Butter Murukku / Crispy rice flour savory

Diwali time is high calorie time.
Sweets and savouries are churned out of the kitchen in kilos. Buying from outside is scorned upon. But I am guilty of this until recently. This year I am going to recreate my mother's and mother-in-law's recipes here for you to try.
And trust me, I am NOT going to go overboard and do something tough.

Butter murukku is a so crispy - it melts in the mouth!!

Ingredients:
White Rice flour - 1 cup
(find how to make this below)
Besan / kadala mav / chick pea flour - 1/4 cup
Pottu kadala / Roasted gram dal - little more than 1/4 cup
(find how to make this below)
Butter - 1 heaped tablespoon
Salt - 1 tsp
(if you have used salted butter, omit or use less)
Jeera - 1 tsp
Asafoetida powder / kayam - 1 1/2 tsp
Oil for deep frying

Method for preparing rice flour:
Wash and soak the rice in water for 10 minutes.
Spread the drained rice on a clean white cotton towel and place under the fan for 10 minutes.
Powder well and sieve through the smallest hole of your arippai / chalni.
Powder and keep sieving until all the rice gets used up.
Throw away the non-fine particles.
Heat a heavy bottomed vessel and add the flour to this.
Stir for 2 minutes and turn off flame.
Keep stirring till the vessel reaches room temperature.
Measure 1 cup of rice flour for this recipe.

Method to make Pottu kadala flour:

(image source : google images)

Dry roast the pottu kadala in a heavy bottomed vessel on a low flame till it gets heated through , but does not lose colour.
Cool, powder and sieve.
Use 1/4 cup of this in this recipe.

Method to make Butter murukku:
Mix together the rice flour, kadalamav, pottu kadala flour, salt, jeera, asafoetida.
Add the butter and using your fingers, mix it in well.

Now add enough water (by the tablespoon) to make a dough which is nether too thick, but surely not loose.

Use any shape you desire in your press to shape your dough. (I used the star shape.)

Heat oil and once it heats up, but is not TOO hot, deep fry in batches.
The dough will fall in broken pieces into the hot oil.
Do not disturb for a minute and then flip it.

Keep the oil temperature low or the murukku will get brown on the outside, but will remain uncooked inside.
The trick is to maintain the oil temperature at a constant.
Notice how the bubbling stops?
That is your signal to remove the murukku from the oil.
Cool and store in an air tight container.