Achu Murrukku / Rail Kattadam

I remember my mom trying these cookies and struggling to pull out of the mold. Ok, don't under estimate her cooking skills, my mom rocks in her kitchen! Either the batter never sticks to the mold or the batter sticks forever. She blamed the mold and tried with iron, stainless steel, aluminum mold nothing worked out. Only her "achu murrukku" collection grew up! Still she owns the stainless steel but not in use! She never blamed the recipe because it is passed down by her sister. My aunt prepares these achu murrukku with perfection. She will neatly pack these Achu(mold)murrukku in air tight container and visit us for every Diwali. They were crunchy and almost melt in your mouth with the right hint of sugar. She has ton of patience, I should agree after my attempt! Yes, after trying on my own, I realized I need more than one mold and loads of patience to try with only one mold :) Phew, I am going to buy another mold in my next trip! I got it quiet cheap in my home town, online is very expensive under rosette cookie mold!

Achu murrukku or Rail (=train) Kattadam (=building) is a bizarre Tamil name but probably referred to train wheels :) is simply a deep fried snack, mildly sweet, light and extremely crunchy. These cookies are popular around the globe too: in Tamil Nadu (rail Kattadam/achu murrukku), Kerala (rose cookies), in Malaysia ( as honeycomb/ Kiuh rose) and in Norway as rosette cookies. 

I assume the rosette was introduced by our colonized people (probably from a Norwaygian?) and the chef have used local ingredient - coconut milk to enhance the flavor or Indianized version! 

Do you know these cookies under different name?

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Ingredients:

Raw Rice / Sona Masuri (i used): 1 cup

Fresh Coconut: 3/4 cup grated

Extra large Egg: One count

Sugar: 1/4 cup is enough but use (+ 1 tbsp if u want slightly more sugary)

Sesame seeds: 2 tsp

Salt: a pinch

Oil: to deep fry

Special equipment: Achu murruku mold or Rosette mold

Soaking:

Soak the rice for at least 4 hours with enough water. Rinse thrice or until the water clear out.

Grinding:

Grind the soaked rice and coconut together into fine batter. Using a very little water as possible. At the end, add the sugar and salt.

Mixing

Beat the egg well separately and mix with the ground batter. The batter should be like (pancake batter or dosa batter consistency), add the sesame seeds.

Frying

Heat a deep pot with oil enough to deep fry.

Keep the mold in oil, heat the oil and mold. Now take out the hot mold and dip in batter only 3/4 . Don't immerse fully, the cookie will never slide.

Immerse the mold in hot oil and keep few seconds, with a sharp knife or vadai stick slightly help to pull out the cookie, they will slide in oil.

It cooks pretty quickly, drain in paper towel and cool it completely before storing in air tight container.

Note: First two to three cookies will break. Quiet normal if you own an iron mold but later u should get some beautiful cookies.

I kept my stove in medium heat, because I owned only one cookie mold and few cookies came slightly reddish (temperature of oil was very hot)! 

Tips for brand new mold or mold not used for decade:

If it is brand new mold (iron) - cure the mold first.

Soak for 24 hours the mold in rice water (kanji tanni) : water extracted after cooking the rice.

Next wipe the mold dry, and smear oil generously or keep in oil immerse bowl for two to three days.

Troubleshoot:

If the cookie sticks to the mold: probably you have immersed the mold completely in the batter or the oil temperature is very hot

If the batter doesn't stick: the mold is not hot enough, temperature of oil is low.

If the cookies break, probably u haven't cure the mold before.

Try to have at least two molds before attempting.