Urad Dal Chakli recipe with step by step photo guidance is given. I have given detailed troubleshooting tips to get perfect chakli. Chakli is a spiral shaped deep fried snack with spiked surface.
This rice flour with white urad dal chakli is crispy and flavourful savory snack. Also called as uddina bele chakli in Kannada.
These are prepared as Ugadi, Gokulashtami and Deepavali festival snacks. It’s easy beginners rice flour chakli recipe. This recipe makes tasty murukku. This split skinned black gram flour is used with rice flour to make chakli. In this post I am giving a classic traditional chakli recipe from coastal Karnataka.
Chakli is also called as murukku or chakralu in many South Indian states. It is also called as urad dal murukku.
I have learnt urad dal flour murukku recipe from my mother-in-law. This recipe uses coconut milk and minimal spices.
This homemade chakli is a great snack for picnics and trips for your family.
Why you will love this recipe
Crispy crunchy savoury chakli
This recipe uses simple pantry ingredients.
Its easy to make beginners chakli recipe.
Its plant based savoury recipe.
Festival savoury recipe.
It can be prepared in advance for festivals.
A great kids snack recipe.
Its glutenfree and dairy free snack recipe.
An easy vegetarian snack recipe.
If you are looking for some delicious and tasty snacks for any festive season then click on these
Nippattu – Click here for the recipe is a traditional savory dish from Karnataka. Nippattu are spicy crunchy crackers.
Instant moong dal chakli – Click here for the recipe. This is an easy instant chakli recipe you love making it for festivals and as snacks for munching it with your friends.
Urad dal chakli ingredients
Let’s gather the ingredients for making urad dal chakli or uddina bele chakli
Rice flour– I have used store brought rice flour, however it can be made at home as well.
Urad dal flour – Here urad dal flour or powder, both are the same. I have used homemade urad dal flour (I have given the details in the post) but store brought flour will work as well. In the ingredients picture below, I have given the urad dal picture and not the flour.
Cumin or jeerige – for extra flavour
Salt as per taste – for perfect taste of chakli. We can use any salt here.
Hot oil – Hot refined oil is used, it helps in getting crispy chakli, helps in creating texture.
Coconut milk – Thick coconut milk is used for aroma in chakli. I have used store brought thick coconut milk.
If you want to make coconut milk at home. It can be easily done. To get thick coconut milk, grind grated coconut with half quantity of water in high-speed blender. Sieve the mixture to get the thick coconut milk.
Water as required – We have to adjust water to make a pliable dough.
Refined oil – For deep frying I have used sunflower refined oil. You can use any oil of your choice. I am giving choice of few other oils that can be used coconut oil. This oil gives light coconut flavor to the chakli. If you are allergic, can use any other. Groundnut oil can also be used for deep frying.
Equipment
Chakli maker or presser (I have purchased this from local market) – Its commonly used in making chakli, ribbon pakoda and other fried dishes. It has a plate at the bottom with various shapes. For making chakli we use star shaped plate. We get two types of chakli maker – one with hand presser, other with spirally
Mixing bowl – Used to mix flours and make dough.
Deep fry pan – it is used to deep fry chakli.
Stainless steel deep fryer crafted ladle – to deep fry chakli, strain out excess oil.
Parchment paper to press the chakli on them. This helps to remove them easily and slowly drop them into hot oil.
Kitchen towel or tissue paper – used for removing excess oil from chakli.
Step by step recipe of urad dal chakli
The fist step in making this uddina bele chakli is deciding upon using dal flour from shop or you will make at home. If you plan to make a home, I have given the details below, please follow the same
Urad dal flour preparation:
Urad dal flour can be prepared at home. If you plan to use store brought urad dal flour, check for the expiry date and freshness of flour. As this is an important ingredient, if you use rancid urad dal flour or old stock flour, chakli becomes bitter to taste.
I am giving a simple method of preparing urad dal flour at home.
Take a good quality urad dal. You can take whole urad dal as well. Wash the dal well to remove the dust. Strain the water from dal using a strainer or colander.
Spread thin cloth or dhoti cloth in shade and spread the washed urad dal on cloth. Spread it evenly so that it dries easily.
