The butter murukku in the Indian grocery aisle looks right for chai until you open it. Flat butter, a waxy oil note, and no real heat.
So I fry butter murukku at home. The same spiral is butter chakli in a Gujarati or Maharashtrian kitchen, and some shop labels spell it murruku. This batch is rice flour and wheat flour, 65 grams of softened butter, yogurt, and fresh ginger and green chilli ground together. That paste is why it tastes like it was fried this afternoon.
It is a different dough from my rice flour chakli, which leans on roasted chana dal and ajwain. The oven cousin is multigrain baked chakli. This one goes into hot oil.
If the murukku press is clean, let’s make a tin.
Chakli and murukku are the same spiral
Chakli (also chakri) is the name I grew up hearing in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Murukku is the Tamil and Kannada name for that same star-pressed, deep-fried coil. The shape comes from the disc. The dough is what changes the snack.
A lot of butter murukku recipes online stay pale. Rice flour, fried gram or urad or besan, butter, sesame. Mild, almost white, closer to the packet. This butter murukku with rice flour is the spiced chakli side of the family. Wheat flour and yogurt soften the dough. Turmeric warms the color. Cumin, hing, sesame, and a teaspoon of fresh ginger-chilli paste do the seasoning. The butter is still the point. Sixty-five grams in this batch is enough to taste, without turning the spiral greasy.
Packet versions win on convenience. They lose on the day you actually want crunch with chai. A spiral that cooled on a rack that afternoon snaps. A pack that sat under shop lights does not.
From my kitchen: I measure about 1/3 cup warm water for this flour, after the yogurt is already in. That is what makes a soft dough. The first time I treated it like a stiff chakli and held back the water, the star ridges cracked as they left the press and the coils broke in the oil. Soft dough holds the shape. Stiff dough shatters it.
Why you’ll love this butter murukku
- Real softened butter, not the flat butter flavor in a grocery pack
- A soft dough from about 1/3 cup warm water, so the spiral pipes clean
- Fresh ginger and green chilli, ground together, for a small hit of heat
- Rice flour for the snap, wheat flour and yogurt so it is not hard after it cools
- One tin for chai, a lunchbox, or a Diwali dabba
- Deep-fried, and worth it
This is a fried snack. I am not going to call it a health food. Wheat flour and yogurt bring a little protein next to the rice flour. Butter is the richness, and the ginger-chilli paste is there so you taste something besides oil. On a vegetarian chai plate, that is the crunch next to something fresh. Pair it with vegetable pakora or onion pakora when the kadai is already out.
Perfect for
- Chai, the day you fry them
- Replacing the butter murukku pack in the Indian grocery aisle
- A Diwali tin, once they are fully cool
- A milder batch if you skip the chilli and keep the ginger
Soft dough, then a steady fry
Two things decide this butter murukku. The rest is a star disc and hot oil.
1. Soft dough, about 1/3 cup warm water. Stir the rice flour, wheat flour, salt, sesame, turmeric, hing, and cumin. Rub in the softened butter until the flour looks like damp sand. Mix in the yogurt and the ginger-chilli paste, then add about 1/3 cup warm water. Stop when the dough is soft and smooth, the kind that squeezes through a star disc in one rope. If a ridge cracks, add warm water 1 teaspoon at a time. If the dough sticks to your palm, dust in a spoon of rice flour. Cover whatever you are not piping with a damp cloth. It dries out on the counter and then breaks.
2. Oil that is hot, not raging. Drop a pinch of dough in. It should rise in a few seconds without browning on contact. Too cool and the coil drinks oil and falls apart. Too hot and the outside darkens before the wheat in the middle cooks. Pipe coils about the width of a small cookie, a few at a time. Fry until they are evenly golden and the bubbling slows. Drain on a wire rack. They crisp as they cool. Close the tin only after they are fully cool, or the steam softens every spiral you just fried.
Grind the paste fresh. A small piece of ginger and green chilli, ground together, until you have 1 teaspoon. Jarred paste tastes dull here, and this recipe only uses a teaspoon, so there is nowhere for that dullness to hide.
