Ragi Chakli Recipe

Ragi Murukku! A finger millet snack, deep-fried or air-fried!

Make delicious finger millet chakli at home.

A spiked spiral that your Indian friend will offer is Chakli. It is a savoury snack from India. These delicious deep-fried snacks used to be made at home. Now, we may have easy access to the packaged stuff, but where’s the fun in that? Make them at home and rediscover the flavour!

Finger Millet Chakli recipe and me
Why make MSK recipe?
How to make Ragi Muruku
For Your Questions
Some recipes Delicious Diwali Recipes
Recipe Card
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Finger Millet Chakli recipe and me

Chakali and laddoo are 2 perquisites of any Diwali festivities in my books. I have memories of my sister and mother making the chakli while I was employed to fry them. It was my brother’s job to keep us supplied with tea.

When Akanksha was little she wanted to make these. So every year we made them.

So chakli or murukku has always had fond memories for me. This time Akanksha came home after a year in Bangalore so we made them again. Of course, I have to change my pictures and update my post to make it more SEO friendly.

Why make MSK recipe?

My chakli is something you should try as they are

Millets included
Homemade
Can be made Gluten-free
Can be baked/Air fried
Can be made vegan

How to make Ragi Muruku

Ingredients

Finger millet flour
Black gram flour
Rice flour
Butter
Sesame seeds
Red chilli powder
Turmeric powder
Asafoetida (do not add if making gluten-free)
Carom seeds
Salt to taste
Water to knead
Oil to deep fry

Substitutes

The butter replace with oil and the quantities remain the same.
In case you want to avoid the finger millet, use just gram flour also called besan.
To make the chakli absolutely gluten-free do not add the asafoetida.

Method

Dry roast separately the dry flours till warm and let them cool.
Add the toasted and cooled sesame seeds, chilli powder, turmeric, asafoetida and salt to the flour.
Rub in the butter in the flour then mix with water to form a soft dough. Rest the dough fro about 10 minutes.
Fedd the diugh in a greased press and press the mixture out into spirals. Do not forget to seal the edges.
Deep fry in hot oil till golden brown and darker in shade.
Drain and let them cool before transferring to an airtight container.

How to serve

Chakli while it tastes best when hot with a dollop of homemade butter. But you can serve them with tea, laddoo on the side when cold too.

Storage

Cool the chakli and store it in an airtight container.

This is an old post that I am updating with newer pictures and a write-up as a part of the group Foodies_RedoingOld Post.

For Your Questions

Protips

In place of Finger millets flour, you can use chickpea flour or besan.
If you do not have the mould, make kadboli. There is a video for you to watch in the end.
You can also make your chakli using an icing gun or piping bag with a star nozzle.
Grease your press mould before adding the dough to it.
It helps if before adding the dough to the press you dip your hand in the water and knead it a few times.
Keep the unused dough covered.
Do not add too many chakli to the oil.
When frying keep the heat constantly on medium heat. Too high will mean the outer side will be burnt and the inside will not cook.

Frequently asked questions:

Why does my chakli/ murukku break when making?

If your chakli breaks when you are squeezing from the mould it means the dough needs more water. Remove the dough from the chakli press, sprinkle some water, go easy a tablespoon at a time is all that you need to add. Knead the dough.
My Chakali/ murukku dough is not retaining shape when pressed, how do I fix it?

Add more dry flour, rice flour is better and mix the dough. Adjust the seasonings and knead again.
My chakli/ murukku are not crisp and is hard after frying, why?

The fat in the dough is less. Add some more butter or oil.
Why is my fried chakli soft?

How did you fry the chakli on high heat? Always fry on medium to high flame. When frying on high flame the outside gets cooked but the inside needs to still cook. Since the inside is undercooked it will be soft while eating.
What is the difference between Chakli and Murukku?

Your typical Chakli is made from rice flour, Bengal gram (brown chickpea) flour and black gram (urad daal) flour. It has several variations, depending on the types and proportion of flours used. Murukku, a similar snack typically made without Bengal gram flour.
Finally, if you do not have the Chakli press/ mould, how do you make the chakli?

