Manoharam – Symbol of harmony

By Vanita, September 7, 2013

A festive sweet of all times that is also popular as “Parupu Thengai” and typically associated as Seer Bakshanam in traditional Brahmin wedding in Tamil Nadu. A harmonious sweet, this recipe is made using only 6 basic ingredients: Rice flour, urad dhal flour, butter, jaggery, dry ginger powder and coconut bits!

Makes: A Tupperware Canister – 2.5 litre

Ingredients:

For the manoharm murukku:

• 3 cups rice flour
• ½ cup urad dhal flour
• 3 tbsp butter
• A pinch of salt
• ¾ cup ice cold water or more
• Oil for frying

For the jaggery syrup:

• Jaggery ratio is 1:2 i.e. 2 cups of murruku, 1 cup of jaggaery
• ¼ cup of tiny coconut bits
• 1 ½ tsp of dry ginger powder
• 2 cup water or water just enough to cover the jaggery

Procedure:

For the manoharm murukku:

Add all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Add in the butter and ice cold water and knead well to make a soft and smooth dough. Dough should neither be too thick nor too sticky. It should be malleable.

Preheat the oil for frying. Once the oil is hot, press the dough using a murukku press (not serrated). Always fry on medium heat, remove from oil when it turn light golden colour. Drain and allow to cool. Transfer to a large bowl.

For the jaggery syrup:

Take a heavy bottom pan, combine the jaggery and water. Keep the flame on medium heat and continue heating until you the jaggery dissolves completely in water. Strain this syrup using a fine strainer.

Now, make sure the pan is clean before you proceed. Add the syrup and the tiny coconut bit to the pan and continue to keep stirring on low heat. It will take about 15 minutes. In the meanwhile, prepare a cup with water to test the syrup.

The testing point is the most important phase in this recipe:

• Take a spoonful of the syrup and drop into the water.
• If it comes together to form a sticky round ball, move to the next step.
• Now, throw the sticky round ball to the side of the cup to hear the sound “Dang” J.
• Stir in the dry ginger powder .
• The syrup is ready to be combined with the murukku.

Assembling the manoharam

Stir in the hot syrup little by little until well combined with the murukku. Allow to cool before transferring to an air tight container. You can also mould into Parrupu Thengai containers or make small balls, but it must be hot!

Tips:

• Always cover the dough with a moist muslin cloth.
• Rice flour must be sifted well.
• Store bought urad dhal powder must be lightly roasted and sifted.
• Always strain the jaggery syrup before proceeding to make the perfect syrup.