Festival times are not complete without savory snacks to go along with the sweet ones. Chakli (aka Chakri or Murukku) is a crispy spiral snack made from rice flour. It is perfect with tea or coffee or just on its own. Try this super easy Chakli recipe for Diwali or any other time of year.
Ingredients:
Sour Cream – 3/4 cup
Green Chili Paste – 1 tsp or to taste
Ginger – 1 tsp, minced
Sesame Seeds – 1/2 Tbsp
Salt – to taste
Cumin Seeds – 1/4 tsp, roughly powdered
Rice Flour – 3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp
All Purpose Flour (Maida) – 1/2 Tbsp
Oil – for deep frying
Method:
1. In a medium mixing bowl, add all ingredients EXCEPT Rice Flour and All Purpose Flour. Mix well and adjust salt.
2. Add Rice Flour and All Purpose Flour and mix to form a soft dough using your hands.
3. Heat Oil in a pan for deep frying.
4. Place dough in a lightly oiled Sev Maker or Press using the single star disc.
5. Form Chaklis in a circular pattern on a piece of foil or wax paper. They can be approx 2 inches in diameter.
6. Once Oil is hot, carefully lift each chakli off of the foil and drop it in the oil. Chakli can be placed on a spatula and slid into the oil for safety.
7. Fry (on medium heat) as many chaklis as will fit into the pan without overlapping each other.
8. Once the chaklis turn light golden, flip them over and fry other side until light golden.
9. Remove chaklis from oil onto a paper towel lined plate. Cool completely before eating. Store in an airtight container or ziploc bag at room temperature.
10. Makes approx 17-18 chaklis.
Hi Hetal and Anuja can you please tell me how much plain flour and sour cream i have to add to 2 kg rice flour
Hi!
I love your recipes and have tried chaklis like yours a few times and they are great. Wanted to know can I make them in the air fryer?
Also lately people make chakli using avocado smashed instead of the fat. Can I substitute sour cream for avocado to make it healthier? Suggestions and expertise would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Hello Anuja/Hetal,
Would like to know whether you have used roasted rice flour or plain rice flour?
Hi Nambiar,
We use plain unroasted rice flour.
Hello Hetal/Anuja,
Just wanted to thank you guys for this wonderful recipe. The Chakri’s came out very well & we all enjoyed them. Thanks again – great website with wonderful recipes.
– Geetha
Hi Guys
Love your recipes. Tried chakli to the exact spec; but as soon as I dropped them into the oil, they disintegrated into pieces. Cant figure out why that would happen when I followed your recipe.
I have read all the comments and none seem to have encountered this problem. Any assumptions as to where I would have gone wrong?
Joe
Hi Joe,
Hmmmm…we have never had that happen. My only guess would be the difference in quality of the rice flour. Sometimes, the older the flour is, the more/less moisture is absorbed. Maybe the dough was too crumbly? You can try to add just a little less rice flour if you want to try it again. The chakli should form nicely without breaking as you lay them out onto the foil.
hi…hetal and anuja…i am almost in love with u guys….great cooking, great explaination….just superb/…..
hi my question is that can we grind rice at home to make rice flour? will it work?thanks
Hi Harjinder,
We have never made rice flour at home but know that some people do. A coffee grinder or a stone grinder would be better than your regular blender.
YES!!! – Thank you so much for this question and the answer!
I had just been debating with myself whether I would want to go and buy rice flour just for this, but this is such an obvious solution.
After all, I bought my coffee grinder specifically for my new found passion for indian cooking. 🙂
Lesson confirmed: It definitely pays to read until the last comment.
Thank’s again,
Sabine
hi
i hae been trying many recepies of chakli all were coming hard.today i thhought to try ur recepies.it was wonderfull.chaklis very very crispie n soft at the same time.can i use yougart inplace of sour cream?
onerequest your videos sound recording is not good.some times difficulit to understand.
n one request to anuja ji….plz keep your hair tied.it is a humble request
Hi Kat,
We have not tried it with yogurt but it may separate in the hot oil (not exactly sure). This is one of our older videos…we have since improved our sound equipment.
Kat – Greek yogurt should give you the same consistency as sour cream with less fat. Would not use regular yogurt unless you strain it – it would have too much liquid otherwise. If you’re wanting to use yogurt in place of the sour cream due to fat content, I use light sour cream (Daisy brand) and the chakris turn out perfect.
Great recipe! My chakri never turn out (unless my mom makes them, of course!), but they did this time – yay! I also really appreciate the tip about only turning out as many as needed to fry in one batch. I’ve made them before where I’ve turned out a lot more than I can fry at once and they inevitably turn out rock hard. Anyway, thanks again!
You are very welcome Mona!
Hi. Can I use daisy brand sour cream .. Is it works? What brand of sour cream u are using ..pls reply ..thank u for great recipe..
Hi Swathi,
Yes, any brand of sour cream will work.
Hello ladies 🙂
Is it ok to use a regular piping bag with a star tip? I dont have a Sev Maker…
Hi Sakina,
We have not tried it but it should work (especially if you don’t have access to a sev maker). Please let us know your feedback if you decide to try it out :).
