

1.  Mix all the flours together well.

2.  Add salt, red chilli powder, asafoetida, cumin seeds (jeeragam) and/or omam.  Mix well together so that all the ingredients are uniformly mixed all over.  Adjust salt and chilli powder according to your taste.

3.   Add butter to this mixed powder mixture and mix well with your fingertips all throughout so that a crumbly texture is formed uniformly.   You can around 50 to 60 gm of butter for this quantity.  Adding too much of butter will distort the consistency of the murukku, so beware.  Alternatively, you can heat up 1/2 cup of oil and add to the flour mix instead of butter (if you do not have butter or do not want to use it) and mix it up uniformly.

4.  Divide this flour mixture into 3 to 4 parts and keep aside.

5.  Take one part of the powder mixture and add water as needed by sprinkling little by little at a time to make a soft dough.  Make into medium sized balls for easy handling.

6.  Heat oil in a medium sized deep frying pan.  Drop a small ball of the dough to check if the oil is hot enough to fry the murukkus.  If the dough rises to the top immediately with a sizzle, the oil is ready for frying.

7.  Use your murukku mould fit with the star nozzle and greased with little oil on the inside.  Fill with 2-3 balls of the dough until 3/4th full and press the mould directly on hot oil (simmer the flame) spreading all over the kadai.  Deep fry till golden brown in color and the sizzling sound stops.  (Do not over fry, else it will get burnt.)  Repeat the same for the rest of the portions of the mixture.

8.  Drain in a tissue paper.

9.  Cool and store in an airtight container.

This recipe is one my mother-in-law taught us and her murukkus are so crispy and oil-free on touch.  She is a versatile cook and follows the traditional recipes that are tasty and healthy too.

Notes:

To make roasted Rice Flour - Wash and soak raw rice in water for about 1 hour.  Strain water and spread in on a cloth and allow to dry.  Do not allow to dry completely.  When it is half dry, machine it to a fine flour.  This step can be made at home by powdering the semi-dry rice in a mixer grinder and sifting it.  When the flour is still wet, roast the rice flour little at a time (say about a cup or 2) until the moisture is completely removed and the flour is dry.  Try drawing lines with this flour.  If you could draw the lines without a break, the roasted rice flour is ready.

Roasted Gram (Pottukadalai) Flour -  Powder the necessary quantity of roasted gram in a mixer grinder and sieve.  You can sun dry or roast for a while in a kadai to make the pottukadalai crispier and making powdering easier.

Moong Dhal (Payaru paruppu) Flour - Dry fry the moong dhal in a kadai till it slightly changes color.  Cool and powder in a mixer grinder.  Then sieve and use.