Thenkuzhal

I am not sure as to why on Earth this karumuru stuff got a name synonymous to that of a sweet..."then"kuzhal!! Kuzhal is a wind instrument (like nagaswaram)....likewise when you break the thenkuyal you can see that it is hollow....and "then" (do not read this word the way you do in English though) it is Honey ( தேன்). The word "Kuzhal" always reminds me of the kural - "kuzhal inidhu yaazh inidhu enbatham makkal mazhalai sol kelaadhavar"... true isn't it...

This was the first karumuru my son had and he loved it. When my friend came back from her India trip she brought back thenkuzhal made by her patti...since I never game my son store bought namkeen he had never tasted these.... he loved the thenkuzhal and enjoyed the ones that my friend got for him...He was around 16 months or so at that time....I made the same for Diwali last year but somehow did not get it right....I made it yesterday and it turned out pretty good....Hence wanted to post it... this might come in handy for my friends to make Sri Jayanthi Bakshanam which is falling on Sep 1, 2010.

Ingredients

2 Cups Raw Rice Flour
1 Tbpsn Urad Dhal Powder (Dry roast urad dhal and grind it. Sieve it and then use)
1 Tsp Jeera
1/4 Tsp Hing
3/4th Tsp Salt
1/4 Stick Unsalted Butter
Water
Oil for frying

Take the Rice Flour and mix the urad dhal, salt, jeera, hing and butter. Mix well by sprinkling water from time to time. You may add the oil that you have heated to bind it well. Make it into a soft dough.
Heat the oil. You need the Murukku Press to make these. Spread the oil that is getting heated in the press. Take small balls put in the press. Make thenkuyal by squeezing the press (achu) over the oil. Take it out when the noise stops (the salasala satham of oil). Some people say that thenkuzhal has to turn brown.....but I would say the authentic ones have to stay white in color (the trick for that remains in making the urad dhal!) ....Enjoy the karumuru thenkuzhal!