Hello,
I tried the Chakli recipe today. But they did not turn out quite as good. There was a bitter sour taste coz of the sour cream. Also after frying, the outer coat was crisp and dark brown in color but the inner dough was white and a lil uncooked. So I reduced the heat under the oil pan, this change cooked them inside and out but the chakli’s are hard as rock :(. My poor 3 year old was telling me “mummy please break them in small pieces for me” :(…Chakli is my fav. 🙁 Can you please tell me what I might have done wrong ??
Thanks,
Nandini
Hi Nandini,
So sorry to hear about your chakli experience. We’ve never had issues with them being hard. In fact, they are quite crispy. Maybe when you reduced the temperature, it was too low? You can tell the oil is ready when you drop a small bit of dough into the oil and it sits there for a second before floating up.
Hi Hetal & Anuja,You girls need tobe on foodnetwork.I love lots of your receipes. Thanks for the great receipes.
Can you tell me how long is the shelf life of these chakalies?
I want to make it for my daughter who lives out of town in a big batch .
Hi Anuja & Hetal,
I tried this recipe yesterday, it came out very nice. Its taste was very different. Usually in murukku they wont add ginger. Why you are adding ginger? Can omit ginger in this recipe?
Hello Hetal and Anuja,
Thank u so much. Your recipes are superbbbbbb!!! I would really love to try the chakklis.But couldn t find sour cream.We live in Oman.Icould find thickcream ,whipping cream but sour…???? What actually should I Substitute with and what propotion???? Pls help.
Keep Rocking.
Hi Deepa,
Sorry, no substitutes – it’ll be a different recipe with different ingredients 🙁
If any of the viewers have an answer for you, I am sure they will pitch in and help…
Hi Hetal and Anuja,
Do you have any tip for the left over oil after we fry ? Do you reuse it or throw the oil.
HI HETAL
THNKS FOR THE RECIPE. DO U USE ROASTED RICE FLOUR OR NORMAL RICE FLOUR (BUY FROM SUPER MARKETS). ? THEN IS IT WHITE OR RED RICE FLOUR?
THX
Hi Viesh,
We used normal, unroasted white rice flour.
thank u Hetal.
Thnx for this wonderful recipe Hetal and Anuja. I used the food processor for kneading. doubled the ingredients and still fell short as the murukkus came out awesome !! thnx agian!
Hi Veera,
Too funny…that is exactly my husband’s reaction (“That’s all you made?”) Lol!
Hi ladies, I liked the way you prepared the chaklis with sour cream. I tried and they taste awesome 🙂 You girls have really made my life easy these days – I am so hooked to you both – now you are stuck with me.
With my ashirwaad and love to you both…
Renuka Aunty
Thanks Renuka Aunty! 🙂
has anyone used a food processor for the kneading?if yes, pls share ur experience. will help a lot of folks , i’m sure.
hello hetal,
i tried it too. it was really hard. hurts my teeth. how long should i fry it? it was golden brown. would it be hard if i left the unfried spirals out for too long?
what i did was i squeezed everything out first on layers of wax paper, then only fry them.
thank you!
angie
Hi Angie,
hmmm…we’ve never had that problem. I am wondering if by squeezing all of the chaklis out first, the outer layer kind of dried up – causing the hardness?
hello hetal,
thank you for responding. well, it’s winter time too and i’m in texas.
i cook outdoors, could that have hardened the chaklis rings whilst waiting for deep frying?
the taste is perfect, just really hard. 🙂
thank you,
angie
Hi Angie,
That’s probably what happened. The outside air might have dried out the dough. I usually do not form all the chaklis at once. I do one batch while the other is frying…no more.
ic, thanks for the tip. will try again =)
Hi Hetal and Anuja …. firstly, thank u so much for this recipe . I tried them out and they tasted very good and but my chaklis were a bit hard … not very hard but they were a bit hard . Can you please help me with the a way i can make them crunchy and crisp but not hard .
Thank you ,
Anusha
Hi Anusha,
hmmm, they usually do not turn out hard. Maybe you fried them too long?
Hi Hetal & Anuja,
i love your show. can you please add some more punjabi sabji.
Thanks
Hi Hetal & Anuja,
Thanks for giving this easy recipe. Definitely I am going to make it. Both of you are incredible. Really both of you are doing great job. Can you please show us Mathiya Recipe? A big hug to both of you.
Thanks
Thanks so much Nidhi! We’ll put mathiya on our list to do.
I have a question – my husband who is from India brings back Murukku – this one has a slight flavor of coconut to it. I’ve looked all over have yet to find a recipe that incorporates this ingredient. One time he’d brought back some from India after his brother’s wedding and those had the flavor of coconut to it. I loved it. If anyone can help me find a version of it with this – I would greatly appreciate it.
I’ve also looked for this type of murukku in the grocery stores here and I’ve never come across one that had the ingredient of coconut.
Thanking you all in advance for any input!
Liane
Hi Liana,
It is possible that the murukku was fried in coconut oil.
I tried your recipe… but ran out of sour cream and so I used half yogourt half sour cream…. My son and s/o both LOVED them… however I don’t know if they would have gotten crisp after cooling (having used the yogourt) as they were eaten before they got that far!!
