Actually this is a murukku recipe with a twist. There are many different ways to make murukku but adding javvarisi to the murukku dough is very new to me. I love javvarisi vadgam for its crispiness and adding sago to murukku really did the trick of making it very crispy and delicious. Thanks to Srivalli of Spicing your life . She conducts an event called Indian Cooking Challenge. I found the theme of the event to be very nice. My grandmother knew to make many different sweets and snacks and my mom only knew 10% of it. Now myself I just know only 5% of what my mom knew. The reality is many of our traditional recipes are in the danger of extinction. In Indian Cooking Challenge you get delicious recipes which are traditional and time-tested. You have to try it. Isn't this a wonderful way to learn traditional recipes and pass on to your generation? So this is the first time I am participating in the ICC event and this saggubiyam janthikalu turned out to be awesome!!! Thank you Srivalli for this recipe :) I have a doubt Srivalli....should we use curd or sour buttermilk? What is the reason for using curd and not water to soak sago? My friend asked me this and I had no answer :)
Ingredients :
Rice flour- 2 cups
Fried channa gram dhal flour (pottukadalai maavu) - 1/2 cup
Besan flour (kadalai maavu) - 1/2 cup
Sago (javvarisi)- 1/2 cup
Curd- 50 grams
Chilli powder- 1 tspn or as per taste
Asafoetida- a few pinch
Oil- 50 gms
and Oil for deep frying
Special utensil- murukku achuMethod :
Soak sago in the diluted curd for three hours. Dilute the curd so that the sago is totally covered by it. When I added curd to the sago within 15 minutes the sago absorbed all the liquid. Then I have to add some more water to make the sago sitting immersed inside the fluid . This is very important to make the sago super soft. Srivalli and my mom already warned me what will happen if the sago does not turn super soft. When the sago is not soft enough, when you add the murukku dough to the hot oil, they will literally burst....Imagine the hot oil splashed out everywhere and the sound of crackers in your kitchen, so be extra careful.With this fear in my mind I checked the consistency of the sago frequently. I had an idea of grinding the sago into a paste if they do not turn soft enough. But with careful monitoring and addition of water the sago turned super soft in 3 hours time. When you press the sago between your thumb they should become a paste and thats the right and safe consistency. Now take rice flour in a vessel, add pottu kadalai maavu and kadalai maavu to it. Add enough salt to taste, asafoetida and red chilli powder to the flour mixture. Now heat 50 gms of oil in a pan. When the oil becomes hot add it to the flour mixture and mix the flour using a spatula. Then add the soaked javvarisi to the flour mixture and make a soft, smooth dough out of it. Add more water if the moisture and liquid in the soaked sago is not enough. Now take the murukku achu fill dough in it and make murukku shape as shown in picture. Now heat oil, when the oil is hot enough fry the murukku and take them out when they turn golden brown in colour.
Look at the murukku with javvarisi in it. For me it appears like pearls embedded in it. They did have a wonderful crispiness and taste!!! You will also fall in love with it, especially your children.
Taste enhancing tips for this recipe : Take care about the sago part. Make sure the sago turns soft enough. If you still have a doubt the safest way is to grind the sago and add it to the batter. If the murukku dough is too dry you will not get a perfect murukku like this. They will break into small pieces when you fry them in oil. The dough should be moist enough but not too watery or dry. Do not over fry the murukku otherwise it acquires a different taste. For me without asafoetida, murukku is not complete. So add a few pinches of asafoetida. It greatly enhances the flavour. Happy cooking!!!
. Might be it's due to the difference in the rice flour. I used a store bougt one and my mom used to soak raw rice, dry it in shade and then grind it along with roasted urid dhal. Even the ground flour smelled too good. Rajender likes this snack. So I made it few days back. I wanted to post it on this special occassion of Ugadi. I should also mention about my mom-in-law in this post. She is very talented in preparing snacks and sweets. Even the neighbours seek her help for making snacks. When my mom-in-law prepares adhirasam / arisil there will be many of her friends present. It will be like a festival. They easily prepare hundreds of arisil a day. There will be lots of interesting chatting going on and at the same time their hands will be working very artistically. I really admire my mom-in-law. Once I tried making adhirasam myself. I thought being her daughter-in-law I should also be good in making snacks and sweets 
. So one fine day I told Rajender, I am going to prepare arisil. He looked at me and said Manju no need. Why do you want to trouble yourself? (the hidden meaning is please do not trouble me by dumping all the extra works on me!!! 
). I replied 'no, no I have seen athamma prepare it. Thats very easy. Get ready to eat wonderful arisil'. I worked on it very hard. Even the rice flour when mixed with jaggery syrup tasted superb. I am in an elated state of mind till I dropped the prepared dough in oil. All my happiness vanished in a second. The prepared dough broke into pieces (not even into big pieces
). And there ended my story of making adhirasam. But I am sure I will be as proficient as my mom-in-law in making adhirasam one day 
. So coming back to the muruku story, I prepared muruku using store bought rice flour. It tasted good but not as good as my mom's or mother-in-law's 
. So here comes the recipe for it: