Moulouk- Murukku

Moulouk  or murukku  is a crunchy, crispy, light,  aromatic  and addictive  snack with a dominant cumin flavour which  is very easy to make. It is of Indian origin and is a very popular snack all over the Seychelles.

Moulouk derives from ‘Murukku’ which is the Tamil word for “twisted”, which refers to its shape, although the Seychellois cook twists their moulouk very differently from the Indians. The Indians twist to form concentric circles and the Seychellois twist in the form of a short piece of ‘two-strand rope’ as shown in the photo above.

The Seychellois Moulouk

There are many varieties of moulouk and the one I am sharing is the authentic Seychellois version also known as moulouk trese. You will notice that the main ingredient is plain wheat flour and that chilli is optional and in most cases it is traditionally not featured as an ingredient. Wheat flour moulouk is usually not featured as a main ingredient in the authentic Indian morukku. I guess this is because in the early days of settlement gram or chickpea flour  and  rice flour, that are used in the Indian Murukku, were hard to obtain and wheat flour was more readily available and  our grandparents,  who probably longed for some murukku, had to improvise and by doing so, invented a crispy, long-lasting and addictive snack, the moulouk.

A contribution from Joky Mein

Jocky who is colleague of ours advises us that he gets his moulouk to get extra crunchy by adding a few tablespoon of oil. Give it a try.

Preparing the dough

Place flour in a mixing bowl, add in the roughly ground cumin seeds, cracked pepper and  salt and mix thoroughly. Create a well in the centre of the flour and gradually add water and mix to form a soft dough.  If you feel that the dough needs some water, sprinkle some lukewarm water and mix into the dough. Remove dough from the bowl and place on a floured working top and knead for a good ten minutes . Ensure that the dough is not too soft or hard. It should be just right to cope with the hand twisting without breaking. Rest the dough for about 45 minutes.

Why do we rest the dough?

We rest the dough because we want to fully develop the gluten that is formed in  the dough. It is the gluten that will allow us to twist the dough. Gluten helps foods maintain their shape, acting as glue that holds food together and it is formed when two of the wheat’s native proteins, glutenin and gliadin, come in contact with water. The mixing and the kneading assist in speeding the hydration process and assist in the development of the gluten. The resting allows the gluten to fully form and bond.

Preparing for the twist

Place dough on a floured bench and roll it to about ½ cm thick. Trim dough to get a width of about 12 cm. Once rolled, use a sharp knife and cut strips of approximately 3/4 cm wide.

Hold each strip one at a time and roll them between your palm to a tubular form until it gets to about 20 cm long and ½ cm in diameter. Gravity will assist you in this process. They will end up looking like thin ‘logs’. Do not make them thicker as they will loose their crispiness when fried.  

If they are too thick, you can also choose to finish the ‘logs’ by gently rolling them on a table. In this case, you should try to gently pull the dough, by gradually moving your hands away from each other while rolling until you get the desired thickness and length. The rolled ‘logs’ should be around   20 cm  long. Trim accordingly.

The twist

As mentioned earlier, for the hand-twisting to work you need the wheat flour because it has gluten and without the gluten you will not be able to twist the moulouk  like a ‘rope’ . Other types of moulouk use chickpea and rice flour as their main ingredients and they are also very tasty.   Unfortunately,  if you use chickpea or/and rice flour you will not be able to twist your moulouk  because  you require gluten to get the ‘twist’ to hold,  and both the chick pea and rice flour do not have any gluten. 

How do you twist?

Once you have prepared your ‘logs’, hold the ends between between your thumb and index finger  and then roll one end clock wise and the other end anticlockwise and move your hands together. This will result in the pastry twisting on itself like a rope. You may also need to place a finger in the loop that is formed and turn it a few times to complete the twist. The moulouk will look like it has been braided, hence moulouk trese, meaning braided murukku. Pinch the ends you are holding together so that they do not come undone. Your uncooked moulouk will end up around 9-10 cm in length. Do not stress if you end up with a longer moulouk, you can always trim it to achieve your desired length.

Another slightly more difficult method is to place your ‘logs’ on a flat surface, place your hands flat at each end and gently roll one side away from you and one side towards you, then lift the ends and move them together and your moulouk should twist automatically. Pinch the ends as stated above.

The modern ‘flat’ version

As can be seen from the description above, the traditional method  of preparing the moulouk is quite time consuming.  You may decide to do away with the twisting  and go for ‘flat’ moulouk  which is how most moulouk you buy these days  look like. To prepare the flat moulouk , you roll the pastry flat to about ¼ cm thick and cut into small strips of about 1 cm wide and 5 cm long and fry them. You will end up with crispy and partly puffed up moulouk but it will not be the authentic Seychellois moulouk.

The spices

The only spices that are featured in the moulouk are cumin or lanni, which is the main ingredient, and some cracked black pepper. Avoid using whole cumin seeds as they may pop on frying and you may end up with little bombs in your oil.  I do, however, use whole cumin seeds because I like the full cumin flavour, but I roughly grind them using the old-fashioned pestle and mortar.  You need to feel the little bits of cumin under your teeth. I avoid the powdered version because in most cases it would have lost most of its fragrance and potency.

Is lanni cumin or anise?

In Seychelles cumin and anise got mixed up in translation.  In Creole, the spice lanni is in fact cumin and not anise. I must admit I do not know the creole word for anise although it is at times refered to as gros lanni.   I think it is worth alerting you of this confusion because there is nothing worse than using anise seeds in your moulouk instead of cumin!

Can I use the mourukku press?

This dough, which is basically a bread dough, is too thick  to be comfortably used in a morukku press. If you wish to use a morukku press you will have to prepare a totally different dough.  I suggest you prepare a soft mix of equal quantity of rice flour and chick pea flour plus the flavourings of your choice.

Place a single star shaped disc in the murukku press, grease the insides of the mould, fill the mould with some of the prepared dough and make star shaped murukkus on a wax paper/greased banana leaf or a greased plastic sheet and then  deep fry.

Frying the Moulouk

Fry the moulouk on medium heat. If heat is low the moulouk will absorb too much oil and will turn soft quickly. If the oil is too hot the outside will cook  faster than the inside and it will go soft the next day. You need your moulouk to be crispy even after a few days.  Fry the moulouk until golden brown and remove from oil and place on absorbent paper and allow to cool completely before serving.

Storage

The moulouk is always eaten at room temperature. Let is rest for at least one day and by then it would have achieved its optimum cruchiness. You can store it in a jar or tin where it will keep for a very long time provided the container is airtight.

Here is your recipe for Moulouk- Murukku

Did you make this recipe?

I hope you will enjoy preparing this dish. Please let me know how it turned out for you. If you have a different version of the recipe or have related questions, please leave your comments below.

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