Dry the dal completely and make it moisture free.
Fry dry urad dal on medium heat, until you get nice aroma. Cool the fried urad dal.
Make a fine powder of this dal using a spice blender or high-speed blender.
Sieve this flour to remove any dal particles. We need fine flour for making chakli.
Frying rice flour:
Heat a broad pan and on medium heat fry rice flour. Do not fry on high heat, this will burn the flour. You will start getting nice aroma after 5 minutes (This time is totally dependent on the heat you fry)
If you touch the flour with the tip of fingers, it will be very hot and burn your fingertips.
Cool the fried rice flour in a mixing bowl, add prepared urad dal flour.
Add cumin or jeerige and salt to this mixture. Mix the flour mixture with a hand blender or with your fingertips. Now the flour mixture is ready, keep this aside until we prepare hot oil.
Heat oil until it starts bubbling. Pour this hot oil on flour mixture. You will hear the sizzling sound when you hot oil touches the flour mixture.
With the fingertip mix the flour mixture well. So that flour looks like breadcrumbs. If you hold the flour mixture with your hand palm, they come together.
Making chakli dough:
Next step is we will add coconut milk to the mixture and mix well.
Add little water at a time and start to bring the flour together. Do not add water all at once otherwise you will land up making very soft dough. Make soft pliable dough.
Keep the dough aside for 10 minutes. The flavors of dough blends well.
While we rest the dough, lets prepare the chakli presser. We have to grease the presser for easy flow of dough while pressing the chakli. Use any oil, grease the inner walls of chakli presser.
For making chakli, we use star nozzle and grease this plate as well. Set up the entire chakli presser ready before we start pressing.
How to make chakli
The dough can be divided and made into logs of 3 or 4 numbers of the chakli maker size. Each time take a single log of dough and fill the chakli maker. Close the presser and make spiral chakli by pressing downwards.
Press 3 or 4 chakli at a time on parchment paper or on greased plates. This helps us to remove the chakli and drop them in hot oil.
Start making spirals from center towards outside. Tightly press the ends and ensure they don’t open.
If you do not have parchment paper, simple use any plates. Just grease the plate with few drops of oil.
The other simple method is press the chakli on the back of frying ladles and slowly slide them into hot oil. Chakli don’t break while dropping into oil if you follow this method.
How to deep fry urad dal chakli?
In a deep fry pan, heat refined oil. To check the heat of oil, drop a small bit of dough to oil. If the dough ball raises slowly to the surface, it indicates oil is ready to start deep fry chakli.
We can now carefully drop chakli one by one. Throwing of chakli into hot oil might cause hot oil to splutter leading to burns.
Take care not to over crowd or put them one above the other. They stick to each other if its overcrowded.
Do not disturb them for few seconds, later turn them over. (If we try to shake them immediately, they tend to break).
After 2 or 3 minutes, chakli settles to the bottom and oil stops sizzling. This is an indication that chakli is done.
Remove these golden coloured urad dal chakli from oil, drain the excess oil and place them on kitchen tissue.
Store the cooled chakli in airtight container. Serve them with your favourite beverage and enjoy as an evening snack with your loved ones.
Storage instructions
Hot chakli should be drained from excess oil and cooled. Always store cooled chakli in airtight container. If they are hot while storing, they become soggy and soft due to moisture.
Never keep the chakli in open for long time. Its becomes soft due to moisture in air. So just cool them to room temperature and store in airtight container.
Important tips to get perfect urad dal chakli
Always use room temperature ingredients to make chakli.
We have to use good quality urad dal and rice flour. Rice flour needs to be residue free, you can simply sift the flour before use.
If you plan to use homemade urad dal flour, then do not roast the dal for too long. Fry till you get nice aroma and powder it fine.
Urad dal flour should be fine powder, there should be no lumps or residues of dal. If there are any dal in the flour, they tend to break in the hot oil.
Adjust salt as per taste to make a perfect chakli.
Do not add more coconut milk, this will make chakli soft and will dissolve the chakli in hot oil.
We can add red chili powder, asafoetida or ajwain, can be added for flavors.
Always ensure to mix the dry ingredients well to get perfect flavored chakli.