Thanks for the great recipe !!
Thanks for the feedback Monique!
Hi Hetal N Anuja
I just tried ur chakli recipe and it turned out great..:)
My 3 year old son loves it too..:)
Keep up the great work and looking forward for more tasty recipes..:)
Hi Hetal n Anuja
I just tried ur chakli recipe and it turned out great…My 3 year old son loves it…:) 🙂 🙂 And its so easy to make..!!
Keep up the great work and looking forward for more tasty recipes
Hi Sridevi,
Thanks for the feedback! Gotta love it when your kids love the food you make :).
thx for great recipes ! plz post some rice cooker & crock-pot recipes when you get a chance! thx !
here the perfect recipe for all those who are intrested in low fat snacking
1 cup aata or wholemeal flour
1/2 cup dahi (u can use low fat)
water as need to make stiff dough may few spoons
1 tea spoon melted ghee or butter
1/2 tsp roated cumin powder
1/2 tsp seasame seeds
1/2 tsp sugar
salt as per taste
chilli powder as per taste
one mens hanky (rumal)
in rumal put aata and tie potli,in the bottom keep a big bowl in that bowl keep potli,make three whistle and let cooker cool down after it cools,the dough will become like a soft rock break and make powder add all the ingridients make a stiff dough
grease the baking tray bake them until crispy.
Hi
did u put dry aataa in the potli or dough?
Thanks
Yes, the atta was dry when we added it to the sour cream mixture.
hi
did u put water in the cooker ? Did u put aata or dough in the potli ?
kindly reply
thanks
thnx for this low fat version. can u pls also tell us at what temp u bake them ?
i dont make them in spiral just straight in baking tray so its helps to bake all even.
i think this is with lots of calories, i make chakaries with 1 cup of aata and 1/2 cup of youghurt and one tea spoon ghee,
and rest masala are same . i bake them they turn really crispy and delicious u can deep fry also.
Hi Jayashree,
Wow…baked chaklis…that’s awesome. We will definitely try out your version. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much for this recipe.Will definately try it soon.
Thanks a lot, Monique. I will look for the sev maker in the indian store.
can we use fat free sour cream?
We have not tried it with fat free sour cream. If you try it (maybe a small batch), we’d love to hear your feedback.
I have tried it with fat free sour cream and my chakris were hard as a rock. So, this time I used regular sour cream and it came out perfect, even if I do say so myself. 🙂
Firstly Happy Diwali and a prosperous New Year to both of you and your families. May you have an excellent year.
Now the question:
If I dont have a sev maker can I use the cake icing equipment or can I just just a ziploc bag with a nozzle. Please let me know because on my side too it is difficult to get a sev maker.
Hi Shazia,
If you don’t have a sev maker, then you can definitely improvise with with a piping bag or ziploc bag. You will not get the authentic star shape of chakli but they will still taste the same.
why the foil? can we do the chakli’s directly on the oil like you did the jalebi’s?
the end of the chakli need to b pressed in the center.
Anyone can let me know where i can buy this sev maker and what is the approx price. Thanks.
I bought mine at an Indian foods store, for $8… but it is very similar to my cookie press (but you squeeze instead of turn the handle) which cost alot more… 🙂
What brand of cookie press you have..Am planning to purchase one for making Indian Snacks
Due to Sour cream will it taste kinda sour?
I also make Chakris with sour cream but the measurements are different.
I take one can of sour cream and one can plus 1/4 can or so of rice flour, enough to make the dough, (using same sour cream can) add salt, ginger, green chilies, sesame seeds and cumin seeds. No all purpose flour. Chakris will be delicious and crispy without the all purpose flour.
Mmmm… this looks like such an easy recipe… I am so glad I didn’t buy them the other day when I was at the market…
I am going to make them this afternoon.
Thanks!!
Monique
HI Hatel & Anuja..
Can i replace sour cream by yogurt??
Hi Haseefa,
This recipe is specifically for sour cream. We have not tried it with yogurt but it may react differently than sour cream. If you try it (maybe a small batch), we’d love to hear your feedback.
I tried it with sour yogurt worked and well! What I liked about it is I used low fat yogurt and so I cut on fat 🙂
Hi Satya,
Glad you enjoyed your Chakli 🙂
hi, its really nice..but one thing, what can i use instead of sour cream???
Traditionally butter is used.
This recipe is specifically for sour cream. You can definitely use oil or ghee or melted butter but of course the amounts will be different.
This recipe is specifically for sour cream. You can definitely use oil or ghee or melted butter but of course the amounts will be different.
I tried your Chaklis today. They are really delicious. My hubby can’t cook anything but can complain about everything when things are not right.He said they were yum yum. I made some minor changes. Added 1 TBSP of oil to the mixture so the dough wouldn’t stick. I also cut up one green chilli into small pieces rather than use a paste.You have to cut th em real fine as they may get stuck in the chakli press while making them.All in all I would give it a 10.
Rama
Thanks for the feedback Rama! Glad hubby approved :).
Hi Ladies,
Adding sour cream is new..lets try n see…
Happy Diwali!!
Sudha Balaji