Muruku/Jantikalu

Jantikalu, murukulu, chekkidalu  whatever the name is, it a favorite snack for many people.Even children love to munch on these after coming from school. In it's preparation also,there are many variations. Amma used to make with rice flour and sour butter milk.Sometimes potato mash can be mixed with dough which will give very good taste to jantiklau.Today I prepared these with roasted urad dal flour and rice flour.

Ingredients:

Roasted Urad dal flour-1cup

Rice flour- 4cups

Ajwain seeds-1tsp

Sesame seeds-1tsp

Salt to taste

Red chilly powder-11/2 tsp(Adjust to your taste)

Butter-2tbsp(Optional)

Oil for deep frying  and last but not least jantikalu press(You can get it in any Indian store)

Preparation:

1)Mix all the  above ingredients with water to make soft dough.(The dough should be soft so as to form concentric circles in oil )

2)Heat oil in heavy bottomed vessel. When oil is hot fill the jantikalu press with dough to half and rotate it to form concentric circles in oil.(As soon as you press the dough in hot oil bubbles will froth up and will start to disappear once the jantikalu turns golden brown.So heat oil properly and always fry on medium heat).

3)Remove them to absorbent paper  and cool them completely before storing them in an air tight container.

This is the the press I got. I have used these two discs to prepare these.After filling the dough in press first close the lid and rotate the handle in clockwise direction in oil  to form the concentric layers of jantikalu.For refilling rotate the handle completely in anti clock wise direction and then remove the lid.Unless  the handle is rotated completely the lid can not be opened. Oops I forgot; another variation in making these  is using of besan andd rice flour in 1:2.