Sabudana (Tapioca) Chakri

This is my family favourite chakri (murukku) recipe. It makes a very light, melt in your mouth crispy chakri which I can never replace with any other recipe. My son refuses to eat store bought chakri and he even tried his hands making it at his house. We did virtual cooking where he was making chakri at his house in US and I made at my house in Canada. I got an overwhelming response to that post. Chakri are mostly prepared during Diwali but no one will say no if they get to eat this during anytime of the year. It’s a perfect crunchy snacks with hot masala chai. To prepare this you need to have chakri maker at home, you can find it in most Indian stores.

Recommended product:

Preparation Time: 40 minutes

Cooking Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

1¼ cup sabudana (tapioca)
1½ cups rice flour
2 tbsp clarified butter (ghee)
1 tsp black pepper powder
1 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Procedure

1. Pulse grind 1¼ cup sabunada in dry grinder so it breaks. Then soak in 1¼ cup warm water. Keep this on side for 3-4 hours until sabudana are soft. You can check and add little water if it gets too dry. Once ready, mash soaked sabudana with hands so mixture is mushy.

2. In a big mixing bowl, mix together rice flours, soaked and mashed sabudana, black pepper powder, sesame seeds, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well. You can also add 1/2 cup sour yogurt at this point if you want slight tanginess. Add very hot ghee in the flour mixture and mix using spoon. Prepare dough with hands. Only add little water if you need it. Dough should semi soft. Kneed the dough for 4-5 minutes using your palm and stretch. This will create binding in the dough. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest for few minutes.

3. Divide dough in 5-6 portions. Now again kneed the dough properly. Then prepare rolls (like sausage) which can fit in chakri maker so hands doesn’t get dirty while making the chakri. Keep this covered.

4. Grease chakri maker from inside, add star shape disk inside chakri machine. Fill chakri maker with one rolls and start making spiral shapes. Slightly push the end of the spiral so it will stick and will not separate while frying. If you don’t kneed the dough properly then chakri can break. If that happens, you can just create straight line (instead of spiral) and fry that.

5. When oil is hot, keep the heat to medium. Drop in one chakri at a time using flat spatula. Do not over crowd the pan. Fry chakri on medium till it’s golden brown from both sides. Prepare one batch at a time. Chakris are very delicate, be very gentle while frying in the start. Let it get slight hard in frying pan before moving. You can fry 8-10 chakri at a time depending on the size of your frying pan. When ready and slightly change colour, remove on paper towel. Then fry the second batch. I try to keep 10-12 spiral ready while I am frying one batch, so second batch is ready for frying.

6. When all chakris are fried and cool down slightly, store in airtight container. It can stay good for 2-3 weeks. These chakris are light and crunchy. We like to eat as snacks with hot masala tea/chai.