If you prefer to add red chili powder, the dough becomes orange or red coloured. So we need to be careful while deep frying, we tend to undercook as the colour of dough is already reddish brown.
Add water little at a time and do not add too much water at once. If we add too much water, dough will become soft and in turn chakli also turn soft.
The dough should not be very hard as well, if the dough is hard, it becomes hard to press the chakli presser.
If you feel the dough is very soft and chakli is breaking in hot oil. It indicates that you have added more water. This can be overcome by adding 2 or 3 spoons of extra rice flour. Knead the dough again and make the chakli.
Proper heating of oil for deep frying is important in any of the chakli recipe. It is of no use even if the dough is right and end up frying a chakli which turns either hard or soft.
So, to check the temperature of hot oil, we can drop a small dough ball into hot oil. If it raises slowly, then its ready to fry chakli.
The dough ball settles at the bottom and not raising, it indicates that oil needs to heat for some more time. If the dough raises immediately, then the oil is too hot to fry the chakli.
Never deep fry chakli in very hot smoky oil. This will burn the chakli and due to urad dal in the flour, chakli becomes dark and bitter immediately. And also chakli gets cooked from surface and inner dough remans
Always close and keep the urad dal chakli dough and do not allow it to dry at any point of time.
Press only 3 to 4 chakli as required, if you press all at once, during frying they dry up and break in hot oil.
Press the inner end to inner side and outer end to outer side of chakli, if not done so, they will open up when dropped in hot oil.
Substitutes and variations
Here are few possible substitutes and recipe variations that you can try
- Sesame seeds can be added to make this chakli.
- The next possible variation is you can add asafoetida, red chilli powder. If you do not want spicy chakli, simply make a plain chakli with just salt and cumin.
- Refined sunflower oil used for deep frying can be substituted with coconut oil.
- Hot oil used for getting crispy chakli can be replaced with butter or oil. Same amount of room temperature butter or ghee can be used. Follow the remaining steps as given in recipe card.
- There is one more possible variation in the recipe, where in pressure cooked urad dal is used instead of urad dal flour. I will surely post the recipe of this in the coming weeks.
If you have tried this savoury snack recipe, don’t forget to leave a rating and a comment below, we would love to hear your feedback.
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Recipe Card
Urad Dal Chakli Recipe or Uddina Bele Chakli
Equipment
- Chakli Maker or Presser
- Deepfry pan
- Mixing bowl
- Stainless steel deep fryer crafted ladle
- Parchment paper, Kitchen towel or tissue paper
Ingredients
- 2 cups Rice flour
- ½ cup Urad dal flour
- 2 tsp Cumin or jeerige
- Salt as per taste
- 2 tbsp Hot oil
- ½ cup Coconut milk
- ½ cup Water as required
- Refined oil for frying
Instructions
Frying rice flour
- Heat a broad pan and on medium heat fry rice flour. Do not fry on high heat, this will burn the flour. You will start getting nice aroma after 5 minutes (This time is totally dependent on the heat you fry)
- If you touch the flour with the tip of fingers, it will be very hot and burn your fingertips.
- Cool the fried rice flour in a mixing bowl, add prepared urad dal flour.
- Add cumin or jeerige and salt to this mixture. Mix the flour mixture with a hand blender or with your fingertips. Now the flour mixture is ready, keep this aside until we prepare hot oil.
- Heat oil until it starts bubbling. Pour this hot oil on flour mixture. You will hear the sizzling sound when you hot oil touches the flour mixture.
- With the fingertip mix the flour mixture well. So that flour looks like breadcrumbs. If you hold the flour mixture with your wist, they come together.
Making chakli dough
- Next step is we will add coconut milk to the mixture and mix well. Add little water at a time and start to bring the flour together. Do not add water all at once otherwise you will land up making very soft dough. Make soft pliable dough.
- Keep the dough aside for 10 minutes. The flavours of dough blends well.
- While we rest the dough, lets prepare the chakli presser. We have to grease the presser for easy flow of dough while pressing the chakli. Use any oil, grease the inner walls of chakli presser.
- For making chakli, we use star nozzle and grease this plate as well. Set up the entire chakli presser ready before we start pressing.
How to make chakli?