You can 1) make kadboli (video below). 2) Sprinkle more water on the dough and knead it. The dough should be like buttercream icing. Add it to the greased piping gun with a star nozzle and make spirals.

Roll out the dough into thin logs then make spirals. These are called Kadboli.

Some recipes Delicious Diwali Recipes

Recipe card

Try air frying these yum Ragi Chakli recipes

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Appetizers-Starters, Snack

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: Barnyard Millets, chakali, chakkuli, Festive Cooking, Festive Recipes, Indian Cuisine, Kid Friendly Food, Millet, Ragi Chakli | Ragi Murukku

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 1

Total Time: 1 10

Servings: peices

Calories: 59kcal

Author: ArchanaPotdar

Equipment

Kadhai/wok
Chakli mould/press
Icing Gun with star nozzle
Slotted Spoon
Colander

Ingredients

1 cup ragi flour heaped
½ cup urad dal flour
⅓ cup rice flour
35 grams Butter
3 teaspoon til/ sesame seeds
3-4 tablespoon Red Chilli powder
½ teaspoon haldi/turmeric powder
½ teaspoon Hing/Asafoetida
¼ teaspoon Ajwain I did not use
Salt to Taste
Water to knead
Oil to deep fry

Instructions

Dry roast separately the ragi flour, urid dal flour and the rice flour till just warm.
Transfer them to a big mixing bowl and let them cool down.
Roast the til/ sesame seeds until warm.
Add the butter, til, chilli powder, turmeric, and hing, salt to the flour.
Rub the butter in all over the flour.
Using a little water at a time mix and knead the dough.
The dough should form a ball. Knead for a few minutes.
Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside for 10-15 minutes.
Divide the dough into 3 balls.

Using the Chakli press

Grease the inside of the chakli press and feed one of the dough balls in it.

The Chakli dough using the Icing Gun

For using the icing gun you will need to loosen the dough. So sprinkle water and make the chakli softer/looser. The consistency is like buttercream icing.
Grease the inside of the icing gun and attach the star nozzle. Fill the dough.

Making the Chakli

You can make the chakli on a plastic sheet or greased slotted spoons. You need to grease the slotted spoons well initially.
Making chakli is similar for both the plastic sheet and the slotted spoon. Using clockwise circular movement squeeze out the chakli.

For Deep-Frying Ragi Chakli

Heat the oil in a kadhai/wok. Keep a plate and then set a metallic sieve on it. (This will drain out all the excess oil). Alternatively line a plate with tissue paper.
In case you are using the plastic paper, then gently remove the spiral and release it in hot oil.
But, if like me you use the slotted spoon then just dip it in the hot oil and gently tap the spoon. Please be careful the oil is very hot.
Splash with the slotted spoon hot oil on the chakli.
Fry until golden brown on both sides. The oil will tend to sizzle, foam initially but as the chakali is cooked the foam tends to settle.
Flip once the foam settles your chakli will be set and hence will not disintegrate. Once you get the hang of it, you will need to flip only twice.
Since the dough is already a dark shade going by colour to fry these chakli results in uncooked chakli. Fry them until a bit darker in shade.

Air frying the Chakli

Preheat the air-fryer for 5 minutes at 180C/350F.
Grease the base of the air fryer basket and gently lay the chakli spirals. Drizzle ½ teaspoon oil on the spirals.
Bake for 5 minutes, flip and drizzle oil and bake again for 5 minutes. Flip and repeat baking for another 5 minutes.

How to store Chakli

If deep frying drain and set on the sieve/ absorbent paper.
Let them cool before transferring to an airtight container.

Notes

If your chakli breaks when you are squeezing from the mould it means the dough needs more water. Remove the dough from the chakali press, sprinkle some water and knead the dough.
It helps if before adding the dough to the press you dip your hand in water and knead it a few times. Keep the unused dough covered.
Do not add too many chakali in the oil. Keep the heat constantly on medium heat. Too high will mean the outer side will be burnt and inside will not cook.

Pin for later:

Finger millets murukku air-fried and deep-fried

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