Kai Murukku

Every Tamil household knows Kai Murukku. Not the kind that comes in a sealed packet from a factory somewhere, with a uniform spiral and an aftertaste that lingers too long. The kind made at home, shaped by hand, fried in cold pressed groundnut oil, and eaten while still warm from the kadai.

The word kai means hand. This murukku is literally shaped by hand. Each piece is twisted individually by the women who make it. These are rural women from Tamil Nadu who have been doing this their whole lives and whose hands know exactly how much pressure the dough needs, how tight the spiral should be, and when the murukku is ready to come out of the oil.

Ours is made with Ponni rice flour, white ulundhu, A2 butter, black sesame, and pottukadalai. Fried in cold-pressed groundnut oil. No maida. No palm oil. No vanaspati. No preservatives. No artificial colour.

The texture is what you remember from the good version. A clean crack when you bite in. A warm, roasted rice aroma. The slight crispiness of white urad dal and the sesame coming through. No greasy coating on the fingers afterwards, because it was fried in real oil at the right temperature.

Made in small batches. Packed fresh. Delivered across India.

Rich in fiber

Good source of carbohydrates

Supports digestion

Provides lasting energy

Low in sugar

Most murukku you find in shops, supermarkets, and even in Diwali gift boxes is made with maida as a base or extender. Maida gives a softer, more uniform crunch. It is cheaper. And it is not what murukku is supposed to be made from.

Kai Murukku is a rice and urad dal preparation. Always has been. Our version uses Ponni boiled rice flour and white ulundhu. That combination, with nothing to dilute it, gives the murukku a crunch and aroma that maida-based versions cannot match.

Palm oil is the most commonly used frying oil in commercial snack production in India. It is cheap, stable, and odourless. It also leaves a greasy, slightly cloying finish that you can feel in your mouth after eating. We fry in cold-pressed groundnut oil. The difference is immediate and obvious.

A2 butter is in the dough itself. Not vegetable shortening, not refined butter. A2 butter from indigenous cows, which gives the murukku a richness and a slight depth that commercial butter or shortening does not produce.

The hand-twisting is not a marketing phrase. Machine-made murukku is extruded. The dough is pushed through a die and the spirals are identical. Hand-twisted murukku has slight variation in each piece; slightly uneven, slightly different in thickness. This is how it looks when a person makes it. The variation in thickness gives you different crunch levels in the same piece.

Each batch is made by rural women in Tamil Nadu. This is not automated. The skill is theirs and it shows in every piece.

Best before: As printed on the pack. Typically 15 to 21 days.

Keep in an airtight container at room temperature. Away from moisture, steam, and direct sunlight.

Do not refrigerate. Moisture from the refrigerator will soften the murukku and you will lose the crunch.

Once opened, transfer to a tin or glass container with a tight lid. The original pack can be resealed but a hard container maintains the crunch better. We only send kai murukku in fresh batches so you can consume them guilt free.

If the murukku has softened slightly, spread on a plate and leave in a warm, dry spot for 30 minutes. The crunch returns in most cases.

Ingredients:

Ponni Rice (Boiled) · White Ulundhu (Urad Dal) · Pottukadalai (Roasted Gram) · Black Sesame (கருப்பு எள்ளு) · A2 Butter (A2 வெண்ணெய்) · Cold-Pressed Groundnut Oil (for frying) · Cumin Seeds (சீரகம்) · Salt

No maida. No palm oil. No vanaspati. No preservatives. No artificial colour or flavour. 

Fried in: Cold-pressed groundnut oil. 

Contains: Sesame, groundnut (peanut), dairy (A2 butter), urad dal. 

Net weight: As listed on the product page. 

Best before: As printed on pack. 

Packed by: myHarvest Farms, No-22A, First Floor, Subashree Nagar, Extension III, Mugalivakkam, Chennai – 600 116 

Support: 7200606516 | community@myharvestfarms.com