- The dough can be divided and made into logs of 3 or 4 numbers of the chakli maker size. Each time take a single log of dough and fill the chakli maker. Close the presser and make spiral chakli by pressing downwards.
- Press 3 or 4 chakli at a time on parchment paper or on greased plates. This helps us to remove the chakli and drop them in hot oil.
- Start making spirals from center towards outside. Tightly press the ends and ensure they don’t open.
- If you do not have parchment paper, simple use any plates. Just grease the plate with few drops of oil. The other simple method is press the chakli on the back of frying ladles and slowly slide them into hot oil. Chakli don’t break while dropping into oil if you follow this method.
How to deep fry urad dal chakli?
- In a deep fry pan, heat refined oil. To check the heat of oil, drop a small bit of dough to oil. If the dough ball raises slowly to the surface, it indicates oil is ready to start deep fry chakli.
- We can now carefully drop chakli one by one. Throwing of chakli into hot oil might cause hot oil to splutter leading to burns.
- Take care not to over crowd or put them one above the other. They stick to each other if its overcrowded.
- Do not disturb them for few seconds, later turn them over. (If we try to shake them immediately, they tend to break).
- After 2 or 3 minutes, chakli settles to the bottom and oil stops sizzling. This is an indication that chakli is done.
- Remove these golden coloured urad dal chakli from oil, drain the excess oil and place them on kitchen tissue.
- Store the cooled chakli in airtight container. Serve them with your favourite beverage and enjoy as an evening snack with your loved ones.
Video
Notes
Frequently asked questions
Can we use homemade rice flour?
Yes rice flour prepared at home can be used. Here is a simple way of making it at home. Clean and wash rice twice or thrice to remove the impurities. Soak the rice in clean water for 15 minutes.
Drain the water, spread evenly on a muslin cloth and shade dry them for one hour. Powder this into fine texture and use them in making moong dal chakli. This rice flour cannot be stored for long time.
Can I use other flours and lentils?
Yes we can millet flour, brown rice flour along side rice flour, the chakli will surely taste different.
Can I use black lentils instead of urad dal?
Yes we can use black lentils. However the colour and flavour of fried chakli changes from that shown in this recipe.
Can I freeze chakli dough?
No we cannot freeze chakli dough, it is always good to use freshly prepared dough.
Can I freeze urad dal chakli flour mixture?
We can freeze the flours separately in airtight boxes for a month.
Can I refrigerate urad dal chakli flour?
Yes it can be refrigerated in airtight container and used whenever required. Simply bring the flour to room temperature, add coconut milk and water to make pliable dough.
Why is my urad dal chakli bitter to taste?
If you have added more urad dal flour than mentioned in the recipe, the flour becomes bitter and in turn chakli also.
Why is my urad dal chakli turned very dark brown colour?
When making urad dal flour, if you have roasted urad dal into brown colour, then chakli also turns brown. The other reason of chakli becoming dark brown is leaving the chakli for long time in hot oil. As the chakli settles at the bottom and sizzling stops, remove the chakli immediately from hot oil.
Can I freeze urad dal chakli?
No deep fried urad dal chakli cannot be freezed, they tend to lose the taste.
Can I refrigerate urad dal chakli?
Yes, you can refrigerate, although I prefer and suggest eating these chakli fresh. They need to be stored in airtight containers.
How long will urad dal chakli last?
These chakli will last for up to 15 days stored at room temperature in airtight boxes. As the time passes, you start getting bad odour from deep fried chakli, that indicates its time to discard.
Can I use roasted cumin powder instead of whole cumin?
Yes roasted cumin powder can be used instead of whole cumin, however it taste different.
Can we replace oil with ghee or butter?
Yes we can replace oil with any fat like butter or ghee. Some amount of fat content is required for crispiness of urad dal chakli.
What should be the consistency of dough?
Urad dal chakli dough should be either too soft or too hard. If we touch, it shouldn’t stick to our hands.
Can I scale this recipe?
Yes it can be easily doubled and follow all the ingredients measurement as given in the recipe card.
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Pavithra M Adiga
I am a passionate foodie and food photographer with love to document easy, simple to follow, healthy vegetarian recipes in Dice n Cook.
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