Butter Murukku (Butter Chakli)
Equipment
- Mixing bowl
- Murukku press or chakli maker with a star disc
- Kadai or heavy pan for deep-frying
- Slotted spoon
- Wire rack
Ingredients
For the dough
- 2 cups rice flour
- 1 cup wheat flour
- salt to taste
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (hing) compounded hing; use a pinch if yours is pure
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger-chilli paste ginger and green chilli ground together
- 65 grams butter softened, about 4 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons
- 1/4 cup plain yogurt
- 1/3 cup warm water plus 1 teaspoon more only if the dough cracks
For frying
- neutral oil for deep-frying
Instructions
Make the paste and the dough
- Grind a small piece of fresh ginger with green chilli until you have 1 teaspoon of paste. You want both in the paste, not ginger juice with chilli flakes stirred in later.
- In a bowl, mix rice flour, wheat flour, salt, sesame seeds, turmeric, hing, and cumin powder.
- Rub in the softened butter with your fingertips until the flour looks like damp sand and no lumps of butter remain.
- Add the yogurt and the ginger-chilli paste. Mix. Add about 1/3 cup warm water and bring it into a soft dough. It should be smooth and hold together, soft enough to pipe, not sticky. If the star ridges crack when you test a squeeze, add warm water 1 teaspoon at a time. If it sticks to your palm, work in a spoon of rice flour.
- Cover the dough with a damp cloth while you heat the oil.
Fry the spirals
- Heat oil in a kadai over medium. The oil is ready when a pinch of dough rises within a few seconds and does not brown instantly.
- Fit the murukku press with a star disc and fill it with dough. Pipe coils about the width of a small cookie, either onto a piece of parchment or straight into the oil if you are comfortable with the press. Keep the coils in a single layer.
- Fry until the spirals are evenly golden and the bubbling slows. Turn once so both sides color. Lift them with a slotted spoon onto a wire rack.
- Repeat with the remaining dough. Let every spiral cool completely before you pack them. Warm chakli in a closed tin steams and goes soft.
Notes
Butter Murukku FAQs
What is the difference between butter murukku and regular murukku?
Butter murukku uses softened butter in the dough, so the bite is richer, with a softer snap. A regular chakli or murukku is often rubbed with hot oil and loaded with more chilli. This batch has 65 grams of butter, yogurt, and only 1 teaspoon of ginger-chilli paste, so the butter leads and the heat stays in the background.
Why is my murukku breaking?
The dough is too dry, or the oil is too cool. This recipe wants a soft dough, about 1/3 cup warm water after the yogurt. If the ridges crack as they leave the star disc, add warm water 1 teaspoon at a time. If the coils slump and fall apart in the oil, the dough is too wet or the oil is not hot enough. A pinch of dough should rise in a few seconds.
What if the chakli is hard after it cools?
It was under-fried, or the dough was too stiff. Fry until the bubbling slows and the color is even, then cool on a rack in a single layer. A soft dough crisps. A dry dough sets hard. Do not close the tin while the spirals are still warm.
Can I make butter chakli vegan?
Yes. Use the same weight of softened vegan butter and 1/4 cup unsweetened plain plant yogurt. Keep the dough soft. The spiral will be a little less rich than one made with dairy butter, and it still fries crisp.
How do I store butter murukku?
Cool the spirals completely on a wire rack, then pack them in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to 2 weeks. They do not belong in the fridge. Moisture there turns them chewy.
Is butter chakli healthier than the supermarket pack?
It is still deep-fried. The difference is the ingredient list: rice flour, wheat flour, butter, yogurt, sesame, and a fresh paste, instead of whatever oil and flavor the pack used to survive on a shelf. I make it because it tastes better the day it is fried, not because it is a light snack.
Fry a tin instead of opening a pack
Butter murukku is the chai spiral I would rather fry than buy: a soft dough, 65 grams of butter, and ginger and green chilli ground while the oil heats. The grocery packs taste the same once you have eaten a coil that cooled that afternoon.
If you make this, tell me: do you want the ginger-chilli paste in, or ginger only?
Made this? Share a photo and tag @petitepaprika on Instagram. I love seeing your kitchen creations!
